Reece Hobbs has been urged to make the Margate No.1 shirt his own by player-manager Ben Greenhalgh.

Hobbs will start this Saturday’s Isthmian South East match against fellow play-off occupants Sheppey at Hartsdown Park, with fellow young goalkeeper Tom Wray expected to be banned after his red card in last weekend’s 1-0 loss at AFC Croydon Athletic.

But Greenhalgh sees no reason why Hobbs cannot perform to good enough levels to make it a longer-term arrangement.

He said: “I pulled Reece to one side after the game on Saturday and said he did well again. He’s already had quite a few more games than he did last year.

“When Tom is out or makes a mistake, it’s up to Reece to keep pushing him.

“They have a brilliant relationship where they came through the Dartford Academy.

“But certainly, Reece will be ready for Saturday and, hopefully, it’s just the one game for Tom.”

Margate’s defeat at the Mayfield Stadium ended a streak of 10 straight away wins in a run, dating back to mid-October.

Greenhalgh reflected: “If you play for 45 minutes with 10 men, you’re unlikely to get a result. But the referee lost complete control and shouldn’t have sent Tom off.

“I said it was going to be a bit of an ugly game - and it was. It was going to be a lot about set-pieces and we had our chances, but we didn’t take them.

“Ultimately, we didn’t deal with one of their ones early on and that’s what has won them the game.”

Surprisingly, AFC Croydon were led by former Ashford boss Danny Kedwell, who had made a quick return to the sidelines, assisting Folkestone manager Andy Drury, and Dean Beckwith, who had replaced Keith Millen in the build-up to the visit of Gate.

“Whenever there’s a new manager that comes in, especially for a club that’s not been doing that well, there’s always going to be a change,” said Greenhalgh.

“Looking at their squad, a lot of them have played higher and some of them have played in the Football League. It was going to be a game of set-pieces.

“Our 10 men gave it everything but, when it’s 10 versus 11, it’s always going to be hard.”

Wray was dismissed by referee Scott Rudd, who ruled he had taken out ex-Margate winger Kadell Daniel outside of the penalty box.

“We will look to appeal it,” confirmed Greenhalgh.

“The issue becomes, does the footage from the halfway line show Tom clearly kicking the ball? Otherwise, they tend to go with the referee’s side.

“Tom cleared the ball but he sliced the ball so it just looked a bit messy.

“He’s more disappointed with the first goal, but getting punished with the red card was ridiculous.”

Few regularly name second-choice keepers on the bench in the division - but Gate’s management team were relieved they had done so this time.

Greenhalgh, who had to sacrifice midfielder Max Walsh, himself a first-half substitute for the injured Tom Derry, to bring on Hobbs, said: “Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, because of the new five-substitute rule.

“How often do you need them? Not often.

“But we’re glad we had him with us on Saturday and Reece did well, especially because, at one point, we had Knighty (Lewis Knight) and Harry Hudson up front. The referee was very poor but we cannot say he changed the game.

“If the decisions had gone the other way, who’s to say we would have got a goal?”

While Margate are well-placed in the play-off places, any title ambitions they had are over.

Greenhalgh stated: “I don’t think it’s really possible to come down into a division and compete straight away with teams like Sittingbourne and Ramsgate [for the title].

“We’re winning a lot more games than we did last season and we have got a lot more points.

“The main thing for us is to just worry about ourselves.”

Margate are due to visit Sittingbourne tonight.