Margate manager Nikki Bull has hailed captain Brett Johnson, describing him as a true leader.

Experienced defender Johnson is the only player left from the Gate’s 2014/15 Ryman League promotion winning squad, and has remained loyal to the club throughout what has been a turbulent time, both on and off the pitch.

Since Luke Moore’s departure for Billericay last month, the 31-year-old former Brentford and Northampton man - who signed for the Blues in the summer of 2014 - has worn the captain’s armband, and Bull says he has done so with distinction.

Bull, who was a player with Johnson at Aldershot, said: “How good was Brett again on Saturday (in the 3-0 home defeat to Bishop's Stortford)?

“There’s someone who’s played 400 or 500 games, if anyone doesn't need to be out here doing that it’s him.

“If anyone had the right to say my hamstring’s gone I’m going to sit here for three months picking up my money and just back off from it, it’s him but every time he goes on the pitch he goes into battle for me.

“This week he’s had a chest infection, he didn’t train Thursday night and I said ‘Johnno you’ve got no chance’ (of playing Saturday) but he just said ‘I’ll be there.’

“He just turns up, having taken anti biotics, coughing and spluttering and goes and plays. By the end he was croaking and could hardly speak.

“Even Browny (Gate assistant manager Steve Brown), who was a top defender for goodness knows how many years he said ‘Brett’s a player.’

"I’ve got so much respect for him. He’s wearing the armband in a way you would want him to, he’s always trying to rally the troops, in my eyes he’s a true leader."