Ronnie Vint made his Margate debut on Saturday and player-boss Ben Greenhalgh isn’t ruling out more appearances from the Love Island star this season.

Defender Vint, 28, came through 90 minutes in promotion-chasing Gate’s 2-0 Isthmian South East victory at basement boys Phoenix Sports, with captain Harry Hudson (shoulder) and the suspended Lewis Knight out.

“Harry took a knock to his shoulder on [last] Tuesday,” said Greenhalgh, whose team went out of the Velocity Cup against Sheppey last midweek.

“It wasn’t quite right and I’d signed Ronnie. He has a lot going on in terms of other commitments after Love Island and things but I know how good Ronnie is as a player.

“We might get a few games out of him. Where he is in his career, it’s not a long-term thing.

"But he showed some good moments, and he and Tyrone Sterling showed their experience.”

Vint has played alongside Greenhalgh for Dartford, but hadn’t turned out competitively since leaving Lewes earlier this year before he appeared on the reality TV show.

“The main thing with Ronnie was getting through 90 minutes with the intensity of the game,” said Greenhalgh, who himself shot to fame when he won Football’s Next Star in 2010 to earn a contract with Inter Milan.

“He’s in good shape. Before the game, I said to him a couple of times in the warm-up ‘Is everything all right?’. He started a bit frantically in the first five or 10 minutes, but then, he settled into it.

“Tyrone hasn’t played a lot of football, as well, but they managed everything really well.

“Ronnie looked like he could keep going, which was good.”

A goal in either half from midfielder Max Walsh and 16-goal top scorer Ibrahim Olutade were enough to steer play-off occupants Margate to their latest win.

Greenhalgh said: “We watched Sheppey play them last year and Phoenix beat them 3-1.

“It was just a case of going there and getting three points. It’s quite a tough pitch. It was a very good non-league performance.

“To be fair, Phoenix are better than their league position suggests. You can see they’re going to cause other teams problems.”

Walsh’s goal was his fourth of the campaign and his third for Gate - ironically, he netted against Greenhalgh’s team in August for Ashford.

“It was a really good goal from Max,” noted Greenhalgh. “We needed it.

“It was always going to be a game where you needed to work hard to stay in the game but, also, you do need that bit of quality.

“We have tried to work on ways for Max to get in and around the box. Frustratingly, he picked up a hamstring injury from the game but he got a good goal.

“Ibz getting the second, that was just a typical Ibz goal. He worked hard all game.”

Victory came after Margate had been knocked out of the Velocity Cup at Hartsdown Park, losing 4-2 to the Ites despite midfielder Brandon Davey’s first-half strike and a late consolation from winger Jordan Ababio.

Greenhalgh said: “We went reasonably strong with our starting XI but, as much as you try and get everyone up for the game, we all know the main focus is on the league.

“We came in at half-time 1-0 up and you could just tell that the atmosphere wasn’t the same. That’s understandable.

"It’s still disappointing because we didn’t want to go out of the cup but we have got 24 league games left now and it’s something we need to get right.”

Gate have a fixture-free weekend before they travel to Littlehampton on December 14.

Greenhalgh hopes it will present an opportunity for his troops to get themselves raring to go for a hectic festive period.

“The good thing - with Harry, Max, Harrison Hatfull and Kai Garande, who have been carrying knocks, as well as Ben Allen - is we have got two weeks off,” he explained.

“They can make sure that they’re ready for the following Saturday. Harry should be fine and Knighty should be back, as well.

“This is a welcome break after a tough run and it’s a good chance to get ready for the Christmas period.”