The Hamlet to face Margate at Champion Hill in Second Qualifying Round

The draw for the Second Qualifying Round of this year's FA Cup was made on Monday lunchtime, with the cup gods pitting us at home to Isthmian League Premier Division side Margate.

This match will take place at Champion Hill on Saturday 17th September with kick off at 15:00.

Our visitors entered the competition in the previous round, and earned a 1-0 victory away to Aylesbury United at the weekend, courtesy of a strike from Harvey Smith twenty minutes from time. Like the Hamlet, they have endured an indifferent start to the season with five points from their opening five games.

There will be a popular man between the posts for the visitors when they travel to Champion Hill, as our playoff winning goalkeeper and double penalty-saving hero Amadou Tangara moved to the club in the summer from Bognor Regis Town. He will also more than likely be joined on the pitch by another former Hamlet man in midfielder Adeyinka Cole, who incredibly played in the last FA Cup game between the two sides in the 2013-14 season, coming off the bench for the Hamlet that day.

This meeting will be the first time we have faced the Gate since our promotion-winning season in 2017-18, when we suffered a 1-0 loss on the road and a 1-1 draw at our temporary home of Imperial Fields on the final day of the regular league season, with Michael Chambers netting our goal. Future Hamlet defender George Essuman also scored that day for the Gate.

It will also be the fourth time the two clubs have met in the famous old competition, and the first tie to be played at Champion Hill. We lead the head-to-head record 2-1, with Margate earning a 1-0 win at the same stage in 1979-80. Our wins came in the Fourth Qualifying Round in 1936-37 and Second Qualifying Round in 2013-14, winning both games 2-1 at Hartsdown Park, Ethan Pinnock scoring the winner in the latter.

To reach the proper stages of the competition, we will have to come through three rounds of qualifying. We also have the peculiar record of most first round appearances without reaching Round Two in the competition's history, losing at that stage 14 times, with the most recent coming in 2019 when we were memorably shown live on the BBC in a 4-1 loss to Carlisle United at Champion Hill.

Should the game end in a draw after ninety minutes, there would be the need for a replay, which would most likely come during the midweek immediately after the initial fixture, meaning we would need to postpone our London Senior Cup game with Athletic Newham but of course we would announce details in the event of a draw.