MARGATE striker Che Stadhart misses out on the chance of facing his former club Gravesend & Northfleet on New Year's Day through suspension.

Stadhart, who came on as a substitute when the two sides met in last Saturday, starts a three-match suspension following his sending off against Shrewsbury.

With Jean-Michel Sigere struggling for fitness and likely to start on the bench again, Gate boss Chris Kinnear is expected to name an unchanged side.

Fleet manager Andy Ford is urging his team to do the double over Margate and move away from the relegation zone.

Fleet's 3-1 victory over Gate last Saturday enabled them to leapfrog the Thanet side in the table but Tamworth and Farnborough - both in the bottom five - claimed victories on Boxing Day to make things extremely tight in the bottom six.

Ford said: "It was hugely important to get all three points at Margate. Now we have to start putting a few back-to-back wins together - staring with Margate on Thursday.

"It would be great to start the New Year with a victory but there's a lot of hard work to be done first. There's no danger of us being overconfident."

Ford will have a stronger squad to choose from on Thursday than the one that travelled to Margate. There they were limited to just four substitutes on the bench but for the home game they will welcome back James Pinnock, Matt Lee, Steve Perkins and Dennis Oli.

One Gravesend player who probably won't be available for selection is Ben Walshe, who suffered a rib injury against Margate.