Ben Greenhalgh makes Margate underdogs for the first time this season when they visit Bognor Regis in the FA Cup.

Player-boss Greenhalgh takes his side to West Sussex to face the Rocks in a second qualifying round tie on Saturday (3pm).

The clubs know each other well from Isthmian Premier meetings over recent years but they’re at different levels this season following Gate’s relegation to the South East division.

Greenhalgh has experienced two defeats and a draw at Bognor in his time as a Margate player.

Now, as manager, he’s hoping to pull off an upset.

As one of the big clubs in their league, the underdogs tag is unfamiliar for Gate this season.

They’ll look to embrace it and reach the third qualifying round for the second year running.

“It’s a great FA Cup draw,” said Greenhalgh, whose side continued their unbeaten start to the season with Louie Atkins’ injury-time winner in a 2-1 victory over Deal last night.

“We’ll enjoy having our first game as underdogs.

“We’ve had a couple of games, Hanworth Villa and Hayes & Yeading, where you don’t know who’s going to be the favourites, but this is the first time we’re playing a team in the league above.

“We competed really well in pre-season against teams in the league above, so we’re going to have to take that energy into it.

“We’ve got to understand how Bognor play because they’re a good footballing team.

“It’ll be tough, but enjoyable, and I think it’ll be a good game.

“If we’d been at home it might even have switched the other way where we’d be favourites, because it’s a long way to travel, but we fancy ourselves in any game at the moment.

“Our main objective is we have to compete against every single team we play against.

“Whoever we’re playing, we’re going there to give them a game and we’re looking to win.

“At the same time, we have to understand Bognor might offer a bit more than the other teams we’re playing against.”

Greenhalgh scored his second hat-trick this season as Margate won 5-0 at Hanworth Villa in the FA Trophy first qualifying round on Saturday.

Ibrahim Olutade, who equalised against Deal, and Jordan Ababio also struck as Gate set up a trip to Ascot United on September 21.

Greenhalgh is thriving on the responsibility of delivering on the pitch in his dual role - but that’s nothing new.

“I think I’ve always felt that responsibility at Margate,” he said.

“In my first year we didn’t really have a No.9 that was getting the goals and from then my role’s probably got a bit higher where I was captain, player-assistant manager and now player-manager.

“I’ve always felt like I need to chip in with things.

“I think every season I’ve created more goals than I’ve scored, which has always been what my game is about, but at Margate I’m getting good numbers scoring goals as well.

“It’s something I have to look at without being selfish - how can I get myself goals while trying to get the forwards goals as well?

“We purposely spent a lot of pre-season on getting everyone to gain an understanding of how as a management team we’re going to work and how our relationships are going to work.

“Everyone knows the role I offer as a player at Margate and there’s been a couple of moments where I’ve admitted a mistake or taken a bit of blame and I think that’s important, that I’m understanding of my errors as well as everyone else’s.

“When I’m talking at half-time, it’s from a management perspective, and when I’m out there playing it’s pretty much down to Flan (Adam Flanagan, assistant manager) on the sideline, which has worked really well.

“Having someone like Flan on board, a proven manager and very experienced, means I can have that trust on the side.

“I don’t feel myself going over to him and Elliott (Leveson, coach) and saying can we do this, can do we do that?

“They’ve been on it, which has been massively helpful for me to focus on my game.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’ll be tested as much as everyone else will be throughout the year.

“There’ll be dips but at the moment we’ve got to remain positive and keep doing what’s working.”

Margate are due in league action at Beckenham on Tuesday (7.45pm).