STUTTERING Scarborough are still looking for their first win of the season after their hopes of breaking their duck against Margate were all too easily dashed by the Conference new-boys.

Last season's Dr Martens League champions clinched a 1-0 win when Leon Braithwaite latched onto a headed clearance from Denny Ingram to nod the ball over Andy Woods after 69 minutes.

And to compound Scarborough's misery, they were reduced to ten men six minutes later when striker Darryn Stamp was sent off for aiming a kick at Margate defender Lee Williams after the pair had tangled on the half-way line.

"If the referee's report says he stamped on him I'm not going to argue with that," said Scarborough boss Neil Thompson, who was disappointed with Stamp's reaction to a challenge from Williams and now faces being without one of his key men for a three-game spell.

"He should have just walked away. He's no good to me sat in the stands," Thompson added.

The Seasiders were looking to build on the platform of three opening draws but instead served up their worst performance of the season.

Margate, quick to get men forward in attack and behind the ball in defence, had a greater sense of urgency throughout and deserved their win which could have been more emphatic as Gary Blackford headed against the bar late on and Braithwaite, brother of former Great Britain sprinter Darren, missed when clean through in the last minute.

Scarborough were left to rue David Pounder's failure to convert an Ashley Fickling cross ten minutes before they went behind, while the ever-willing Steve Brodie went close with a header just over the bar early in the second half.

"It's frustrating because the players out there are better than they performed today. There were too many people below par," Thompson admitted.

Scarborough: Woods, Short, Fitzsimmons (Burt HT), Rennison (Sherwood 83), Fickling, Ingram, Blunt, Stoker, Stamp, Brodie, Pounder. Subs not used: Atkinson, Turley, Newton.

Margate: Mitton, Blackford, Lamb, Edwards, Williams, Porter, Keister, Beard, Braithwaite, Munday, Saunders. Subs not used: Yorath, Hafner, Takalobigashi, Azzopardi, Turner.

Attendance: 886

Updated: 11:42 Tuesday, August 28, 2001