When Dons legend Terry Brown walks out to the dugout on his return to Kingsmeadow tomorrow he will be forgiven if he takes a seat in the home dugout.

Margate boss Brown brings his Ryman Premier League promotion-chasing big-spenders to the ground where he enjoyed almost unbridled success until his sacking in 2012.

The 62-year-old is hoping to repeat the feats he achieved with AFC Wimbledon by taking the Kent outfit from the Ryman League to the Football League.

The clash with Kingstonian - themselves hunting a play-off place - will give Margate the chance to close the gap on league leaders Maidstone United, who lost 2-1 at Hampton & Richmond Borough on Tuesday.

And Brown admits the place where that holds so many happy memories for him is likely to give his side the edge come kick-off.

"I'm really looking forward to it. The away dressing room is less familiar, but it is still a great place to come," he said.

"We have got a whole pack of ex-Dons warriors coming down with us too in Stuart Cash, Jamie Stuart, Brett Johnson and Luke Moore. it is a happy place for us all.

"Our players have been whinging about having to play on diabolical Ryman Premier League pitches all season. It will make a change to play on a professional surface, which will suit us perfectly.

"It is a massive game for us. We need the three points as we have a bit of work to do to close the gap on Maidstone.

"Alan Dowson did us a favour at Hampton in the week - that cost me a few beers - and we have to take advantage of it."

Margate are heavily backed to be promoted to the Conference South and few would bet against Brown masterminding a second successive promotion to the top tier of non-League football.

But the manager believes it is a very different job to the one he did with the Dons.

"To do what we did at Wimbledon you need either a big fan base of a big backer," he added.

"We had a big fan base at Wimbledon and that helped us attract players.

"Margate is a very different place to get to, so it is hard to convince good players to come and play for us.

"That is where our chairman comes in. He is not only funding the first team side of things, but also the youth set-up and the community work the club is doing.

"He is a tremendous chairman and the ambition is to do something similar to the Dons, buit it is not as easy as it might seem."