Deal Town FC

MENS FIRST TEAM

Deal Town played Burgess Hill Town FC on 04th January 2025 in the Isthmian League South East Division. Deal Town lost five - three against Burgess-Hill at the Charles Ground. The Deal goals came from Alfie Foster, Archie Hatcher and Morgan Page.

Burgess Hill Town – jointly-managed by Gary Mansell and Jay Lovett – put in a very impressive performance and dominated for 75 minutes of this game, played in bitterly cold temperatures of five degrees on the Kent coast. 

Burgess Hill Town came out of the traps on the front foot and won key battles all over the pitch with centre-half Nathan Cooper having time and space to play out from the back, midfield pair Price and Kieran Rowe dominating and Vukoje being the away side’s main threat down on the right wing.

The visitors took their lead with their first attempt on target, with 10 minutes and 27 seconds on the clock. Reeves’ low pass out of defence was intercepted by Cooper on the half-way line and he hit a long diagonal over the top to central striker Tom Chalaye on the left. He easily beat two defenders (Jack Paxman and Joshua Vincent) inside the box and hung over a cross towards the back post where the unmarked Pope steered his diving header across Adam Molloy and into the far corner, as Foster failed to pick up his man.

Deal Town created just the one goalscoring chance during the first half, coming with 15 minutes on the clock. Murray played the ball along the deck to release Miller who travelled over the halfway line and ran into the left-channel and had three yellow shirted players swarming around him as he held the ball up. The ball was played into the box where the 16-goal Tom Chapman cut the ball onto his left-foot before drilling his shot high and wide of the far post from 17-yards.

Burgess Hill Town were given plenty of time and space to play out from the back, as the second goal almost came. Centre-half Marcus Allen launched a long ball out of defence and left-winger Joseph Overy put in a cross towards the back post, where Vukoje brought the ball down before hitting a right-footed half-volley screaming towards the near corner, only for Molloy to dive to his left to push around his near post. Pope showed more desire to win the ball from Murray, as both players slid in for the ball in the middle of the pitch, and the ball was played into the unmarked Chalaye, who drilled his right-footed shot screaming past the left-hand post from 35-yards in a central position.

Burgess Hill Town doubled their lead with 23 minutes and 11 seconds on the clock; Hillians’ right-back Hamish Morrison clipped a right-footed free-kick into the box from 35-yards out and Price brought the ball down, before turning and hooking his right-footed shot from the front of a crowd of players, across Molloy to find the bottom far corner.

Molloy made a vital save soon after, to prevent Burgess Hill Town were denied a third goal with 33 minutes on the clock. Cooper hit a long ball forward, the ball was flicked on by Vukoje before Chalaye threaded the ball through the heart of the pitch to put Vukoje through on goal and his left-footed shot was smothered by Molloy, low to his right. Another chance soon came for the visitors; with Murray’s low pass intercepted by Overy on the half-way line, Pope played the ball into Vukoje who dug the ball out from underneath his feet from inside the box to slip the ball past the right-hand post with Molloy clearly beaten.

HALF-TIME: DTFC 0 – 2 BHTFC

Deal Town’s players found their desire and started to win second balls in midfield, at the start of the second half and they pulled a goal back four minutes into the second half. Rory Smith got going and was doubled up on, winning a foul from Burgess Hill Town’s left-back Reggie Ward. Murray swung the ball in from the corner of the box and the ball was cleared out to Alfie Foster, who stroked a right-footed volley from 16-yards through the crowd of players and across goalkeeper Slavomir Huk; a shot which nestled sweetly into the bottom far corner.

However, any brief momentum was snuffed out as Burgess Hill Town claimed their third goal on the counter-attack; just a couple of minutes later. Price charged down the right before slipping the ball into Pope inside the box who set up Chalaye, whose shot was parried by Molloy and the ball came out to the unmarked Vukoje who drilled his first-time right-footed drive across Molloy and into the net.

Clinical Burgess Hill Town notched their fourth goal with their next attempt. The dominant Cooper hit a long ball out of defence to release Vukoje down the right and he hung up a cross towards the far post. The ball was knocked clear by Vincent but landed on Pope’s head and he looped the ball over Molly and into the top far corner of the net from six-yards.

King made a triple substitution just past the half hour mark; Smith, Miller and Tom Chapman replaced by Ife Oni (wide right), Hatcher (wide left) and Wesley Hennesey (central striker). It was Burgess Hill though who struck again; Vukoje producing a moment of quality as he scored the away side’s fifth goal. Chalaye feeding him before Vukoje’s left-footed shot on the turn, from 18-yards, dipped over Molloy’s shoulder and clipped the underside of the bar before crossing the line.

Deal Town played their best football inside the final 10 minutes of the game. Ben Chapman sprung into life and released Oni down the right, his cross was met by Ben Chapman’s free-header which flashed past the right-hand post from 12-yards. A second goal was pulled back eight minutes from time, with two of the subs linking up well down the right. Hatcher released Hennessey who delivered a deep cross, which found Hatcher unmarked at the far post. His right-footed drive from 12-yards went in off the underside of the crossbar and assistant referee Amarachi Okamgba signalled the ball had crossed the line for Hatcher’s fourth goal of the season.

Another chance soon fell for the Hoops, as Murray delivered a right-footed free-kick from 35-yards. The ball was knocked on by Foster, inside the box, and Hennessey drilled a right-footed hooked drive across the keeper with the ball whistling past the far post. Deal Town made the scoreline much more respectable as they scored their third goal in the 90th minute, this time with three of the substitutes combining. Hennessey fed Maxwell Niblett, who cut in and along the 18-yard line before feeding Page, who stroked his left-footed shot across Huk to find the bottom far corner with a clinical strike.

“Alex Green picked up a knock on Wednesday. Jack Penny is close. Jamie Kennedy is close, did the warm-up today. Aaron Millbank, sometime towards the end of January, hopefully.  Kane Smith has gone on dual-registration with Canterbury, so he’s not a million miles away, if he can get through unscathed for a month there. We’ve played a lot of games in a short space of time and it’s probably one too many today.”

FULL-TIME: DTFC 3 – 5 BHTFC

On reflection, King had much to think about:

A poor day for us. We haven’t had many this season but we were second best throughout the whole game.  Fair play to Burgess Hill, they’re a good side,” 

 

 

We looked like it was a game too far for us. We’ve had a lot of difficult games over Christmas, difficult games against Sheppey United (winning 3-1), Herne Bay (drawing 1-1) on heavy pitches, a long trip to Lancing (winning 5-0) and a real difficult game on Wednesday away to Ramsgate (losing 3-0). We didn’t look ourselves; we didn’t play with our usual energy and I thought we were second best. They were clinical, they defended very well, that sounds very ironic as it ended up being 5-3, but certainly when the game was tidy, they didn’t give us much.

Deal Town welcome Steyning Town here next Saturday – a side that stunned Danny Kedwell’s Ashford United with a 3-2 home win today to claim their third league win of the season, as they're finding their first season at this level extremely tough going.

Our record against sides that have been in the bottom half of the league has been pretty good and it’s going to be a completely different game to today. We’ll rest up this week, we’ll train, we’ll do our analysis and we’ll do our work and we’re looking forward to it. We won’t get derailed by losing to good sides. We’re too level headed, we’ve been around for too long to sort of worry about that.

 

 

We’re looking forward to Steyning. They’re not a bad side. All the sides down the bottom of this league, none of them are rubbish.”

Deal Town: Adam Molloy, Jack Paxman (Maxwell Niblett 69), Joe Reeves, Tommy Lamb (Morgan Page 73), Alfie Foster, Joshua Vincent, Ashley Miller (Ifeoluwa Oni 64), Macauley Murray, Rory Smith (Wesley Hennessey 63), Ben Chapman, Tom Chapman (Archie Hatcher 64).

Goals: Foster 49', Hatcher 82', Page 89'

Attendance: 446

Referee: Mr Edward Smith

Deal Town Starting XI: Adam Molloy, Jack Paxman, Joe Reeves, Alfie Foster, Tommy Lamb, Tom Chapman, Macaulay Murray, Ben Chapman, Rory Smith, Ashley Miller, Josh Vincent.

Subs: Max Niblett, Wes Hennessey, Morgan Page, Ife Oni, Archie Hatcher.

Deal Goals: Alfie Foster ('48) Archie Hatcher ('82) Morgan Page ('89)

Referee: Smith

Attendance: 446