Deal Town FC

MENS FIRST TEAM

Deal Town played Eastbourne Town FC on 28th September 2024 in the Isthmian League South East Division. Deal Town won four - one against Eastbourne at the Charles Ground. The Deal goals came from Ashley Miller, Tom Chapman, Rory Smith and Morgan Page.

After having lost their two previous home league games Deal manager Steve King felt it was important that the Hoops regained their familiar knack of accumulating points at the Charles Ground, where they lost only four times in the whole of last season, as soon as possible.

And his players responded in just the right fashion against an Eastbourne Town side who, like Deal, are still getting acclimatised to playing at a higher level after winning promotion from the Southern Combination League last season. The visitors began brightly enough on Saturday and almost went in front when Marcin Ruda saw his 11th-minute strike pushed onto the bar and away by Deal 'keeper Adam Molloy.

But it wasn't long before the Hoops' tactical plan for this game started to pay dividends, with "Kingy" revealing afterwards:

We do our homework on teams and we knew that Eastbourne like to push their full backs high, and so when we turned the ball over there would be lots of space for us to exploit. That's why we started with a front three of Rory Smith, Tom Chapman and Ash Miller, all of whom have got the ability and pace to do just that.

And all three frontmen got on the scoresheet in this game. Miller started the ball rolling by heading home a delicious 18th-minute left-wing cross from Jack Penny, and then on the half hour mark Smith and Chapman combined for the latter, returning after a three-match injury absence, to sidefoot Deal into a 2-0 lead.

Eastbourne were starting to look distinctly rattled at this point and it's a fair bet that they would not have faced a forward line stacked with similar pace on many occasions last season. One consequence was that referee Marcin Indyk had to show a couple of yellow cards for late Eastbourne tackles in the run-up to half-time, and within three minutes of the re-start Deal virtually "put the game to bed" with a superbly-crafted third goal. Billy Munday won one of his countless headers in midfield and the ball fell for Ben Chapman who sent Smith racing through to produce a clinical finish.

King now used the opportunity to give all of his five substitutes some "game time" and one of them, Wes Hennessey, had a shot cleared off the line before the visitors pulled a goal back through a 78th-minute Nathan Hover header. But it was the Hoops who fittingly had the last word when another of their substitutes, Morgan Page, finished off Aaron Millbank's half-volleyed cross in injury-time.

The result moved Deal back up into fifth place in the table and a delighted "Kingy" added afterwards:

Losing our last two home games in the league hit us hard and so today was a massive match for us. I don't think we played amazingly well and some of our passing was a bit sloppy, but we were solid defensively and clinical on the counter-attack.

The Deal team was: Molloy, Paxman, Penny, Vincent, Green, Munday, Murray, T Chapman, Miller, B Chapman, R Smith.

Subs: Millbank, Holness, Hennessey, Oni, Page.

Attendance: 610

The Perrys (Dover Ford) man of the match was selected as Tom Chapman.

Report courtesy of Kevin Redsull

Deal Town Starting XI: Adam Molloy, Jack Paxman, Jack Penny, Josh Vincent, Alex Green, Billy Munday, Tom Chapman, Macaulay Murray, Ashley Miller, Ben Chapman, Rory Smith.

Subs: Aaron Millbank, Matty Holness, Wes Hennessey, Ife Oni, Morgan Page.

Deal Goals: Ashley Miller ('19) Tom Chapman ('31) Rory Smith ('49) Morgan Page ('97)

Referee: Indyk

Attendance: 610