Deal Town FC

MENS FIRST TEAM

Deal Town played Littlehampton Town on 16th November 2024 in the Isthmian League South East Division. Deal Town won three - one against Littlehampton in front of a crowd of 636 at the Charles Ground. The Deal goals came from Archie Hatcher and Ife Oni (2).

DEAL TOWN 3 LITTLEHAMPTON TOWN 1

Deal manager Steve King felt that this was the Hoops' "best win of the season so far"... and it wasn't difficult to see why!

'Kingy' went into it with an ever-growing list of players unavailable to him for various reasons but, despite that, the Hoops managed to complete their first league 'double' success of the campaign over a Littlehampton side who they had already beaten 4-2 down in Sussex last month.

Saturday's latest victory came thanks to second half goals from Ife Oni (2) and Archie Hatcher, and afterwards a delighted King said:

It's probably our best win of the season so far just because we were absolutely down to the bare bones today. We've had a real tough run of fixtures for seven weeks on Tuesday and Saturday, including Sittingbourne away last weekend and then down at Hastings on Tuesday night.

 

 

Ash(ley) Miller is still away while Rory Smith and Aaron Millbank are both still out, and then today we had no Jack Paxman and John Vincent. We then lost both Ben Chapman and Wes Hennessey to injuries in the first half and so at half-time we were thinking 'This is going to be a real hard second half',  and so to get three goals in the second half was great.

We are under no illusions and we know that we are not a top four side in this league yet. But I think we proved again today that, having been promoted, we are competing in this league and with all the injured players and people we had missing, to still go and win that game is a real sign of our progress.

 

To do it they had to overcome a big and physical Littlehampton outfit who started the contest with the confidence of a team whose own results have improved significantly in recent weeks, and who more than held their own in the goalless opening 45 minutes during which  Ben Chapman and Hennessey both had to be substituted. Chapman was replaced after 26 minutes by 17-year-old Morgan Page while Hennessey limped off just before half-time to be replaced by Ife Oni, but not for the first time this season it was the latter who played an important role in the Hoops' march to victory, with King adding:

Somebody shouted to me after the game 'Why didn't Ife start?' but he's been struggling with his hamstring and couldn't play on Tuesday night. We knew he only had 45 minutes in him and thought the second half would probably be more beneficial than the first, and it ended up the right decision.

It certainly did because, apart from scoring Deal's second and third goals, the sprightly forward also played a part in their 'opener' after 57 minutes, pulling the ball back from the byline for Hatcher to produce a clinical finish.

That seemed to briefly 'knock the stuffing' out of the visitors and, within three minutes, Oni had got on the scoresheet himself; turning inside one defender before curling the ball home following a knock-on from a goal kick by Jamie Kennedy.

Having lost their previous three matches in league and cup, and not scoring a goal into the bargain, the Hoops were very keen to get back on the winning trail in this game but they and the home supporters in the superb 636 crowd still had to endure a nervy closing session after Littlehampton  pulled a goal back 10 minutes from time through Dion Jarvis.

But it was MOTM Oni who had had the final say deep into added time, taking his goal tally to six in Deal's last eight games with another excellent finish as the Hoops chalked up their eighth league win of the season so far. That's the most they have ever achieved as a Step Four level club, beating their previous best of seven set as a Southern League club way back in the 1964-65 season.

The Perrys (Dover, Ford) man of the match, as selected by Lebara Mobile, was Ife Oni. 

Deal Town: Molloy, Reeves, Penny, Foster, Green, Murray, Hatcher, T Chapman, B Chapman, Hennessey, Kennedy.

Subs: Page, Oni, A Smith, Callaghan.

Att: 636  

SOURCE: Kevin Redsull

Deal Town Starting XI: Adam Molloy, Joe Reeves, Jack Penny, Alfie Foster, Tom Chapman, Macaulay Murray, Ben Chapman, Wes Hennessey, Alex Green, Archie Hatcher, Jamie Kennedy.

Subs: Morgan Page, Will Callaghan, Kieron Hollier, Ife Oni, Alex Smith.

Deal Goals: Archie Hatcher ('58) Ife Oni ('60, '90)

Referee: McDonald

Attendance: 636