On a day when the weather gods decided that it was finally time for all of the summers’ rain to arrive at once, the Deal Town squad and band of hardy supporters travelled the 100 or so miles to Binfield for this FA Trophy tie.

Arriving to a slick, fast pitch and off the back of a disappointing result against Whitstable 4 days earlier, Deal were keen to get things right against a relatively unknown Binfield side, who themselves came into this game having lost 3 from 3 in the league and were looking to kickstart their season.

So, with the sound of the ref’s whistle and a somewhat temperamental weather forecast ahead, Deal set to attacking their opposition from the very start. With only 10 minutes on the clock Deal got on the scoreboard. Jamie Kennedy received the ball into his feet and ran at the centre back and goalkeeper. Rounding them both as he turned inside to shoot, he was bought down by a combination of the two and won the penalty. Some great work which unfortunately resulted in Jamie going off injured. Nonetheless the penalty to Deal was converted neatly by Ash Miller, 0-1.

For the opening 30 minutes Deal dictated much of the play and created ample chances, without really troubling the home goalkeeper too much. So it was with an ironic certainty that only football can bring, that Binfield scored their equaliser on the 30-minute mark. Having been awarded a freekick on the edge of the Deal box the Binfield man struck his attempt against the wall only for the rebound to fall to a teammate who took one touch and unleashed a vicious strike into the far-right corner. You’ll struggle to hit it cleaner than that, 1-1 the game now stood.

In added time of the first half the Binfield No.7 took the challenge upon himself to indeed try to strike a ball “cleaner than that”. Cutting in from the left he unleashed a beautiful strike with his left into the far-left corner. If you haven’t seen the highlights from this game, I recommend having a little look on the Deal Town YouTube channel just for this. You could only applaud really. The game somehow headed into halftime with Deal trailing Binfield 2-1. Surely there are only so many world-class strikes from range a club can concede in any 4-week period?!

The second half started the same way as much of the first, Deal tidy in possession and looking to break their opponents down. For the travelling fans there was not too long to wait. Deal with a free-kick near the corner flag fired in a low delivery, which was guided on target by Strouts, the rebound coming off the home keeper into Ben Chapman’s path and he made no mistake. 2-2 and Ben Chapman’s 99th goal for the Hoops. The pressure kept on coming from the Deal lads and on the 72nd minute Owen Wilkinson headed home from an in-swinging Ash Miller corner to make it 2-3 to the away side.

With the clock ticking away Deal were then able to put the game to bed in the 87th minute. Another Ash Miller corner, this time deep to the far post, was met by Tom Chapman to tuck away tidily into the bottom right corner, rounding off a credible second half performance and ensuring Deal take their deserved place in the hat for the next round. Special mention to Ash Miller for his goal and 3 assists in the tie. A set piece extravaganza that would bring a tear to the eye of any Arsenal fan.

Onto the next one where we will face Sheppey United at home, Come on you HOOPS!

Words by Zack Foulds