DEAL TOWN 2 GILLINGHAM XI 2

Deal drew 2-2 with a Gillingham XI in their latest pre-season friendly on Monday night.
Against a pacey and skilful Gills’ youth side the Hoops earned a share of the spoils thanks to an 81st-minute penalty from substitute Troy Howard, himself a product of the Deal Town Rangers youth set-up, after he had been brought down in the area.
Although Deal created plenty of chances throughout the game they trailed 1-0 at half-time to a fifth-minute strike from Harry Laing. Connor Coyne then put the Hoops back on level terms with a 68th-minute header before the Gills, one of whose squad had drawn a Manchester United scout to the Charles Ground for the game, regained the lead six minutes later through an unnamed triallist.
But Howard then equalised from the spot to earn Deal a deserved draw, with manager Derek Hares saying afterwards: “That’s three friendlies we’ve had now and I think the boys have acquitted themselves pretty well in all of them. They have shown that they fit, committed and want to do well.
“We had 20 players here tonight and when you think we had four or five others missing, including people like Kane Smith, Steve Butcher and Lee Scott, it means (assistant manager) Steve King and myself are going to have to make some tough decisions when we begin to cut the squad down over the next few weeks.”