PUNJAB UTD V HOOPS PREVIEW

When the Hoops travel to Gravesend on Saturday to take on Punjab Utd it will be a re-match between the two teams who were the SCEL Premier Division’s “draw specialists” last season.
Punjab recorded the most draws by any club in the 2018-19 campaign, with 11 of their 38 league matches finishing all square, while Deal had the second highest number with 10. So it wasn’t surprising that the two league games between the clubs finished as draws, although the Hoops did defeat Punjab 3-1 in a League Challenge Cup tie at the Charles Ground.
As for this season, the two sides have again already been involved in a fair number of “dead heats”, with both having drawn five league matches so far, but Punjab have also suffered 12 defeats in their 23 games which has left them in 16th position in the table, three places and three points below Deal, having played two matches more.
Both teams find themselves in the bottom half of the table because they haven’t been scoring enough goals, but Deal manager Derek Hares is hoping that the return of Sam Wilson up front after his three-month injury absence will boost the Hoops’ goal output.
Wilson played the full 90 minutes in last week’s 2-1 home defeat by Erith Town and Hares said: “We’ve been struggling in front of goal recently. We’ve been creating good chances – we created a lot more than Erith – but we’ve not been taking them and so it’s good to have Sam back because he’s always got a goal in him.”