Phoenix Sports 2-4 Deal Town - We love this competition, it is one that means a lot to us, says Deal Town boss Steve King

Phoenix Sports 2 – 4 Deal Town
Location	Mayplace Ground, Mayplace Road East, Barnehurst, Kent DA7 6JT
Kickoff	12/11/2022 15:00

PHOENIX SPORTS  2-4  DEAL TOWN
The Isuzu FA Vase Second Round
Saturday 12 November 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Mayplace Road East

DEAL TOWN manager Steve King says The FA Vase means a lot to the 2000 winners after his side reached the last 64 with a victory over their Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division rivals Phoenix Sports.

Deal Town arrived in Barnehurst sitting in fourth-place in the table with 24 points from 14 games, while Phoenix Sports were in seventh-place with 21 points on the board but with a couple of games in hand.

Phoenix Sports defeated Canterbury City (2-1), Bridon Ropes (4-1) and AFC Portchester (3-2) all away from home to reach the Second Round in what is their third campaign in the competition.

Deal Town have beaten Alfold (3-1), FC Elmstead (4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw) and saw off lower-league opposition Tooting Bec 7-0 at home last time out.

Phoenix Sports took an eleventh minute lead through a clinically despatched penalty from outstanding right-winger Ryan Hayes, who notched his fifth goal of the season.

However, before the penalty was taken, the home side lost emergency left-back Dave Martin, who was thrown in the sin-bin by referee Kyfer Mayhew.

Deal Town swiftly levelled through big target-man Connor Coyne, as the away side found space in the vacated space left by Martin’s departure.

Phoenix Sports piled on the pressure and took a deserved lead through Luke Leppard’s fourth goal of the season but Deal Town grabbed an equaliser with the last kick of the first half through Jack Penny’s free-kick.

Deal Town wrestled back control of the game and Coyne tapped in his eighth goal of the season before Phoenix Sports lost striker Andy Pugh for a sin-bin offence before Deal Town killed the game off with an counter-attacking goal from Ben Chapman, who notched his 15^th goal of the season.

“First of all, I thought it was a really good game of football, very open, two good sides, lots of chances at both ends and we’re delighted to get the winner,” said King.

“I thought second half we played really well. I thought they were the better side in the first half. I thought it was quite even, I thought we did ok but I thought second half we played well and we certainly finished the last 20 minutes of the game strongly, so we’re delighted.

“I thought (our players) gave 100%.  I think the biggest thing was the reaction because we came here a month ago in the league and we got beat 3-0 and we got beat comfortably.  We were second best on the day so massive character and reaction to come here.

“Look, everyone knows it wasn’t a great draw on paper.  You can’t really say it but it was a bad draw for us but we haven’t let it bother us. We’ve come here, we’ve given 110% and we’ve shown a bit of quality as well and I’m absolutely delighted with the boys.”

Phoenix Sports manager Steve O’Boyle sent out his assistant manager Dean Bowey, 58, for post-match media duties.

Bowey, who said he stopped playing veterans football about four years ago, said he scored 345 career goals and scored number 299, 300 and 301 in a game for now defunct side Slade Green in a 3-1 home win over Sevenoaks Town in the old Kent League on Tuesday 25 January 2005 at the age of 40.

Andy Constable equalised for Sevenoaks Town that night and in that Slade Green team featured Hayes and Martin at the very start of their successful careers.

“If ever a game was a game of two halves, that was it,” said Bowey, on today’s FA Vase exit.

“Even though it was two-all at half-time, I actually thought there was only one side that was going to go on and win it.

“I thought we gave away sloppy goals. The goal bang on half-time killed us.  When we were in the changing room, I was saying ‘just keep calm, I can only see us winning,’

“Fair play to then, I don’t suppose they can play as bad as that and win. We played well, they came out and upped their game and they ran out deserved winners really.

“We let in some silly goals, the defending wasn’t great and really we have to take it on the chin. We’re absolutely gutted.”

When asked what was missing, Bowey replied: “Our second half performance really. We just stopped playing.  I take the first half performance all day long. I thought we were superb to a man.  We did let in a couple of silly goals but the circumstances, not excuses, we got beat and fair play to them, they deserved to win but circumstances, the sin-bins against us, their goal with the last kick of the first half, it went against us.

“Fair play to Deal and good luck to them in the next round.”

Deal Town started this game on the front foot and Coyne fed Tom Chapman down the right and his cross towards the near post was met by Ben Chapman, whose flicked shot deflected past the foot of the near post after 168 seconds.

However, with 07:19 on the clock, referee Kyfer Mayhew pointed to the penalty spot.

Left-winger Kieran King clipped the ball up for Leppard to flick the ball on and Deal Town’s centre-half Kane Smith was booked for bringing Andy Pugh down inside the box.

Martin was then thrown in the sin-bin (08:33), before returning to the action at 21:02 on the clock.

Hayes stepped up (10:24) and clinically stroked his left-footed penalty into the right-hand corner of the net, sending goalkeeper Henry Newcombe the wrong way.

“As you know, everyone knows Ryan, he’s quality on set-pieces, his deliveries are great and I was so confident however long it took.  There were two or three minutes before the penalty was taken and there was never any doubt, he would put it in. He’s class,” said Bowey.

Bowey was asked what was said by Martin and Pugh that put them in the sin-bin.

“Dave Martin is in there now, he’s gutted because when he went off, that’s where the goal came from, down his side and he’s saying all he’s actually done was physically ask the ref ‘can I talk to you? Is that a sending off?’

“Obviously by the rules, if it’s the last man in the box you can’t get sent off for that and he’s just asking a question. 

“Pughie’s one late on, he was saying he swore and he said ‘the ball weren’t effing out’, but he put him in the sin bin.

“It’s a passionate game. At that time it was 3-2 and we’re going to pull one back. He feels he sensed it wasn’t out and the referee there has just got to use a bit of discretion. For me, it’s just logic. It just ruins the game. They’re big moments but no excuse.”

King added: “It was a penalty. Andy Pugh did well. Disappointed from our point of view. It was a good flick on from Leppard and Pughie’s got in the wrong side and I thought it was a penalty, no complaints on that.”

Phoenix Sports dominated the corner-count by 8-4 and were to be denied a second with 12:59 on the clock.

Hayes whipped in a high-quality delivery from the right with his magical left wand of a foot, the ball was knocked back across goal by Lewis Clark at the back post and Francis Babalola’s right-footed hooked shot was screaming into the top right-hand corner, only for the outstanding Newcombe to dive high to his left to push the ball towards safety.

Bowey said: “Their keeper pulled off some good saves and we was in it.  We had a number of chances. You don’t win games having a number of chances, you’ve got to put them in the back of the net and we never.”

King said: “I thought Henry was outstanding today. I thought he made a lot of good saves when we needed him to. I thought he did well, that was one of many good saves.”

Deal Town responded superbly and levelled proceedings with 14:18 on the clock.

Holding midfielder Billy Munday played the ball out to right-back Joe Reeves, who easily cut past Babalola down the right and putting in a low cross towards the far post where an unmarked Coyne placed his left-footed shot across Andy Walker to find the bottom far corner from six-yards.

King said: “I thought we responded well. I don’t know what happened with the sin-bin but we knew we had 10 minutes to try to get back in the game.

“I thought we moved the ball well. We knew where we could exploit, got the two-v-one on the right hand side and it was a great ball in and a good finish from Coyne at the back post.”

King was pleased that his players capitalised on their numerical advantage.

He said: “I think it’s important when you have those 10 minute periods that you’re brave and you try to commit extra bodies forward and we did that to get ourselves back in the game so I was pleased with that.”

When asked whether he felt the couple of sin-bins helped his side to progress, King replied: “I think it probably helped with the first one.  I’m not sure the one at the end had a massive impact.

“I also think we did very well in that 10 minutes (for the equaliser) because you’ve got to be brave when you go 1-0 down after 11 minutes and go and attack.  A lot of sides, when they give a goal away, just want to not give another one away quickly but I thought we were really brave to go and make the most of it.

“That’s why you have to limit sin-bins, that’s why you’ve got to try to not back-chat to the referee. We talk about it to our boys a lot. It’s really hard to play with 10 men and yes, it probably did help.”

Bowey added: “That goal came when Dave was off in the sin-bin and it came down his side. 

“Dave hasn’t actually done anything that we weren’t doing on the side line, asking the linesman things.  Dave’s done no different to what we were all doing on the side line. It’s one of those things.  It’s far better getting a booking and a sending off I suppose because he can come back on but it definitely cost us.”

The home side then started taking control of the game and were by far the better side before the interval.

Holding midfielder Lee Bird swept the ball out to Hayes on the right and he easily cut inside Deal’s left-back Jack Penny before hitting a low left-footed drive from 25-yards, which bounced off the base of the far post.

Leppard took a couple of touches before prodding his right-footed shot towards the bottom right-hand corner, only for the 25-year-old goalkeeper to dive to his left and use a strong hand to push the ball away.

Bowey said: “We had some good chances.  I’m repeating myself but the keeper made some good saves at some important times. That’s what your keeper is there for, can’t say no more really.”

King added: “I think Ryan Hayes is just outstanding, isn’t he.  He didn’t actually play when we played here last time.  Everyone knows what he’s going to do but stopping him doing it is incredibly difficult and there’s not many better players in the league than Hayes.

“Henry’s done well on the rebound, a little bit of luck went our way at that point but I think we earned that.”

Hayes was a constant threat down the right for Phoenix Sports and the pressure continued going into the half-hour mark.

Reeves gave the ball away to Martin, who drove into the final third before playing the ball inside to Pugh, whose right-footed drive from the edge of the D was comfortably caught by the busy Newcombe.

Babalola ran along the by-line down the left and cut the ball back to Leppard, who kept composed to switch the ball out to Hayes, who whipped in another trademark cross of quality for Leppard to flick his header over the crossbar from six-yards.

Dominant Phoenix Sports were thwarted by Newcombe in the 35^th minute, when Deal’s full-backs (Reeves and Penny) failed to pick up Martin and Hayes.

Martin found himself down the right wing and he switched the play over to Hayes on the left and he cut onto his wand before hitting a dipping drive towards goal from 30-yards, which was palmed away by the outstanding Newcombe underneath his crossbar.

King added: “I sound like I’m repeating myself but we know Hayes is going to be a threat. He can go with both feet when he gets out there, he’ll go left-foot, right-foot and he’s always got quality and Henry really stood up today in goal and he did very well. He’s a good goalkeeper, he’s an experienced goalkeeper and I was impressed with him today.”

Phoenix Sports’ pressure finally paid off by taking a deserved lead with 38:26 on the clock.

Bird played the ball out to a deep Hayes, who pinged a quality ball down the line to play Bird down the right channel and he put it on a plate with a low cross for Leppard to place his shot across the keeper to find the bottom far corner from eight-yards.

“It was a good finish by Luke. I thought he was superb for the first 45 minutes and deservedly got his rewards with his goal.  We did, we absolutely did deserve the lead,” said Bowey.

King added: “It’s a little bit frustrating from our point of view because we actually gave the ball away in a good area and got countered on in the one area of the pitch that we knew we were vulnerable when we gave the ball away, so from our point of view it was a bad goal to concede.

“I think the pressure was building at that point and I probably can’t argue that they didn’t deserve to go 2-1 up.  We had to go and respond and I was really pleased with the response.”

Phoenix Sports’ right-back Alfie Evans caught Penny late after a cross was put in from within the left-channel and Deal Town are always dangerous at set-pieces.

Macauley Murray floated in a cross towards the edge of the six-yard box and Munday jumped up and guided his free header across goal and past the far post.

King said: “That just shows the character of the boys that we didn’t roll over and feel sorry for ourselves.  We just got back on the front foot and created two good chances straight after the goal.

“You’ve got four, five, six teams in this league that when they play each other, the games are going to be really tight.  You’re job is to try to stay in them when they’re tight and try to get back on the front foot and we did that today.”

Reeves played the ball down the line and right-winger Tom Chapman cut inside and towards the edge of the box and his drive deflected over the crossbar after he was pushed by Martin.

Penny bent his left-footed 20-yard free-kick around the four-man wall, goalkeeper Walker dived to his right and failed to prevent the ball nestling into the bottom far corner to restore parity with 49:22 on the clock.

“I think it was a clear free-kick because as Tom Chapman shoots, Dave Martin has just got two hands in the back and I think the ref booked him as well. It was a definite free-kick,” said King.

“Jack Penny has got lots of quality. When it’s central you can have a right-foot and a left-foot over it and Penny nestles it in the corner really well.  That was an important goal for us, right on the stroke of half-time.”

Did Penny’s fourth goal of the season change King’s half-time team talk?

“It didn’t change it a huge amount because we mainly talked tactically, what we needed to do better and that was relevant whether it was 2-1 or two-all,” replied King.

“I think what it changes is the mood of the players’.  You come in on a high. The information didn’t really change. We try to effect games tactically and work out what we need to do better, rather than go in and rant and rave. We decide the half-time team talk sort of three or four minutes before we went in so not much changed in what we said.”

Bowey added: “By the way, a great free-kick, he bent it around the wall and into the far corner and Walks couldn’t really do nothing about it.

“But that came from Dave. It was a foul, a little push because he got away from him and he got a little push to stop him getting a shot in. The shot ballooned over the bar but it was a free-kick.

“You’ve got to take it on the chin. It’s a free-kick and it was a sucker punch for us.  You go in 2-1 and it’s a completely different game but even at two-all going in at half-time, that lifts them 100%.

“It was a kick in the proverbial but we were in the ascendancy. We were by far the better side.  I said (at half-time) if we go out and play like that again there will only be one winner. I honestly believed that but we didn’t play as well in the second half and that’s fair play to Deal, they upped their game and they probably didn’t let us play as well and we stopped passing the ball and we started going route one and it didn’t pay for us.”

The first 15 minutes of the second half was a frenetic, end-to-end, basketball match as Deal Town went direct after only 18 seconds.

Coyne played the ball down the line and Tom Chapman easily cut inside Phoenix centre-half Clark to chip the ball just over the top of the far post from inside the box.

The home side immediately went up the other end and Hayes cut inside and hit a deep cross for Martin to steer his header past the far post from a tight angle after 84 seconds.

“It was very unlike Deal,” admitted King.

“Our games are normally quite tight and we came here in the league and we tried to play our usual way and keep it tight and we didn’t really pose a problem, so today we thought lets go and open it up.

“If we made the game really open we could cause them problems that way. It gets frenetic in that 15 minutes and you’re thinking, we can score, they can score and it ended up being the right tactics to use today.”

The woodwork saved Deal Town for a second time in the 50^th minute.

Evans released Babalola down the line and the attacker cut along the by-line again and cut the ball back to Leppard, whose deflected shot bounced off the post and just 35 seconds later, Babalola was at it again and teed up Hayes, whose left-footed curler from the edge of the box was destined for the top far corner, only for Newcombe to dive high to his right and use a strong right hand to top the ball around the post.

“What does Ryan Hayes bring us? He’s pure quality really. We beat Hollands & Blair last week 6-0 and I think he had a hand in every goal. He’s just different gravy really, you can’t say no more than that,” said Bowey.

King said: “You look at all of their attacking players, I watch a lot of Step Five and SCEFL football and when you go and watch a game I always look at their attacking players’ and who are the real dangers and when you watch a side like Phoenix, you’ve got Ryan Hayes, Francis Babalola, Luke Leppard, Andy Pugh and they do test you.

“We’re thinking we’ve got four or five people to look after so you know you’re always going to give chances away and that’s when you need your keeper to stand up and I think he did today.”

Deal Town weathered the storm and regained control of this thrilling encounter at the halfway mark of the second half.

“Whichever team could get their foot on the ball, both teams wanted to get their foot on it and try to pass it and whichever team had a little spell of possession, the other team sort of struggled to wrestle it back and we had a real 10 minutes in the middle of that second half that sort of set us up to win the game really,” added King.

O’Boyle said pre-match that his Phoenix Sports side have been Jekyll and Hyde in recent weeks but that was the case during today’s game too.

Bowey said: “When we play well like we did first-half, like Hollands & Blair last week, two weeks before that Portchester away in the round before, we were superb and then we get a Kennington performance (2-1 defeat), so we are Jekyll and Hyde.  We’re a little bit inconsistent. We’ve just got to work at it and just keep plugging away.”

Munday clipped a diagonal pass from the middle of the pitch to release Tom Chapman, who easily cut inside Evans to reach the Phoenix penalty area before his angled drive was beaten away by Walker at his near-post.

The ball then fell to Ben Chapman, who dragged his right-footed shot across Walker and just past the far post.

“We all thought that was going to go in when it dropped to him,” said King.

“Tom Chapman was outstanding. He gave us that threat as was the front two, Coyne and Millbank.

“I talk about other teams having attacking players’ that teams have got to deal with and we’ve got that.  I think both sides had players’ in attacking areas that when their team got on top of the table, they were going to be dangerous.  They were when they got on top of the game but I also thought equally we were when we got on top of the game.”

Deal Town went close with a 35-yard left-footed drive from striker Aaron Millbank, which whistled just past the left-hand post with Walker well-beaten.

King was forced to sub Reeves and Millbank late on in the game but revealed their ‘knocks were not serious.’

Deal Town continued their dominant streak and Ben Chapman drove down the right (with Evans struggling to keep up) before Tom Chapman’s low drive was comfortably saved by Walker at his near post.

However, the 41-year-old goalkeeper was at fault for Deal Town’s third goal, when it arrived with 31:00 on the clock.

Reeves hung over a cross from the right and Millbank jumped up with Walker in the middle of the box and Walker failed to grab hold of the ball and the ball dropped for Coyne, who tapped the ball into the back of the net from six-yards.

“I thought the front two were excellent and they worked their absolute socks off,” King said of Millbank and Coyne.

“It will be interesting when we upload the GPS data because they put absolute shifts in and Aaron’s done well going up with Walks and it dropped down and Coyne’s goal was a good finish.  Two good goals from him and that’s 110 goals for the club now. The bloke’s a legend.”

Bowey added: “Walks held his hands up.  From where I was there was a melee in front of me so I couldn’t really see and he was saying ‘he really should’ve caught it.’  He’s as honest as they come Walks. If he says it’s down to him, he’ll hold his hands up.”

Despite being 37-years-old, Hayes is as good now as he was back in his Slade Green and Dartford days and he put in a free-kick of high quality into the corridor of uncertainly but centre-half Joe Denny failed to get his header on target, steering it across Newcombe and past the far post.

Phoenix Sports were reduced to 10 men for the second time in the game when Pugh was thrown in the sin-bin (40:15) but they threw caution to the wind as Deal Town sat back and soaked up the late pressure.

Evans played the ball through Coyne’s legs on the half-way line before a deep Hayes released Evans down the right and his low cross was met by Babalola at the near post, who slotted his first-time shot just past the foot of the post.

Pressing for a last-gasp equaliser to take the game to penalties, Phoenix Sports were hit on the counter-attack as Deal Town killed the game off with 44:07 on the clock.

Hayes took their first seven corners, but their eighth one was swung in from the left by Martin.

The ball was headed away by Coyne inside the penalty area and this released Penny, who drove straight down the middle of the pitch, box-to-box almost, looking around a couple of times. He waited for support and that came from Ben Chapman, who joined his team-mate and received a 10-yard inside pass to clinically drive a first-time shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

King said: “It just sort of opened up for him and he’s quite quick Penny and he’s just gone through and he was very aware of the support he had and it was a great decision (to pass it to Ben Chapman to score).

“I was a little bit loathed to make subs because the subs we were looking at were our penalty takers, obviously the Vase goes straight to pens now. 

“With Hayes’ deliveries, the game is never won so when that fourth goal went in, it was a massive relief to me that we were nice and safe for the last couple of minutes.”

Bowey added: “We threw everyone up. You might as well go out of the Vase 4-2, as 3-2.  We’ve just got to go gung-ho and get the equaliser and take it to penalties that late in the stage. 

“It’s the FA Vase, you want to get through. We’re out of the Vase now, so we’ve got to concentrate on the league.  We’re all gutted, we’re disappointed with ourselves, we know we’ve let ourselves down.”

There was to be one further chance during this enthralling game when Babalola played the ball out to man-of-the-match Hayes, who played the ball in behind Kane Smith to put Babalola through on goal but the former Cray Valley striker drilled his shot past the near post from a tight angle from eight-yards out.

Deal Town welcome league leaders Erith & Belvedere to the Kent coast next Saturday.  Tony Beckingham’s side beat struggling Canterbury City 2-0 at home today to move 10 points clear of Stansfeld at the top of the table.

Stansfeld (2-0 winners at Crowborough Athletic); Erith Town (1-0 winners over Guildford City) and First Division side Larkfield & New Hythe (2-0 winners over Tunbridge Wells) join Deal Town in the last 64.

King said: “We love this competition. It is one that means a lot to us.  You followed quite a bit of our run a couple of years ago when we went all the way to Consett. We had an unbelievable win at Binfield in that run.

“I’m going to say what I always say. We’d love a home draw against a non-SCEFL side but whatever comes out on Monday comes out on Monday.

“We’ve got a couple of big games. Erith & Belvedere at home next week in the league – a tough, massive game that we’re looking forward to – Glebe at home in the Kent Senior Trophy the week after, a massive game and then the Vase the week after that, a massive game, so it’s going to be a big three weeks for us.”

Meanwhile, Bridon Ropes, who lost 3-2 at Sporting Club Thamesmead today, and are in seventh-place in the First Division table, come to Phoenix Sports on Wednesday night in the Challenge Cup Second Round.

Phoenix Sports: Andy Walker, Alfie Evans, Dave Martin, Lee Bird, Joe Denny, Lewis Clark, Kieran King (Tom O’Connor 78), Francis Babalola, Luke Leppard, Andy Pugh, Ryan Hayes.
Subs: Tom Cousins, Remell Lake, Stanley Young, Isaac Long

Goals: Ryan Hayes 11 (penalty), Luke Leppard 39

Booked:  Dave Martin 45, Lee Bird 55, Steve O’Boyle 56 (manager),  Francis Babalola 61

Temporary Dismissals: David Martin 9, Andy Pugh 86

Deal Town: Henry Newcombe, Joe Reeves (Liam Hark 83), Jack Penny, Billy Munday, Kane Smith, Lewis Stevens-Toomey, Ben Chapman, Macauley Murray, Aaron Millbank (Riley Alford 90), Connor Coyne, Tom Chapman.
Subs: Alex Smith, Alfie Foster, Dean James, Kieron Hollier

Goals: Connor Coyne 15, 77, Jack Penny 45, Ben Chapman 90

Booked: Kane Smith 9

Attendance: 176
Referee: Mr Kyfer Mayhew
Assistants: Ms Esther Perry & Mr Albert Forbes