Deal Town 1-2 AFC Croydon Athletic - I'm stood here absolutely gutted, very frustrated but ultimately proud of the players and what they've put in, says Deal Town boss Steve King

Deal Town 1 – 2 AFC Croydon Athletic
Location	The Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9AU
Kickoff	07/03/2026 15:00

DEAL TOWN  1-2  AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 7 March 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Charles Sports Ground

DEAL TOWN manager Steve King says he was feeling absolutely gutted, angry, very frustrated but ultimately proud of his players after suffering a controversial last-gasp defeat to a ruthless title-chasing side.

The Hoops have climbed up to seventh-place in the Isthmian League South East Division table after winning their last seven games.  Their 9-0 home win over relegated bottom side East Grinstead Town on Tuesday night was their highest ever win in this division.

King’s men deserved at least a point against Danny Kedwell’s ruthless AFC Croydon Athletic side, who scored two of their three shots on target to grab a gifted last-gasp victory at The Charles Sports Ground.

Deal Town came out with all guns blazing and deserved their lead through striker Jamie Kennedy’s third goal of the season, following a three-man set-piece routine.

However, the threatening right-winger Josh Williams counter-attacked and clinically slotted in a leveller with the Rams’ first attempt on target.

Referee Richard Joss controversially chalked off two Deal Town goals in the second half with Alfie Foster and Ben Chapman beating Watford-born British Virgin Islands international goalkeeper, Frankie Beckles, 20.

Deal Town goalkeeper James Tonkin, meanwhile, gifted Williams his 15^th goal of the season with a howler, as AFC Croydon Athletic grabbed the winner just four seconds of normal time remaining with another ruthless counter-attack as the big-spending Rams closed the gap on league leaders Three Bridges to five points.

“I thought we were brilliant, I thought we were brilliant. I thought we played really, really well,” said King during his near 17-minute post-match interview.

“Been cost by two really, really bad decisions. We’ve scored two goals in the second half from two corners. I’ve got no idea why they’ve been disallowed!

“We’ve watched the videos back. We can’t see anything at all.

“They’ve got one (goal) in the end, a little bit of a mistake from us. They’re a good side but I thought throughout the game, I thought we played really well.

“I’m just really disappointed that – in my opinion – the games’ not been decided by, I mean like football from both sides, I think the decisions. Referee’s have got a really hard job but the first one, ok, the first one but the second one there is no touch, there’s nothing and to be given two fouls by the same player from two set-pieces we’ve scored from them both, it’s a massive game changer.

“We’ve got the video, we get it into the dug-out. That’s what I was talking to the linesman about when I got booked (18:48 into the second half), so I asked him what’s he’s seen?  The linesman (Jeffrey Davis) to be fair said to the referee, ‘no fine, we’re just having a conversation’ and I still got booked, so I’m frustrated because I thought we played so well. I thought we were really, really good.”

When asked what Danny Kedwell’s men brought to the table on the Kent coast today, King replied: “They’re good aren’t they?  They’ve got good individual players. They’re second in the League for a reason. They’ve got a good, experienced management team.

“I’m not taking anything away from them but I thought considering they’re right up there in the League, I thought we matched them.  I thought for a lot of the game we were the better side. I thought we had much more territory, lots more opportunities.

“They showed good quality with both their goals. The boy Williams was a threat all afternoon and we know that.  We prepped on what they were going to be like and fair play to them.  They’ve come down here, that will be a brilliant win for them but like I’m disappointed that we didn’t get what I thought we deserved.”

King was without Macauley Murray (thigh) and Wes Hennessey (tight hamstring).

Deal Town dominated the early exchanges and created their first opening through open play with six minutes and 13 seconds on the clock.

Kennedy played a deck pass in behind AFC Croydon Athletic centre-half Luke Dreher to put 12-goal right-winger Owen Wilkinson through on goal but Beckles rushed off his line, slid to the deck and stuck out a strong left hand to produce a big save.

“I thought we probably should’ve scored to be honest. The keeper’s done well but a bit of great play from us.   Owen’s really good in front of goal but obviously a little bit disappointing that we didn’t take that one. That would’ve given us a real leg-up,” admitted King.

Rory Smith’s header forward was flicked on by Kennedy, who released Rory Smith, who charged into the box and with centre-half Ben Wynter closing him down, the winger clipped his left-footed shot across the keeper and sailing past the top of the far post.

“We was on the front foot. I thought we got balls in behind them.  We thought we’d exploit them in certain areas and we did that,” said King.

“I thought Jamie Kennedy was excellent up front.  We lost Josh Strouts, Folkestone (Isthmian Premier Division leaders) recalled him back (from his loan) in the week, which is a bit of a blow but I didn’t think we missed him today, in respect that the front boys played, they were really good.”

Deal Town’s left-back Jack Penny was delivering some high quality set-pieces with his left foot and attacking midfielder Ben Chapman threw his head at the ball, which bounced towards the bottom far corner, which was comfortably gathered by Beckles, as the home side kept knocking on the door.

Deal Town’s early pressure paid off as they took a deserved lead with 18 minutes and 1 second on the clock, following central midfielder Jack Paxman’s third of eight long throws into the Rams’ penalty area.

His throw from within the right channel was allowed to bounce and Ben Chapman’s right-footed hooked ball forward from the edge of the penalty area went into a crowd of players and Kennedy flicked the ball across Beckles with a back header, which bounced into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.

King said:  “I thought we deserved it (the lead).  We pride ourselves being good from set-pieces.

“I thought we were good, we got bodies in the box. It was a good finish from Jamie and I thought we deserved to be in front at that point.”

AFC Croydon Athletic relished hitting long balls into the right-channel with Willaims giving Penny a threatening time but the 27-year-old winger’s attempts to curl his shots into the far corner were often speculative.

Big targetman David Bremang took too many touches inside the Deal Town penalty area – after Jacob Strouts opened the gate – and lacked composure before laying the ball off to central midfielder Harvey Kedwell, who drilled his right-footed drive over the crossbar from inside the D (23:58).

“I thought we defended that well in the end. Obviously, it came from a mistake in the first place. I thought Jacob Strouts had a really good game. He just let the ball come inside him and yes, then we scrambled well and obviously they missed,” said King.

AFC Croydon Athletic grabbed the leveller with 26 minutes and 20 seconds on the clock - just 14 seconds after the home side went close to scoring following their second of seven corners (the away side had only three).

Penny delivered an excellent corner in from the right with his left-foot and the ball was destined to dip in at the far corner, before Beckles flicked the ball away, the ball glancing the underside of the crossbar in the process.

Rams’ right-back Richard Afrane-Kesey drilled the ball forward towards the half-way line where Williams got a lucky break, then cut inside Zak Hammond and Paxman just inside the Deal half, raced into the penalty area and shaped to shoot with the inside of his left-foot, curling his shot across Tonkin and into the bottom far corner with a clinical strike in a one-v-one situation from just outside the corner of the six-yard box.

“Obviously we hit the bar with a corner, so I thought we all thought it might be going in. We haven’t reacted, he’s reacted and it bounced around,” said King.

“We was a little bit unlucky on our side.  Zak (Hammond) actually won the ball but it hit the lad’s (Williams) shin and then it bounced through and it was a bit of good composure from him (to score).

“I don’t think we probably defended the counter attack well enough in the first half.  I thought we did that a lot better in the second half. We talked about it at half-time and sort of nullified that threat but look Williams is a good player. He was at Whitstable a couple of years ago and he’s been at Cray Wanderers and Lewes (in the Isthmian League Premier) and he got the second goal as well, so fair play to him.”

Williams counter-attacked again, cutting inside Deal holding midfielder Alfie Foster, before feeding a high Wynter, whose left-footed deflected angled drive from outside the box flashed across Tonkin and pat the far post for a corner (30:45).

Jack Jebb floated the resulting corner in from the right, there was pinball inside the Deal Town penalty area and the ball came out to Afrane-Kesey, who drilled his low right-footed shot through the crowd of players and past the left-hand post.

AFC Croydon Athletic were now in control of the game at this point and they produced a sweeping move when often quiet left-winger Brandon Pierrick switched the play into the middle where Harvey Kedwell and Jebb linked up before the ball was worked over to Williams on the right but his left-footed shot from just inside the corner of the penalty area sailed over.

Penny gave the ball away to Jebb, who fed the threatening Williams, who stroked his left-footed shot across the keeper and past the far post (39:46).

“That right-hand side channel, the right-back (Afrane-Kesey) played nice balls into Williams in behind – but I thought we defended that quite well. We never really got opened up and I can’t remember them having many clear-cut chances,” recalled King.

“You’re not going to play a team that’s second in the League and not concede any chances, so yes, I thought we defended well across the day to be honest.

“I said to them (at half-time) to ‘just keep going and sort out that counter-attack’.  We spent quite a bit of time tactically, just making sure we didn’t get done on the counter attack. I thought we did really well second half and we thought set-pieces was going to be important.  We worked on a lot of them this week and then we just thought ‘keep going’ and I thought second half we were brilliant.

“I thought we did everything other than win the game. I thought we did everything that I wanted us to do but they’re two massive decisions for me.”

Deal Town created an opening after only 118 seconds into the second half.

Paxman cut inside from inside the Rams half and his attempted switch towards Foster was intercepted by Pierrick but Foster pounced on the ball and drilled his right-footed shot over the crossbar from 18-yards, with Rams’ holding midfielder James Dunne closing him down.

King was asked about his side's two-chalked off goals – both coming from Penny’s high-quality left-wing corners, with 09:53 and 16:40 on the clock.

Unfortunately, without any sponsors, this website does not have live in-play camera replays, so we’ll have to take King’s word.

“I know we get the advantage of being able to watch the video straight away now with the technologies we’ve got but I don’t know what he’s seen,” said King.

“You get subjective decisions where we watch something and we’ll disagree but I can’t even see any touch and for me that, especially on the second one, that’s so disappointing but look, it happens.”

King was asked about his thoughts on the first one – and then the second one.

“There’s a bit of jostling on the first one and I think you can always be subjective. The referee gives it (a foul). You notice there’s no real complaints from us at the time because we can’t see it.  You just think ok, he got it right.  Obviously, we’re then looking at it after (on the video within the dug-out) and you think, right.

“It’s the second one that’s really upset us because we don’t know what he’s seen. We can’t see anything!”

When King was asked whether it was a foul on the goalkeeper, he replied: “That’s what we’re guessing! “He (the referee) called our captain (Foster) over to talk and said nothing to our captain either, so I think that was just for show for the crowd because he disallowed it.

“So obviously we’re going to speak to him (the referee) after we’ve spoken but they’ve got such a hard job referee’s. Mr Joss is an experienced referee. I just find it very frustrating.  I can’t see it but that’s life…”

Penny delivered another excellent free-kick with his left-foot from midfield, the ball was knocked down by Foster, the ball came out to Paxman, who smacked his right-footed hooked volley across Beckles and past the far post from 25-yards.

King added: “We had lots of things that didn’t quite fall for us and that was another one.  Our deliveries were good, we attacked it. Jack was a little bit unlucky there.”

Foster – who was on a yellow card – brought down Harvey Kedwell and was spoken to by the referee and King immediately threw on Joshua Vincent to play in midfield to replace his captain, who was walking on a tightrope.

Tonkin lined up a three-man wall for Jebb’s resulting free-kick, which he drilled over the crossbar with his right-foot from 25-yards (24:46).

Jebb recycled the ball back into the Deal Town penalty area, the ball was headed away by Deal centre-half Strouts and fell to Dunne, who cracked a left-footed volley screaming past the left-hand post.

AFC Croydon Athletic created their second shot on target, with 34 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock.

Afrane-Kesey pinged a right-footed long ball which sailed over Penny’s head and put Williams through on goal but Tonkin came off his line and did well to smother the shot to deny the talented winger.

“I actually forget about that, so fair play.  That was probably the one in the second half, I think,” said King.

“They’re a really good side. They’ve got really good players. They’re second for a reason and they’re still in the title race.

“I thought we were brilliant (during the second half).  I thought we’ve been as good as we’ve been in any point in the last seven or eight games.  I thought we took it to them.  I thought we played with good energy.  I thought we put balls in great areas, put lots of deliveries in the box.

“Could we have tested the keeper a little bit more? Yes, I think so. I can’t remember, it’s not like he’s coming off as man-of-the-match, so we could’ve tested him a little bit more.

“The pitch doesn’t always help in terms of that last bit of quality but I thought we were brilliant!

"I'm really proud of how we've done because we've gone toe-to-toe with them. You're not going to go through and them not have a chance and Tonks' did well with that."

Deal Town squandered a glorious chance to take the lead just 29 seconds later, with King admitting it fell to the wrong man, his right-back.

Substitute left-winger Ashley Miller hit a long ball from left-to-right, the ball was flicked on Wilkinson and dropped for the unmarked Hammond, who lacked composure, lashing his right-footed half-volley over the crossbar from 16-yards.

“No disrespect to Zak at all but if I had a list of players’ to sort of put on that chance there, he might not be top of my list,” admitted King.

“But he struck it like we asked him to at half-time. Hit it properly and look on another day they nestle in the top corner don’t they? That was another big opportunity for us.”

With Deal Town pressing for the winner, they had one final chance to put the ball into the AFC Croydon Athletic penalty area with Penny’s free-kick some 40-yards from goal.

However, his delivery failed to beat the first man and the Rams cleared their lines and played the ball up to substitute Reece Grant, who hit a long left-footed diagonal towards Williams (cutting out last defender Ben Chapman) in the right-channel from close to the half-way line.

Goalkeeper Tonkin came out of his penalty area and his left-footed clearance was hit straight at Williams (who charged down the ball), and Williams held his nerve and showed his quality to chip his left-footed shot (from 30-yards) bouncing into the far corner of the empty goal to snatch the victory to the delight of the around 20 travelling fans behind the goal.

Several mint-shirted players ran over towards the away dug-out to celebrate playing their get-out-of-jail card with their management team.

“Yes, (Penny’s set-piece deliveries) were bang on, yes brilliant. I thought he had a really good game, defensively as well,” said King.

“I know Josh Wiliams scored twice and it almost looks like neither of the goals were (Penny’s fault).

“One was a counter-attack from a corner that he’s taken over the other side and the second one, he’s charged down from our goalkeeper – so I thought Penny was excellent!

“Look, I think it’s probably our first bad free-kick of the second half.  We got countered on it.

“To be fair to Tonks, it’s a mistake from him but we were still trying to win the game, that’s our mindset.

“I think if we’re 2-1 up, he just kicks it out of the ground but he’s tried to clear it up the pitch with his left-foot and the forward’s done well and it’s a great finish.

“It’s a sucker-punch. In hindsight it’s easy because he should kick it out of the ground, of course he should but if he kicks it out of the ground with 89 minutes (on the clock) when he’s got a good left-foot and if he passes it and we go and scorer from it, everyone’s saying…., so I can’t blame him.

“He’s made a couple of good saves in the game. I think it was just one of those days where things were destined not to go our way, maybe we’ve had times in this brilliant run we’ve been on where things have dropped our way and maybe today lady luck wasn’t with us.”

Deal Town created one further chance in six minutes and 8 seconds of stoppage time, (47:33) when Vincent, lurking on the edge of the Rams’ penalty area, swept a short diagonal pass to Miller, who swept his shot harmlessly wide of the near-post from inside a crowded AFC Croydon Athletic penalty area.

“Look, whatever happens between now and the end of the season, I think anyone who’s watching us – you were here for the first game of the season against Sittingbourne – I think people can see the progress that we’ve made, even with the same group of players, we’re really developing and I’m proud of that,” said King.

“I’m stood here absolutely gutted, very frustrated but ultimately proud of the players’ and what they’ve put in.”

Reece Prestedge’s Sittingbourne, meanwhile, inflicted Three Bridges’ fifth League defeat of the season with a 1-0 win at Woodstock Park today.  AFC Whyteleafe and Jersey Bulls sealed 3-0 wins over Crowborough Athletic and Hassocks respectively, while Faversham Town were held to a goal-less draw at Eastbourne Town.

Jamie Crellin’s Three Bridges remain at the summit with 78 points from 33 games.

AFC Croydon Athletic remain in second-place with 73 points (23 wins, four draws and seven defeats), while Ennio Gonnella's AFC Whyteleafe (66 points from 33 games), Sittingbourne (63 points from 33 games) and now Elliot Powell's Jersey Bulls (62 points from 34 games) are in the play-off zone tonight.

Tommy Warrilow's Faversham Town have dropped out on 62 points from 33 games, while Deal Town remain in seventh-place with 57 points (18 wins, three draws and 12 defeats), with Ben Greenhalgh’s Margate following six points behind.

 “I’m not worried. The play-offs are such a long shot for us. I’m not worried but just really proud of how we’ve played. I thought we played like a side that have won seven on the bounce,” said King.

“I thought we were brilliant. The result didn’t go our way.

“Are we going to get into the play-offs? Probably unlikely, probably unlikely, probably unlikely because we’re obviously behind but I’ll tell you now, if we play like that for the last nine games, the other sides above us are going to keep playing well and for us in our long-term development as a football club, if we can go and kick that on into next season, then that will be great.

“I’m so pleased with how we played today.  Like, I’m devastated we’ve lost the game but I can’t stand in front of the players and ask them to give me any more than what they’ve given me.

“Yes, we can ask for a bit more quality, of course we can, but I thought we gave it everything.

“Their players’ big celebration, I’ll be the same if I was them but because they’re thinking that they have got away with one and you have to do that when you’re right up the top of the league and fair play.  They were resilient, they still defended their box well and they’ve taken their chances and if I’m them. I’m happy. That’s what you have to do away from home. We did it last week at Sheppey (winning 1-0), so I’m not taking nothing from them at all.

“I’m really proud of how we’ve done and if we can play like that for the last nine games, who knows? I don’t know. We’re massive outsiders aren’t we? But we’ll keep going, you saw that today.  We clearly believe in ourselves, so we’ll see how we go.”

Deal Town make the trip to Thamesmead on Tuesday night to play fifth-from-bottom side Erith Town (32 points – eight wins, nine draws and 14 defeats) and three points clear of the relegation zone.

Hassocks (29 points from 33 games), VCD Athletic (25 points from 33 games), Beckenham Town (24 points form 31 games) and East Grinstead Town (five points from 32 games) remain in the drop zone tonight.

Aaron Jeffery’s Dockers’ were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sevenoaks Town today.

“That (their position) means nothing at this time of the season, sometimes they’re the hardest aren’t they?

“Really tough game. We’ve played them so many times, obviously a change of manager, so it will be strange going there and not coming up against Woody (Adam Woodward), so we’re looking forward to it.

“But look, if we play like we did today, we’ll have a great chance of winning the game. If we don’t, we won’t, but that’s our only aim now, to try and go there Tuesday and replicated today’s performance.

“We’ll try to keep performing. I think whatever happens now, we’ve had a great season, coming up into the second season in this League is tough. Look at the other sides who came up with us last year, other than AFC Croydon, who have obviously invested quite heavily, the other sides have found their second season a lot more tougher, Erith being one of them.

“The effort levels from the boys, today was unbelievable and we’ll do that every game until the end of the season. Anyone who pulls on a Deal Town shirt will do that, that’s how we work.”

All of the 507 fans in attendance today were flabbergasted just how Danny
Kedwell’s side committed a smash-and-grab raid to nick the three points.

When asked how long it will take to recover from the shock, King replied, “Probably tomorrow morning Steve, I think, when I wake up and all the emotions are drained out of me then.

“I’m a mix of angry, frustrated and proud and that’s football. Probably the last time I felt like this was when we lost to Lincoln (United) in the Vase (Quarter-Final, losing 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw back in March 2024).  I couldn’t quite believe we lost that day, probably the last time.

“I even had to take myself away for the last three or four minutes (today) because I thought I need to be around for the boys for the last nine games and my head was just spinning and I thought the referee’s already booked me, so I even had to keep my discipline myself there.  That’s football isn’t it? I’m going to speak to him now.”

Deal Town: James Tonkin, Zak Hammond, Jack Penny, Alfie Foster (Joshua Vincent 70), Jacob Strouts, Callum Davies, Rory Smith, Jack Paxman (Ashley Miller 74), Jamie Kennedy, Ben Chapman, Owen Wilkinson.
Subs: Joe Reeves, Alex Green, James Fielding

Goal: Jamie Kennedy 19

Booked: Alfie Foster 34, Rory Smith 40, Steve King (manager) 64

AFC Croydon Athletic: Frankie Beckles, Richard Afrane-Kesey (Reece Grant 87), Noah Watson, James Dunne (James Taylor 78), Luke Dreher, Ben Wynter, Brandon Perrick (Kadell Daniel 78), Jack Jebb, David Bremang (Jeerome Binnom-Williams 90), Harvey Kedwell, Josh Williams.
Sub: Stanley Oldfield

Goals: Josh Willams 27, 90

Booked: James Dunne 37, Luke Dreher 79

Attendance: 507
Referee:  Mr Richard Joss
Assistants:  Mr Jeffrey Davis & Mr Kiran Bailey
Observer: Mr Mark Joy