Deal Town 3-5 Burgess Hill Town - When we're playing those top sides, we're not there yet but I understand fans' frustration but we just didn't look like Deal Town, admits manager Steve King

Deal Town 3 – 5 Burgess Hill Town
Location	The Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9AU
Kickoff	04/01/2025 15:00

DEAL TOWN  3-5  BURGESS HILL TOWN
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 4 January 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from The Charles Sports Ground

DEAL TOWN manager Steve King says he didn’t recognise his tired side as they continued their 100 per cent losing record in all of their eight games against teams currently in the top five of the Isthmian League South East Division table.

Burgess Hill Town – jointly-managed by Gary Mansell and Jay Lovett – put in a very impressive performance and dominated for 75 minutes of this game, played in bitterly cold temperatures of five degrees on the Kent coast.

The Hillians’ have now won all of their last five league games and are sitting in fourth-place in the table and they raced into a dominant two-goal lead inside the opening 24 minutes through attacking midfielder Ben Pope before holding midfielder Bobby Price hooked in following a set-piece.

Battered and lacklustre seventh-placed Deal Town were lucky to be only two goals down going into the break but they did pull a goal back early in the second half through a sublime volley from centre-half Alfie Foster following a set-piece.

However, Burgess Hill Town swiftly killed off any momentum with the outstanding right-winger Stefan Vukoje, 23, slamming home their third goal before Pope headed in his eighth goal of the season before Vukoje’s sublime strike as Deal Town have now leaked 25 goals in those eight games against the top five sides.

Deal Town did show some character to pull a couple of late goals back to make the scoreline more respectable with Archie Hatcher and Morgan Pace coming off the bench to score inside the last eight minutes, as the home side struggled with this being their fourth game in the last nine days over the festive period.

“A poor day for us. We haven’t had many this season but we were second best throughout the whole game.  Fair play to Burgess Hill, they’re a good side,” admitted King.

“We looked like it was a game too far for us. We’ve had a lot of difficult games over Christmas, not making excuses, but having been promoted, we’re not used to such a busy Christmas schedule and we’ve had a lot of games here, difficult games against Sheppey United (winning 3-1), Herne Bay (drawing 1-1) on heavy pitches, a long trip to Lancing (winning 5-0) and a real difficult game on Wednesday away to Ramsgate (losing 3-0).

“I thought it looked a game too far for us today. We didn’t look ourselves; we didn’t play with our usual energy and I thought we were second best.

“Fair play to Burgess Hill, they put us to the sword. They were clinical, they defended very well, that sounds very ironic as it ended up being 5-3, but certainly when the game was tidy, they didn’t give us much.

“I think they had the benefit of not having played on Wednesday. I think at this time of the year it’s an advantage but that’s not the defining factor of the result. I think the factor in us not really laying a glove on them as we would’ve done.

“They’ll definitely get into the play-offs and from what I’ve seen I wouldn’t be writing them off in terms of getting promotion. I thought they were as good as we’ve played in the league this season.”

Burgess Hill Town came out of the traps on the front foot and won key battles all over the pitch with centre-half Nathan Cooper having time and space to play out from the back, midfield pair Price and Kieran Rowe dominating and Vukoje being the away side’s main threat down on the right wing.

For Deal Town, Joe Reeves (left-back), Tommy Lamb, Macauley Murray (holding midfield pair) were awful and the likes of wingers Ashley Miller, Tom Chapman, central striker Rory Smith and attacking midfielder Ben Chapman were not their usual threatening selves.

“I just think all over the pitch, I thought they were better than us,” admitted King.

“From our point of view, there were some valid reasons why we weren’t as good as what people normally expect us to be but that takes nothing away from them, they were deserved winners.”

Dominant Burgess Hill Town took their lead with their first attempt on target, with 10 minutes and 27 seconds on the clock.

Reeves’ low pass out of defence was intercepted by Cooper on the half-way line and he hit a long diagonal over the top to central striker Tom Chalaye on the left.  He easily beat two defenders  (Jack Paxman and Joshua Vincent) inside the box and hung over a cross towards the back post where the unmarked Pope steered his diving header across Adam Molloy and into the far corner, as Foster failed to pick up his man.

King said: “We’ve had a slight problem at left-back. Alex Green picked up an injury (at Ramsgate) on Wednesday. Jack Penny’s still not there, so we had to play Joe Reeves out of position. I thought he did alright.

“We just tried to counter, a bit of confusion as we passed it forward.  One person’s gone to show and then spun and they’ve intercepted it.

“It’s a great ball over the top and I thought their nine (Chalaye) was outstanding all afternoon, especially he’s turned our two defenders the wrong way. They’ve put a great cross in and it’s a great header.

“Teams who are that clinical tend to do well and we didn’t start the game great but they weren’t all over us in the first 10 minutes but that sort of set the tone after that.”

Deal Town created just the one goalscoring chance during their awful first half performance, coming with 14 minutes and 25 seconds on the clock.

Murray played the ball along the deck to release Miller who travelled over the halfway line and ran into the left-channel and had three yellow shirted players swarming around him as he held the ball up.

The ball was played into the box where the 16-goal Tom Chapman cut the ball onto his left-foot before drilling his shot high and wide of the far post from 17-yards.

“I think when you can remember your good chances that’s quite rare for me because we normally create quite a lot of them and at the end of the game you’re trying to remember back,” said King.

“Tom’s been in great form. It would’ve been nice if that one would’ve nestled in, to get us back in the game but we were feeding off scraps really in the first half.”

Burgess Hill Town were given plenty of time and space to play out from the back on serval occasions as Deal’s front men lacked any desire to go and press.

Centre-half Marcus Allen launched a long ball out of defence and left-winger Joseph Overy put in a cross towards the back post where Vukoje brought the ball down before hitting a right-footed half-volley screaming towards the near corner, only for Molloy to dive to his left to push around his near post.

The away side only won three corners and their first one was floated in by Overy and Allen came up from the back to tower his header straight at Molloy, who caught the ball comfortably as the ball sailed over a crowd of players.

“This sounds stupid but I thought Adam did well in goal today. He made some good saves. I don’t think he could’ve done anything about any of the goals to be honest. If you put the best goalkeeper in the world in goal, I think all five probably go in,” added King.

“I thought the seven (Vukoje) was really lively for them.  The nine (Chalaye) was very good. Pope’s done well, got a couple of goals and Price and Rowe in midfield ran it, so that’s probably the sign of a good side isn’t it when you’re looking at all of the opposition players saying they did well.”

Pope showed more desire to win the ball from Murray as both players slid in for the ball in the middle of the pitch and the ball was played into the unmarked Chalaye, who drilled his right-footed shot screaming past the left-hand post from 35-yards in a central position, as Deal Town’s midfield went missing again.

Dominant Burgess Hill Town deservedly doubled their lead with 23 minutes and 11 seconds on the clock.

Hillians’ right-back Hamish Morrison clipped a right-footed free-kick into the box from 35-yards out and Price brought the ball down before turning and hooking his right-footed shot from the front of a crowd of players, across Molloy to find the bottom far corner.

“Frustrating that one because it’s been clipped into near post and someone’s run off someone and it’s a good finish,” said King.

“I need to watch that one back on the video because that’s one of the goals I’m really disappointed with because it’s come from a set-piece and it wasn’t as if it was a brilliant ball in or anything like that.

“It was a little bit scrappy and I think we could’ve defended that one better so that was a real killer blow.

“We looked a bit leggy anyway. To then go 2-0 down in the first half, it took all of the momentum out of us really.”

King was asked to explain his verbal conversation with a home fan who voiced his discontent from within the seated stand, just yards from the manager.

“I understand fans’ frustration. I just think we’ve had a way of playing at home for three years’ now. We won the SCEFL by nine points last year, we’re in the top seven having been promoted so when people are shouting about changing the way you do things like…

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but I think sometimes there’s a little bit of understanding.  Like you said, Burgess Hill were the better side than us. Ultimately, they were the better side.

“I understand the fans’ frustration but I think they also have got to understand that at the minute there’s four teams in this league that are better than others. The league table shows that.  Sittingbourne, Ramsgate, Margate and Burgess Hill and there’s a massive fight on for the fifth spot in the play-offs.

“I think there might be a big gap and those four are better than everybody else. I think sometimes people just have to understand that when we’re playing those top, top sides, we’re not there yet.

“If you take those four teams I’ve mentioned, we’ve played seven games against them and we’ve lost all seven. That’s not because we’ve been poor in them, it’s just because at the minute they’re better sides than what we are.

“What we’ve done well all season is we’ve beaten the sides that are in and around us and below us and that’s why we’ve had a really good season, in my opinion.  Where we’ve struggled is against the real top sides but I don’t have a problem with that at this point because that wasn’t our aim.

“Our aim wasn’t to come in this league and get promoted and go straight up. We haven’t got the budget. We haven’t got the sized squad to be able to do that.

“I understand fans’ frustration. They pay their money but sometimes a little bit of understanding is important as well.”

Burgess Hill Town were denied a third goal with 33 minutes on the clock as Molloy made a vital save.

Cooper hit a long ball forward, the ball was flicked on by Vukoje before Chalaye threaded the ball through the heart of the pitch to put Vukoje through on goal and his left-footed shot was smothered by Molloy, low to his right.

“A great save that, a great save. They’ll say it was a great move, great movement.  I think they had a head of steam up at that point,” added King.

Murray’s sloppy low pass was intercepted by Overy on the half-way line before Pope played the ball into Vukoje, who dug the ball out from underneath his feet from inside the box to slip the ball past the right-hand post with Molloy clearly beaten.

Deal Town can be relied upon attacking set-pieces and defending them – but even their ace card was out of action today as they offered no threat going forward and all 11 players lacked desire during the first half.

Overy put in another free-kick from the left and the ball came out to Rowe on the right and he recycled the ball back into the box and the impressive Pope’s right-footed shot on the turn from 12-yards whistled over Molloy’s crossbar.

It was a surprise that King didn’t make any substitutions at the interval and they were lucky to only be two goals down following his side's awful first half performance.

“I try to be level headed and I try not to be someone (who has a go at my players' during the half-time break). I more rant and rave when we’re winning and I’ve not been happy because I think it’s too easy when you’re losing to go and it’s often counter-productive,” said King.

“I said we just didn’t look like Deal Town. That was it basically. We didn’t look like the side that people would think of us and I just asked for a bit more energy, to try to get on the front foot a little bit.

“We tried to give a bit of tactical information, we talked through some stuff but the main thing for me it’s probably only the second time this season – after Haywards Heath in The FA Cup when we lost 2-0 in August – where we haven’t really looked ourselves.”

Deal Town’s players found their desire and started to win second balls in midfield at the start of the second half and they pulled a goal back after three minutes and 21 seconds on the clock.

Smith finally got going and was doubled up on and won a foul from Burgess Hill Town’s left-back Reggie Ward.

Murray swung the ball in from the corner of the box and the ball was cleared out to Foster, who stroked a right-footed volley from 16-yards through the crowd of players and across goalkeeper Slavomir Huk (who didn’t make a save during the entire game) and nestled sweetly into the bottom far corner.

King was asked about the goal and why he didn’t make any changes at the break.

“At that point, you think, you never know.

“We didn’t make any subs at half-time. Maybe, I didn’t know who to bring off. It sounds stupid but it wasn’t tactical – we weren’t great!

“I thought everyone looked flat, so I said to them all ‘get back out there.’  I could’ve subbed any of them at half-time. I like to keep faith in players. I said to them ‘come on, let’s at least start with a bit of energy’ and I thought we did that.”

However, any brief momentum was snuffed out as Burgess Hill Town claimed their third goal on the counter-attack, timed at seven minutes and eight seconds.

Price charged down the right before slipping the ball into Pope inside the box who set up Chalaye, whose shot was parried by Molloy and the ball came out to the unmarked Vukoje, who drilled his first-time right-footed drive across Molloy and into the net.

“It’s a great counter from them isn’t it,” said King.

“I can’t remember exactly how it came about but yes, a great counter.  I thought Molloy done brilliantly to save it and you think ‘we got away with that there’ but the lad’s there, high energy to get into the box and follow it up.

“It’s obviously a momentum killer for us. You go back to 2-1 and you think ‘come on, we could have 10 minutes here’ and within four minutes that was a real killer blow that third goal.”

Clinical Burgess Hill Town notched their fourth goal with their next attempt, timed at 13 minutes and 16 seconds.

The dominant Cooper hit a long ball out of defence to release Vukoje down the right and he hung up a cross towards the far post. The ball was knocked clear by Joshua Vincent but landed on Pope’s head and he looped the ball over Molly and into the top far corner of the net from six-yards.

“He made a good run, like the first one.  To be fair Macca Murray tracked him and just got beaten in the air. It was tough,” said King.

“We scored five away from home in one half last week at Lancing and when the other team get their tails up and they’re on top, like we were last week, it can be hard to stop them.

“I thought they looked fresh, they looked energetic as a side and then they’re bringing on Chris Whelpdale off the bench and people like that. It shows the strength of their squad.  Martyn Box, their winger, who came on, is decent.

“It just made for a tough second half, although we started the second half well.  Once that third one went in, it just deflates you off all energy and it was tough after that.”

Overy then delivered a quality free-kick from 35-yards, which sailed towards the back post where Cooper powered his header across Molloy and just past the far post.

King made a treble substitution with 64 minutes on the clock, hooking Smith, Miller and Tom Chapman, who all failed to make an impact on the game and bringing on Ifeoluwa Oni (wide right), Hatcher (wide left) and Wesley Hennesey (central striker).

There was crowd trouble from the canine variety as two dogs started fighting with each other from in front of the main stand – it was the only bite that was on show during this sorry performance from Deal Town.

Vukoje produced a moment of sheer quality as he scored the away side’s fifth goal, with 22 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock.

Chalaye ted him up before Vukoje’s left-footed shot on the turn from 18-yards dipped over Molloy’s shoulder and clipped the underside of the bar before crossing the line.

“It looked like a great strike. I’ll have to watch it back but it looked a real good strike,” said King.

“When your luck’s out and things are going against you, they seem to fly in don’t they and at that point you’re thinking ‘crickey!’ but I think after that, the boys responded well.  They’re 5-1 up, they’ve taken the foot of the pedal a little bit but we always try to keep playing for our fans and not give yup and I thought we did that.”

Home fans jumped off their seats and started heading for the exit as they had seen enough.

King said: “It’s a freezing cold day and when it goes 4-1, 5-1 with 20 minutes left, I’m not going to have a go at anyone (for leaving early).

“Our supporters’ are amazing and I might’ve been packing my stuff up and going at that point.  Today we were second best and Deal fans won’t be used to watching that!"

Deal Town have scored 56 league goals and conceded 56 league goals during their 26 games in this eighth-tier division.

King said: “We’re entertaining, aren’t we?  We’re working very hard defensively. Actually, it’s a little frustrating, we’ve only conceded five on our good little run and when you play good sides sometimes it comes down to individual ability rather than organisation. We’ve conceded eight in two which messes up your goal difference.”

Twenty-five of those goals have come against the current top five and King added: “I’m not defending the players but if you take those amount of goals our defensive record doesn’t look too bad.

“What we’re struggling with is when we play the real top sides. I think maybe a bit of naivety. We’re still attacking and having a go but we’re conceding too many but I’m pleased that we’ve scored 56, so that bodes well because it’s easier to stop conceding goals than it is to start scoring them.”

A pass from Burgess Hill Town substitute Chris Whelpdale ended in Morrison’s left-footed shot on the turn trickling past the foot of the far post, with Molloy rooted to the spot.

Deal Town played their best football inside the final 10 minutes of the game.

Ben Chapman sprung into life for the first time and released Oni down the right and his cross was met by Ben Chapman’s free-header, which flashed past the right-hand post from 12-yards.

Burgess Hill Town’s substitute left-winger Martyn Box released Ward, who charged forward, cut inside and stroked a right-footed angled drive from outside the box which was comfortably saved in Molloy’s midriff down on his knees.

Deal Town pulled a second goal back with 36 minutes and 56 seconds on the clock, with two of their subs linking up well down the right.

Hatcher released Hennessey down the right and he put in a deep cross which found Hatcher unmarked at the far post and his right-footed drive from 12-yards went in off the underside of the crossbar and assistant referee Amarachi Okamgba signalled the ball had crossed the line for Hatcher’s fourth goal of the season.

King said: “The boys did say it was in. There was no real reaction because it was 5-1. He did say it bounced down and had gone in.

“I thought Wes did well when he came on. We made the subs after their third goal. We took all three front boys off and changed the front line. I thought the boys that came on, it’s a tough task coming on at 3-1 but I thought they’ve done well.

“I thought Wes did well for the goal. Archie did well and it’s a good finish off the underside of the bar.”

Murray delivered a right-footed free-kick from 35-yards, the ball was knocked on by Foster inside the box and Hennessey drilled a right-footed hooked drive across the keeper and the ball whistled past the far post.

Deal Town made the scoreline much more respectable as they scored their third goal with 44 minutes and 8 seconds on the clock, with three substitutes combining.

Hennessey fed Maxwell Niblett, who cut in and along the 18-yard line before feeding Page, who stroked his left-footed shot across Huk to find the bottom far corner with a clinical strike.

“Burgess Hill are 5-2 up going into added on time, they’ve dropped off a little bit. It was nice to get a couple of goals at the end because 5-3 looks better than 5-1. We kept going,” said King.

“Morgan’s only a young lad, he’s 17. He’s scored a few goals for us, done well and he’ll get his opportunities between now and the end of the season.”

Vukoje unleashed a right-footed drive from 25-yards, which flashed across Molloy and past the far post at the other end to deny the man-of-the-match a hat-trick.

When asked about his injury list, King revealed: “It’s not too bad. We’ve just played so many games.

“Alex Green picked up a knock on Wednesday. Jack Penny is close. Jamie Kennedy is close, did the warm-up today. Aaron Millbank, sometime towards the end of January, hopefully.  Kane Smioth has gone on dual-registration with Canterbury, so he’s not a million miles away, if he can get through unscathed for a month there.

“We’ve played a lot of games in a short space of time and it’s probably one too many today.”

With Ryan Maxwell’s Sittingbourne reaching the last 16 of The FA Trophy for the first time with a 2-1 home win over Salisbury, Ramsgate reclaimed their place at the summit with a statement 5-0 away win at Three Bridges today.

Ben Smith’s men have picked up 62 points from their 23 games.

Sittingbourne are now back in second place with 60 points from 23 games, Ben Greenhalgh’s Margate remain in third-place with 53 points from 24 games and Burgess Hill Town are now in fourth-place with 45 points from 20 games and Del Oldfield’s Beckenham Town have dropped to fourth with 44 points from 23 games.

Ernie Batten’s Sheppey United (39 points from 23 games), Deal Town (37 points - 12 wins, one draw and 13 defeats) from 26 games and Ashford United (37 points from 25 games) make up the top eight.

The bottom eight contains Keith Millen’s AFC Croydon Athletic (24 points from 21 games), Steve Lovell’s Herne Bay (24 points from 23 games), Three Bridges (21 points from 20 games) and Lancing (18 points from 24 games).

The four teams trapped inside the relegation zone tonight are Littlehampton Town (17 points from 23 games), Darren Anslow’s Phoenix Sports (14 points from 24 games), Nick Davis’s Hythe Town (14 points from 23 games) and Steyning Town Community (13 points from 24 games).

Deal Town welcome Steyning Town here next Saturday – a side that stunned Danny Kedwell’s Ashford United with a 3-2 home win today to claim their third league win of the season, as they're finding their first season at this level extremely tough going.

“It’s a game that we’ll be looking to win. Our record against sides that have been in the bottom half of the league has been pretty good and it’s going to be a completely different game to today,” said King.

“We’ll rest up this week, we’ll train, we’ll do our analysis and we’ll do our work and we’re looking forward to it.

“We want to get to 42 points. I think that definitely gets you safe. It might not be that many. We’re on 37 points so if we win next Saturday then we’re two points away and that’s our ultimate aim for the season.

“We won’t get derailed by losing to good sides. We’re too level headed, we’ve been around for too long to sort of worry about that.

“If I’m conceding five goals at home to a team in the relegation zone then yes, different story but that’s not us.

“We’re almost like a racehorse that runs to form. We almost do what’s expected, even positively, sometimes unfortunately negatively but that’s fine.

“We’re looking forward to Steyning. They’re not a bad side. All the sides down the bottom of this league, none of them are rubbish but they are in the bottom four, so people will make us favourites on paper and I’m hopeful we will win the game.”

Deal Town: Adam Molloy, Jack Paxman (Maxwell Niblett 69), Joe Reeves, Tommy Lamb (Morgan Page 73), Alfie Foster, Joshua Vincent, Ashley Miller (Ifeoluwa Oni 64), Macauley Murray, Rory Smith (Wesley Hennessey 63), Ben Chapman, Tom Chapman (Archie Hatcher 64).

Goals: Alfie Foster 49, Archie Hatcher 82, Morgan Page 89

Booked: Jack Paxman 42, Joe Reeves 90

Burgess Hill Town: Slavomir Huk, Hamish Morrison, Reggie Ward, Bobby Price, Nathan Cooper, Marcus Allen (Alexander Malins 74), Joseph Overy (Martyn Box 62), Kieran Rowe (Chris Whelpdale 69), Tom Chalaye (Brannon O’Neill 79), Ben Pope (Daniel Perry 79), Stefan Vukoje.

Goals: Ben Pope 11, 59, Bobby Price 24, Stefan Vukoje 53, 68

Booked: Reggie Ward 48, Bobby Price 85

Attendance: 446
Referee: Mr Edward Smith
Assistants: Mr Amarachi Okamgba & Mr Matthew Williams