Deal Town boss Steve King on an agonising 2-1 Isthmian South East loss at Jersey Bulls, a downturn in results and this weekend’s fixture against strugglers Beckenham Town

Steve King is confident Deal will go on another strong run if they keep performing how they have done.

An injury-time goal denied the Hoops a point at Jersey Bulls as they agonisingly lost 2-1 last weekend.

It was a third Isthmian South East defeat in four games, sandwiched between last Tuesday’s 4-1 derby success against high-fliers Faversham.

But Deal had been defeated just once in eight fixtures prior to that and boss King remains optimistic an upturn in fortunes is around the corner.

On struggling weekend visitors Beckenham, he said: “They’re a good side.

“They have got a lot of good players. They haven’t changed their squad massively from last season when they did very well.

“We’re going to have to defend well. I know we have conceded a few goals lately but I think they have come more from momentum shifts in games.

“Our job is to try and perform at the levels that we have done recently.

"Certainly since we played Chatham in the FA Cup, where we played really well that day, I think we have played poorly once. That was in the Sheppey game.

“Even in games we haven’t won in that run, I have come away really buoyed by our performances. As I’ve said to the players, if we keep doing that, we will go on another really good run.

“I don’t think many people fancied us to beat Faversham last week. But after I saw the way we played at AFC Croydon the Saturday before, I really fancied us.

“People might just see we lost at Jersey on Saturday - but anyone who actually watched the game wouldn’t be worried about our form.

“We’re not going to worry too much about Beckenham, other than doing our usual research and our usual homework. We’re going to try to perform to the levels we have done.

“Hopefully, that will be good enough.”

Becken