Deal Town boss Steve King says all eyes will be on how they react at Southern Counties East Premier Division champions Erith & Belvedere after Kent Senior Trophy heartbreak

All eyes will be on Deal’s reaction after their Kent Senior Trophy Final heartbreak.

That’s the verdict of manager Steve King, as they visit newly-crowned champions Erith & Belvedere tonight and aim to keep their own hopes of a top-two Southern Counties East Premier Division finish alive.

Maximum points from their last two league matches could yet still see Deal earn the runners-up position and a shot at promotion to the Isthmian League through the play-offs.

After a 6-0 thrashing by Punjab United in Sunday’s Final, King said: “We’ve just had a long chat in there.

"Everyone is going to be watching us, aren’t they?

“No one in the world would have expected that result so everyone is going to be watching our reaction. We just said to the boys that our job is to go and get six points.

“We’ve got to try at Erith & Belvedere, and then we’ve got to try and win at home to Sutton [this weekend]. If we get 80 points, then we’ve had an unbelievable season.

"That’s all we can do now.

“I trust those players in that dressing room. We weren’t at our best on Sunday but the way I work is we stick with squads, we stick with people and we just owe a massive apology to everyone who travelled.

“It wasn’t for a lack of effort or a lack of trying.

"It just didn’t go for us.”

More than 1,000 Deal fans headed to Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium for the Trophy Final - only to see them concede four goals in 26 first-half minutes.

On the club’s support this season, King said: “We’ve had an unbelievable level of support.

“The biggest disappointment of Sunday is we’ve let them all down.

"Fair play, they were still clapping us off at the end - I’m not sure we deserved it, based on our performance.

“Obviously, we’ve had brilliant support all season. We’re