Deal Town focus on the FA Cup this Saturday as Southall match follows midweek league opener defeat against Faversham Town

Deal Town manager Steve King wasn’t wasting any time on prepping for a big FA Cup challenge this Saturday.

The Hoops started their Isthmian South East league campaign with a 4-2 away defeat against Faversham Town on Tuesday night but they are straight back into home cup action this weekend.

A win over Sutton Athletic a fortnight ago teed up a preliminary round match against Southall - a side King has faced before and one he’ll be working hard to overcome.

The school teacher said: “I am quite lucky that we are off [work] at the minute and Southall became Wednesday morning’s focus. We have the rest of the week to plan.

“We have played them a couple of times in the last five years, in the FA Vase and then the FA Cup a few years ago, both at home, so they are not a complete unknown entity to us and they play in the same league as Hartley Wintney, who we played on Saturday.”

King had predicted a tough midweek league opener at Faversham and got just that.

Rory Smith scored early on for Deal but Kane Haysman netted twice for their opponents.

Jack Evans then scored twice for Faversham, either side of the break to put the Lilywhites 4-1 up. Ashley Miller pulled one back from the penalty spot.

The league remains the priority for Deal but King doesn’t mind if they have to continue playing weekend cup games rather than league fixtures.

Last weekend’s penalties win over Hartley Wintney after a 1-1 draw in the FA Trophy sets up a game against Binfield at home on Saturday, August 29.

King said: “It’s a strange start to the league. If we keep going well in the cups we might not get a Saturday league game until the end of September!

“But for me, a game of football is a game of football, and whether it is FA Cup, FA Trophy or the league,