Deal Town manager Steve King insists team are much-improved from maiden Isthmian South East season as 4-1 win at Crowborough Athletic moves them past last campaign’s tally ahead of home match against Jersey Bulls

Manager Steve King insists Deal have been much better this season than they were last campaign.

The eighth-placed Hoops bounced back from last Monday’s 1-0 home loss against now-relegated VCD Athletic with a 4-1 weekend win at Crowborough.

Victory took Deal onto 66 points - one more than they finished the 2024/25 campaign, their first at Isthmian South East, on - with two league fixtures to go.

But King believes there could have been as much as a 20-point swing in terms of the points accumulated over the two seasons if they had made the absolute most of their displays.

He said: “I would have bitten your hand off for that at the start of this season.

“We targeted getting into the play-off places. With where we came last year, it would be negative not to.

“But it was sort of ‘Aim for the play-off places, with a big danger sign around what can happen to teams in the second season.’. We have aimed for the play-off places but, actually, let’s just make sure that we secure our status.

“We have left so many points out there, as well. I know quite a lot of sides will say that but, last year, we probably maximised the points we could get - we got 65 and probably deserved 55 - whereas, this year, we’d like to try and get to 70 if we can.

“We will end with more than what we got last year but, probably, could have had quite a lot on top of that!

“Although it won’t look like it, I would say there has been a 20-point swing. We were a mid-50s team last year and, probably this year, we have been a mid-70s team.

“I’m certainly pleased with that.”

King has always been eager for the Hoops to recover well from setbacks and they did exactly that at Crowborough.

“We pride ourselves on not having two poor performances back-to-back,” he said.