Deal Town manager Steve King says side aren’t a million miles away from competing with best in Isthmian South East despite defeats against Sittingbourne and Margate

Boss Steve King insists Deal aren’t a million miles away from competing with the best in Isthmian South East - despite back-to-back defeats.

The Hoops were beaten 5-0 at play-off occupants Sittingbourne on Saturday after being edged out by another promotion-chasing side, Margate, in last Tuesday’s 1-0 home loss.

Deal failed to convert a second-half penalty against Gate and couldn’t find a way through, despite late pressure.

And while King accepted his team didn’t deserve anything from their trip to Woodstock, as James Tonkin returned in goal, he did feel they were better than the scoreline suggests.

He explained: “I don’t ever want to sound like a deluded manager, but I think we have been really unlucky.

“Against Margate, I thought we were outstanding. We played really well and I don’t know how we didn’t get something.

“We conceded just after half-time - then it was all us. We missed a penalty, had one cleared off the line and hit the crossbar and, to be fair to Margate, they said we were very good after the game.

“Sittingbourne’s home form has been outstanding so we changed our shape. We restricted them to eight or nine shots - and still found ourselves 3-0 down.

“A little bit like against Beckenham, we fell apart once the game had gone.

“We were 3-0 down and they scored on 88 and 93 minutes, and it looks like we were absolutely smashed. We weren’t.

“Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t create loads but we certainly didn’t deserve to lose by five.

"Although we lost by five on Saturday, I didn’t feel like we were miles off it. But we’ve just got to take our medicine.”

Forward Hatcher became the latest player to fail to convert a spot-kick for the Hoops, albeit there was some controversy around Margate goalkeeper Tom Wray’s save