Deal Town manager Steve King targets much-improved display at Crowborough Athletic this weekend after 1-0 Isthmian South East home defeat to relegation-threatened team VCD Athletic

Steve King is hoping to see a much-improved Deal Town display this Saturday.

Eighth-placed Deal saw any lingering chance they had of an Isthmian South East play-off finish end over a difficult Easter.

The Hoops suffered a 1-0 home defeat to relegation-threatened VCD on Monday, two days after conceding a stoppage-time leveller in a 1-1 draw at Merstham.

It will be a second trip to Crowborough this season for King and his charges - attacker Rory Smith’s strike was enough for an FA Cup preliminary round win in August - and Sean Muggeridge’s side have become familiar foes over the years.

Hoops manager King said: “Crowborough is a club we get on well with.

“We go all the way back to our initial Southern Counties East League Premier Division days with them. Sean has been there for as long as I have been at Deal.

“We had a good FA Cup win there earlier on in the season. I’m looking forward to it.

"It could have that end-of-season feel - but I know the players are disappointed after Monday.

“On Saturday, we should have won 1-0 and that would have been an unbelievable result. I’m giving the players the week off because we have got a lot of tired legs.

“Hopefully, we will come back feeling refreshed.”

Vickers midfielder Alfie Evans got the game’s only goal in the 55th minute, shortly after Deal defender Jacob Strouts had hit the woodwork.

“We were really poor,” King conceded. “Credit to VCD, they were fighting, but we just didn’t get going. It looked like it was the end of the season.

“Hands up and apologies to the fans, we were very un-Deal Town-like. I didn’t enjoy watching it myself.

"We hit the inside of the post a minute before they scored, they scored a worldie from 25 yards - and that was about it. On another day, we might