Deal Town reaction from manager Steve King as they lose to Lincoln United in the FA Vase quarter-final

Deal Town’s FA Vase hopes were ended on penalties but the manager felt his side should have been out of sight in the first half.

Few would be able to disagree with manager Steve King’s assessment as the Hoops attacked at will down the right flank during the opening half, responding well after conceding a 15th-minute opener. They got back level before the break but never managed to get their noses in front.

Report: Lincoln 1 Deal 1 (4-3 on pens)

Deal boss King said: “It was an end-to-end game, an open game between two good sides and the boys put in a massive effort. For us, we had to kill the game off in the first half when we were dominant.

“If you get in front at any point in the game then you haven’t got to work quite as hard, you can sit in, you can defend, but we never got our noses in front and that meant it kept getting stretched and there were tired legs.

“We’re a very fit side, we do an awful lot of running, but maybe that sometimes is to our detriment. We put in a massive shift last Saturday and on Tuesday (winning back-to-back away league games 3-0) and maybe it was a game too far.”

Tom Chapman was a constant threat down the flank and the Lincoln left-back would have been relieved to see him withdrawn in the second half after giving his all. It wasn’t to be on the day for Deal as the match ended 1-1 and the home side won the penalty shoot-out.

King said: “We played very well first half and we had done our homework, we knew where we could get in and thought we got in numerous times but just lacked what you could call luck, or quality.

“The crosses weren’t quite dropping to someone or if it did drop to someone they got a block and it didn’t quite happen for us.

“I was a little disappointed in the second half,