Familiar faces to lock horns as Deal Town start FA Trophy campaign with away game against Erith Town in first qualifying round

Familiar faces will lock horns when Deal start their FA Trophy campaign this Saturday.

Steve King’s side are scheduled to visit divisional Isthmian South East rivals Erith Town in the first qualifying round.

While FA competitions usually provide teams with the opportunity to play slightly different opposition, that’s certainly not the case for Deal and Adam Woodward’s Dockers, who have faced one another plenty over in recent years.

Boss King admitted: “It’s probably more what we don’t know about each other.

“It wasn’t our ideal draw. In the FA Trophy, you hope to get drawn against sides you don’t normally play.

“But we’ve probably played Erith Town more than anyone else in the last 10 years!

“We’ll know a lot about each other and we always have close games against them. They beat us 2-1 in both games last year and I’m sure Saturday will be another good one.

“Woody is a very good manager.

"They might not have set the world alight but, with their start to the season, it looks like they have been quite unlucky.

“We went out at the first hurdle in the FA Trophy last year (1-0 against Ashford) so it’ll be good if we can progress.”

Deal were 2-0 home victors against Southern League Premier Division South Cobham in last weekend's FA Cup first qualifying round fixture.

“We deserved it,” reflected King, who had to take forward Rory Smith off through injury early on and was without the cup-tied Jacob Strouts and injured midfielder Macca Murray. “I thought we played well.

“It was a good week for us, with the win at Herne Bay.

“Hopefully, it’ll help to kick-start our season.”

For the Hoops, who have welcomed No.1 James Tonkin back this season, it was a second clean sheet in their last four games for their new-look defence - both