Deal had two players sent off as they earned a replay in Saturday’s FA Cup extra preliminary round tie at Longfield.

Charlie Walsh and Joe Reeves were both shown red cards in the second half, along with a Corinthian player, in a proverbial “game of two halves”.

At half-time it looked as though Deal, who had new signing Steve Butcher making his debut, were going to end their 25-year wait for an away victory on the opening day of the season. They took the lead after seven minutes when Reeves converted a Ryan Philpott cross, and seven minutes later Philpott was on target himself following a cross by Butcher.

The same Philpott-Butcher combination almost produced a third goal for Deal on 20 minutes and Derek Hares’ side were then given a “let-off” when Corinthian struck the post with a penalty before half-time.

However, the Longfield side did reduce the arrears two minutes after the restart through Donvieve Jones and then both teams had a player sent off, with Walsh seeing red for Deal.
And Corinthian then made it 2-2 through Jack Bath on 64 minutes before Deal were reduced to nine men when Reeves was sent off five minutes from time, but their nine men managed to hold out in the closing stages to earn a second “bite of the cherry” at the Charles Ground on Tuesday.