Connor Coyne’s first-half goal brought Cray Valley’s five-match winning run to an end on Wednesday night as the Hoops moved back up into seventh place in the table.

Man-of-the-match Coyne pounced after 15 minutes, reacting the quickest after Sam Wilson’s shot had been blocked by Millers’ keeper Andy Walker, and that proved enough to claim the three points against a Cray side lacking their talisman and top scorer, former Charlton striker Kevin Lisbie.

But Deal should have won more comfortably after producing an all-round team performance which assistant manager Steve King described afterwards as “one of our best of the season”. The Hoops gave as good as they got against a physical Cray outfit and missed several good chances, including a penalty, to put the game to bed much earlier.

The penalty miss came after just five minutes. Joe Reeves was tripped in the box by Ali Tumkaya but Alfie Foster’s spot kick was saved low down to his right by Walker, who then denied Reeves soon afterwards as Deal dominated the opening half hour.

The Millers then started to show signs of the attacking football that had produced 15 goals in those five recent victories but the nearest they came to equalising before the break was when Calum Willock’s close-range header was ruled out for offside.

And five minutes after the restart Deal wasted a great opportunity to double their lead when Reeves hit the bar with the goal gaping after Andy Miller had lobbed the ball over Walker.

Sam Wilson, who like Coyne worked hard up front to keep the Millers’ defence constantly under pressure, also went close twice but the Hoops couldn’t produce another breakthrough which meant they had to endure a nervy last few minutes, during which Cray’s Joe N’Guessan was shown a straight red card, as the Millers fought desperately to extend their unbeaten run.

Deal: Tonkin, Paxman, Scott (D Smith 46), Bigginton (Hill 72), K Smith, Foster, A Miller, Butcher, Coyne, Wilson (C Miller 82), Reeves.