After the disappointment of their midweek FA Cup exit Deal bounced back with a comfortable home win over Rusthall on Saturday.
Three first-half goals meant the Hoops were able to “take their foot off the gas” after the break as Derek Hares’ side continued their encouraging start to the new league season.
Hares said: “I thought it was a good response from the lads after what happened at Whitstable (in the cup), especially when you consider we were again missing several players today.
“We played some good stuff in the first half and, although we went a bit flat in the second half, we kept a clean sheet and that’s seven points from three games which we would have taken at the start.”
Deal were dominant in the opening period against a Rusthall side who, after narrowly avoiding relegation last season, had won two of their opening three games of the new campaign. But the Tunbridge Wells outfit fell behind after just four minutes when Connor Coyne nodded home following a corner and that gave the Hoops just the lift they needed after their 4-3 cup exit at Whitstable.
They forced several more corners in the opening half hour, and from one of them Sam Wilson headed against the bar before Deal went 2-0 ahead on 33 minutes thanks to a superb five-man move finished off by Ben Cardwell.
And it was Cardwell again who added Deal’s third just two minutes later, heading in Steve Butcher’s cross from just inside the area for his fourth goal of the season.
After posing only an occasional threat in the first half Rusthall were more competitive after the break but couldn’t find their way past a solid Hoops’ defence. And although Deal were now not as sharp going forward as they had been earlier on, they had already done enough to seal the points.
Hares added: “We’ve made a good start but that’s all it is. We‘ve now got two tough games coming up at Sheppey on Tuesday and then Lordswood at home, and I think we will have a better idea of where we stand after those two matches.”
Deal: Tonkin, O’Brien, K Smith, Bigginton, Scott, Butcher (Brayne 70), Wilson (Adams 60), Coyne, Walsh (C Miller 75), Alexander, Cardwell.