Deal Town welcome Glebe to the Charles Ground this weekend in arguably the biggest game of the SCEFL season thus far with manager Steve King excited about the clash.

Glebe will arrive on top of the table, six points in front of their hosts, but the home side still have seven matches in hand after their run to the FA Vase last eight, and manager Steve King is in no doubt just how much is riding on Saturday’s head-to-head. 

Asked if this was the biggest game since the Club last won the title in 2000, the manager’s answer was instantly blunt, “Yes” he said before continuing, “I would say without doubt it’s the biggest game since I’ve been at the Football Club!”

“Cup competitions are amazing, but your bread and butter as a Football Club is your development in Leagues and being able to sustain it and stay there – that’s how you’re able to set up Football Clubs, that’s how you build Football Clubs, that’s how you build Youth systems by getting to the highest levels that you can.”

“So for my point of view, it is the biggest game in the nine years that I’ve been at the Club, because it gives us a real chance to go closer to the promotion that, if we go back to the start of the season, nobody really expected us to challenge for.”

“No one was really talking about us – we were getting mentioned in despatches after coming fourth and third, but all the talk was about other sides! So, if we can do it, it will be an amazing achievement.” 

Deal’s domestic form in the SCEFL impressively has not wavered since their heart-breaking exit in the Isuzu FA Vase at the hands of Lincoln United two weeks ago.

“It was a tough week after Lincoln,” King admitted. “We were disappointed and to be honest, I do not think that that has completely disappeared yet, but the one thing that it has provided us with is complete clarity on what we needed to do – focus on the League.”

“We now do not have any distractions, we have picked up six points in the two games we have played since Lincoln, whilst the teams around us have dropped points as well. So, in that respect it has been a good week for us and a great response as well.” 

Both sides had difficulties last weekend and as Glebe needed a last-minute penalty to get a point at home to bottom of the table Welling Town, Deal themselves left it late at Sutton Athletic as King explained, “Full credit to them as they made it exceedingly difficult for us!”

“You sometimes come away from a game questioning “were we poor?” but when I saw that they drew at Corinthian (who are third) – with their outstanding home record on Tuesday night – shows probably how good a win last Saturday was.”

“To win late and to find a way to win when we did not play very well showed a lot of character.” 

Looking at the weekend, and the position of the two clubs, King admitted, “Given the League table, I think Glebe will probably have to beat us on Saturday. They’ve only got five games left going into the weekend and they will probably go into the game thinking that there is a good chance that we would probably finish above them as we’d only be three behind if we win and we would still have eleven games left, with them only able to pick up another twelve points.” 

“But it is a massive game of football for us as we know that it could put us in a very strong position.”

“We have not been top of the table all season and it would give us the chance to, if we win Saturday, to go top on Tuesday, when we play Welling Town.”

“I think it is equally as important for each other – obviously, a draw for us would not be a horrific result with the games in hand, but it is a game that we will be going out to win!”