Erith Call Deal's Bluff - Deal Town vs. Erith Town

Deal defend in front of the changing rooms

After a couple of weeks off (which did include a trip to see Barcelona play at The Nou Camp), I was back to non league this weekend. The weather in the week was a lot warmer and so there was a decent selection of games and I chose the Kent League six pointer between Deal Town and Erith Town. Both teams were in need of points to pull away from the bottom two. I saw Erith Town when they were playing at Erith Stadium some years ago and on that day they comprehensively beat Herne Bay to move within a point of them in top sport. These days they share at VCD Athletic where I saw a Kent League Charity Shield match between VCD and Croydon.

Return to action

Both sides have early half chances, Deal's comes when a looping ball finds the man at the back post and he proceeds to volley the ball well over the bar. Erith's comes as the ball is chipped into the danger area but the attacker can't fully connect with the ball. A calm start to the game is blown away as the Erith player appears to go in late which leads to the usual handbags and several yellow cards. Once things settle down again, it doesn't take long for the visitors to take the lead. A corner from the left is flicked on at the near post and the ball is headed home at the back post to put Erith one up. They almost double their lead as the forward is nearly played in but the Deal keeper is just first to the ball. Towards the end of the half, the Deal winger almost gets himself in on goal and it takes a great last ditch tackle to deny him a clear shot.

The early Deal chance

Erith go further ahead when a first time ball into the box causes panic in the Deal defense and the ball is forced home from close range to make it two nil. Deal then come desperately close to getting back in to the game as the winger is able to put in a brilliant cross and from the resulting effort on goal, the Erith keeper makes a great point blank save. The hosts don't have long to wait to get back into the game however. The Deal forward has the ball in the box and he goes down under a challenge and the referee points to the spot. The penalty is duly dispatched to make it two one. Deal then get an equalizer, the forward gets to a ball lofted ball over the top first and chips the keeper to level things up. Parity doesn't last long as Deal again fail to deal with a ball into the box and the ball is again scrambled in from close range to restore Eirth's lead. They seal the three points when Deal lose the ball in midfield and when the forward is played in he makes no mistake in scoring the fourth and final goal.

The Erith winger runs past the clubhouse

To get to Deal is fairly straight forward from London. You catch a direct train from St Pancras and the trip takes an hour and forty minutes on the fast train. I thought Deal was quite similar to Whitstable and there is the castle and pier to explore before the game. I was also to sample a couple of decent Kent beers at a couple of very good pubs. Firstly at The Bohemian I tried Sail from The G2 Brewery which was a good light ale and I managed to resist the large selection of bottled Belgian beers. Then there is The Kings Head which is good for the early kick offs and also served great looking food. Just around the corner is The Taphouse where from the ten or so beers on tap I tried the tasty Peroxide Blonde from The Docker Brewery. The ground is ten minutes walk from town and it has cover on three sides as well as a raised grass bank on the fourth side. The clubhouse had a good selection of beers as well as the sports channels. Burgers also come highly recommended.

Side on view of the stand