Deal visit us for the first time in both clubs history and whilst we sit proudly on top of our league table it's a whole different ball game for Deal.

Deal who are nicknamed 'The Hoops' play in black and white and can trace their history back to their formation in 1908, a similar formation date to our own of 1909. They play their home matches at The Charles Sports Ground in Deal which has a capacity of 1000.

In the 1999-2000 season 'The Hoops' made history with their greatest ever achievement, they reached the FA Vase final at Wembley Stadium and beat Chippenham Town 1–0, where their goal was scored by Roly Graham, the first club from Kent to do so.

So people still connected to this fine club know all about major cup runs in this competition.

This season however things have not been going to smoothly for them. Currently they sit level bottom of their league with only 8 points from 12 games played. They are in fact 3rd bottom because of a slightly superior goal difference over Croydon FC and bottom side Holmsdale FC.

They are without a league win since a 4 - 3 home success against Greenwich Borough FC back on September 19th. That said their cup form has been far better especially in this seasons Vase competition. In the 1st Qualifying round they beat Dorking FC at home 1 - 0 and followed this up with a fine 3 - 0 away win at Eastbourne FC in the 2nd Qualifying round. This set them up for a 1st round proper tie with our local neighbours Oxford City Nomads FC. The match against Nomads was played at Deal and on the day Deal triumphed 4 - 2, their goals coming from Walsh, Miller, Rivera & Tanner.

So this victory against Nomads sees them drawn play against us at Yarnton Road this Saturday after we beat Ashford Town FC in a replay 3 - 1 a couple of weeks back.

Other things to note about Deal this season, their leading scorers are Ryan Philpott with 10 and Connor Coyle with 7 goals both from 21 games played. Neither player scored against Nomads in the last round, where in fact Philpott didn't even feature.

Deals league form reads 12 games played, 2 wins, 2 draws and 8 defeats with 16 goals for and 26 against.

I'm under no illusion when I say their Cup form belies their lowly league position, maybe it's one of those seasons when their real form is only reserved for cup matches, who knows?

I expect we'll go into this match as favourites considering how we are doing, but I think it's fair to say we should take nothing for granted and I'm sure Wilky and his team will be drumming that into our players. League form goes completely out of the window on the day and to win you generally have to be at your best.

The pot for this round is £1,000 for the winning team so that gives everyone plenty of incentive.

I'm already looking forward to Saturday when Deal come to Yarnton Road Come On You Greens