Title-winning Deal boss Steve King insists his squad will continue to respect the league in their final fixtures of the season.

The Hoops capped a remarkable season as Saturday’s 3-1 home win over Lydd saw them become Southern Counties East Premier Division champions with four games to spare.

They will host Punjab United tonight - a year to the day on from their shock Kent Senior Trophy Final 6-0 loss to them at Maidstone United’s Gallagher Stadium.

Deal then visit Corinthian this Saturday, are at home to fellow play-off occupants Erith Town on Tuesday and finish a memorable campaign at home to strugglers Stansfeld on April 27 when they will be handed the trophy on a club community day.

While King will rotate a tired squad, they won’t be rolling over for anyone.

He said: “We will respect the league because we have got Erith Town and we have got Corinthian.

“Those play-off places, with who’s at home and who’s away, that’s going to be crucial. We will respect every game.

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“We have got a lot of tired bodies, so we will be making some changes now. Tom Chapman on Saturday was probably only 50 or 60 percent fit - similar with Ashley Miller. But we want to try and win all four.

“We have got three games at home. We will have three good crowds and we don’t want to let people down.

“Yeah, we might change it around a little bit and throw some youngsters, who have done well for us this season when they have played, in.

“But I hate losing games of football. The boys will tell you that.

“We had a chat in there (the changing room) after Saturday’s game and they said ‘You’re going to talk about Tuesday now.’ I said ‘Oh, only quickly!”

“But we have got a bit of history with Punjab. We go to Corinthian and Mike Golding (their manager) is a good friend of mine - but we won’t go there and roll over.

“Then, we have Erith Town next Tuesday and the last game will be another big celebration.

“We will try to win all four.”

And King warned fans may see an even better version of his side, with the pressure off as he recalled his worst match in management.

“I remember the worst game that I ever managed was when we went to Sheppey, after they had promotion confirmed, and they beat us 7-1,” he said.

“They just played with freedom, they played with no pressure, and they absolutely whacked us!

“It may well be that you see an even better version of us in the next couple of weeks because the pressure is off.

“But we will be respecting the league, especially in the Corinthian and Erith Town games, because if I was in their shoes, I wouldn’t want my play-off position being dictated by another team playing a weakened team.

“We are on 86 points. So, we could get to 98 points and what an achievement that would be.”

“If you get to 98 points, that’s not just winning it, that’s smashing it.”