Ife Oni took his chance for a depleted Deal team in their weekend win.

With a host of attacking options unavailable, teenage right-sided player Oni was handed an Isthmian South East start, netting twice in the first half of the 3-0 home victory against Hythe, with the Cannons also having defender Ollie Gray red-carded before the break.

Deal boss Steve King said: “Ife has been a little bit unlucky. We haven’t had a problem scoring goals.

"Pretty much every time he has played in cup games, he’s scored. But our forwards have been playing well.

"We then had five out on Saturday. That gave a chance to Ife with Tom Chapman moving centrally.

“But you need strength-in-depth - and we have certainly got that.”

Oni, who was formerly part of youth teams at Charlton and Birmingham, has six goals this term.

Two-goal Deal player makes team-of-the-week

But all of them had come in either the Velocity Cup or the Kent Senior Cup before the victory over Hythe.

“Just with the shape we play, he’s in direct competition with Tom Chapman,” explained King, who hopes to have forward Aaron Millbank (injury) and winger Ashley Miller (away) back soon.

“Tom Chapman has been outstanding and he got three assists again on Saturday. Ife is just competing in a position where our best player at the minute is playing.

“But as I’ve said to Ife, you never know what happens in football. One injury or suspension and you can end up playing seven or eight games in a row.

“Ife did well on Saturday - but that certainly didn’t surprise any of us.

“He has the shirt now so we will see what happens.”

Fellow teenager Archie Hatcher then rounded off the Hoops' victory in front of a crowd of 605 at the Charles Sports Ground with the third - his first club goal.

“He has been really good since he came in,” noted King. “Especially coming into a squad like ours, it’s hard for a player to come in and settle in during the season.

“He has sort of filled Billy Munday’s shoes a little bit. We like our midfielders to score goals - and Archie did that.

“He has done really well since he came in. We have won three of the four games since he joined.”

While Hythe have got off to a slow start to the campaign, they have been busy bolstering their squad and ended a five-match losing run ahead of their trip to Deal.

King reflected: "It was a real banana skin.

"We had beaten them twice in the cup - and won both games quite comfortably.

"But they had got their third league win of the season the weekend before and had signed four more players in the week, mostly from Ramsgate, who have made a flying start to the season, as well as Ollie Gray. So, it wasn’t the Hythe that had played for them in the league season so far.

"But we were delighted with our performance on Saturday. I felt that we were good value for the win.

"We’re scoring a lot of goals at the minute and, most importantly, we kept a clean sheet, which had proved a bit elusive."

That came after Tom Chapman (2), Jamie Kennedy and Ben Chapman had done the damage as the Hoops were 4-2 winners at Littlehampton.

A busy period for Deal, at home to rivals Margate tonight, continues with this weekend’s trip to another title-chasing team, Sittingbourne, and a Velocity Cup tie at Isthmian Premier Hastings on Tuesday.

King, whose side will visit high-flying Isthmian Premier neighbours Dover in the Kent Senior Cup quarter-final on December 3, said: “It’s tough, isn’t it?

“But it’s why we got promoted.

“Margate, we have already played them away and I felt we were good value for a point until we conceded late on. Ben [Greenhalgh] has got them organised. They have brought in Ben Allen, who I have worked with in the past, and they have got a lot of Step 3 players.

“Sittingbourne are absolutely flying. We were 2-0 up against them earlier in the season before we got overpowered a little bit (losing 3-2).

“For the Hastings game, even though they’re in a higher league, we will rotate around a little bit. Our focus after the Sittingbourne game will be on Littlehampton on November 16.

“I don’t know if Hastings will rotate or not, as well, but the league is certainly our priority.

“But it’s nice to go to places like Hastings and we have got Dover in the Kent Senior Cup.

“If you were to say Deal Town were going to play Dover Athletic in a competitive fixture a couple of years ago, a lot of people would have looked at you as if you had taken a funny turn!”

Deal manager King will hold a club community day at the town’s Sandown School today.