There is a unique balancing act for Deal manager Steve King to contend with over a vital few days in the course of their season.

The Hoops have reached the FA Vase Quarter-Final and will visit Lincoln United for a massive tie this Saturday.

But becoming Southern Counties East Premier Division champions remains the priority for King, whose side visit Kennington tonight and will host Lordswood next Tuesday.

“I’m trying to get the balancing act right,” King said. “I’ve never been in this situation before - probably not many managers that I could call on have been!

“I know Ben Smith very well and he got to the Vase Semi-Finals with Canterbury City - but they were nowhere in the league, really, so they could put all their eggs in the Vase basket.

“When Chatham and Sheppey ran away with the league, neither made the latter rounds of the Vase. Cray Valley, they won the league and lost the Vase Final.

“But there’s probably not many - if any - in the situation of having 15 (league) games to play in seven or eight weeks and a Vase run to try and contend with.

“Especially when you throw the Challenge Cup Semi-Final in as well (the Hoops were knocked out at the final-four stage last week), it’s quite a unique situation.

“I - along with the management team - are just trying to make the best and most sensible decisions that we can.”

Lincoln United are flying high in United Counties League Premier Division North but, like King’s outfit, they have a midweek fixture to focus on before their last-eight tie when £4,125 in prize money will be at stake.

King said: “It would be very naive and unlike me if we didn’t have at least one eye on it for the last couple of weeks.

“We sent one of our scouting team there on Saturday and will send someone again tonight. We will be fully prepared, like we were for Bridgwater in the previous round.”

They will travel on Friday once again.

“It’s huge,” enthused King. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want everyone to think I’m downplaying it. I’m not in any way!

“Come Wednesday morning, I’ll be as excited as anybody around and, come Friday afternoon when we will travel and Saturday morning when we are there, everyone will know how big this can be for the football club.

“If we can progress, I’d expect us to have 2,500 or 3,000 for a home Semi-Final and you’re one tie away from playing at Wembley - and from my point of view, managing at Wembley.

“Of course, there’s a level of excitement for that. But the league is 40 games and the league is what we do all our work for.”

King hopes to see another bumper away contingent take the 440-mile round trip to get behind his side.

He said: “I’m expecting a brilliant following, certainly 200-odd will be following us again. That’s huge!

“My proudest achievement at this football club is increasing the support and increasing the attendances.

“I think any manager and any custodian of a football club, when you come to leave - not that I’m intending to leave the football club - but when you leave, you want to say ‘Right, where is the football club now, compared to when I walked through the door?’ We had 71 for our first game in 2015 against top-of-the-league and, now, we’re averaging 450-odd and taking 200 away in Vase games. The support is huge for us.

“We really appreciate it and it drives us on massively.”

With the third-placed Hoops facing a hectic end to the campaign, they were handed a double league boost last weekend. Second-half goals from Billy Munday, Tom Chapman and Wes Hennessey saw them to a 3-0 victory at VCD - while many of their promotion rivals had games which fell victim to the weather.

King, who had seen midfielder Macaulay Murray fail to convert a first-half penalty, reflected: “It was a really tough game, which we expected.

“With a lot of the other games being off, it was really important to get the win.

“To do that and get a clean sheet, it ended up being a very good day for us, so I was delighted.

“We weren’t at our very best - but one thing that we have learnt this season, and over the last 12 to 18 months, is ‘find a way to win games’.

“We missed a penalty in the first half, which didn’t help, and had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside, and missed a glaring chance from three yards. Sometimes, you think ‘It’s not going to be our day’ - but we defended brilliantly.

“They had some chances themselves and, once we got the first goal after a really good move, we looked comfortable from there. We were clinical and finished the game off.

“VCD were decent but we won - and we won 3-0 - so there’s no complaints.”

That game saw Deal respond after they suffered second-leg Challenge Cup Semi-Final disappointment at Erith Town, losing 4-2 and 5-4 on aggregate last Tuesday, despite goals from Hennessey and Jamie Kennedy.

King said: “It was our third priority - I made that pretty clear - but when it came to that second leg, we wanted to win it. Erith Town were very good on the night, so no complaints there.

“But having been 1-0 up and getting it back to 2-2 on the night and 4-3 up on aggregate, it was a frustrating night. We had to respond on Saturday. We’re not used to losing games - I think that’s the first time we have lost for three or four months - so we had to respond.

“We knew VCD had only lost to sides in the top six at home.

“To bounce back the way we did and keep a clean sheet, it was one of my most satisfying days of the season.”