Derek Hares has praised goal-scoring Deal midfielder Billy Munday.

Player-of-the-match Munday struck twice during their 4-1 home win over Fisher in the Southern Counties East Premier Division on Saturday.

He was also on target in the Hoops’ 3-1 victory at Division 1 Staplehurst in round two of the Challenge Cup last Tuesday.

“He has done very well,” admitted Deal boss Hares.

“I think that’s 12 from midfield for him this season. He has been excellent for quite some time and is now getting the goals as well.

“When you have someone who can score that many goals from midfield, that really helps.”

There was also a goal for frontman Connor Coyne and a Staplehurst own goal in the cup tie before Jed Johnson netted a late consolation for the Monarchs.

Hares said: “Connor has always got a goal in him. He probably has not played as much as he would have wanted to recently.

“Him and Sam Wilson have been fighting it out for a forward position - but you can always rely on Connor to give his best and score goals.

“Sam is a different type of player.

"They are very different players but you need both for different types of games.”

Tom Chapman and Kane Smith struck against Fisher as well for Deal, who avenged their loss at Fisher in October in front of 276 fans at the Charles Sports Ground.

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“Obviously it was good to get the win on Saturday,” reflected Hares, whose side have scored 23 times in winning their last five matches.

“We played really well and I thought we deserved the win. It keeps us in a good position in the league.

“We went a goal down but, after the first quarter-of-an-hour, I thought we were the better side.”

The result leaves Deal in fifth, five points behind Glebe but with a game in hand, going into their festive schedule which is due to start with a home match against rivals Canterbury City on Monday.

Canterbury are 16th in the table and they were beaten 3-0 at home by leaders Chatham last weekend.

They are, though, under new management with player-coach Danny Lawrence and Sam Wilson having taken charge on a short-term basis following the resignation of manager Chris Woollcott this month.

But with the Omicron variant taking hold, meaning a number of weekend matches were postponed with Covid-19 cases on the rise, Hares says they will have to wait and see if the game can go ahead.

He admitted: “We have got Canterbury next - if the games are on. I don’t know how things are going to go.

“They are struggling a little bit. Although you cannot take anything for granted because there are no easy games in this league, if we play as well as we can, hopefully, we will win that one.

“Hopefully we can get a good crowd as well.

“We had nearly 300 on Saturday, and a lot seem to want to get out and watch football at the moment with everything that’s going on.”

Deal have fitness doubts over Ben Chapman (hamstring) and Alfie Foster (ankle).