Deal’s Jack Penny cashed in on a memorable afternoon - literally!

The defender, quite incredibly, struck twice directly from corners in the Hoops’ 2-0 Southern Counties East Premier Division win over Bearsted on Saturday.

Three years ago, ex-Cardiff midfielder Solomon Taiwo - then at Faversham - won a beer from a fan after he accepted a challenge to score direct from a corner.

While no alcohol was involved, Penny’s second set-piece strike did earn him £20 from a supporter who told him he didn’t think he could pull off the feat again after he had broken the deadlock.

“I have never seen it twice in a game,” said manager Steve King.

“But if he wants to do it again, I’m not going to complain! It was a little bit of a freak in that respect, but there’s no complaints from me.

“He didn’t quite win a beer but that did happen.”

• Deal defender makes team of the week

Ex-Ramsgate man Penny netted at the Charles Sports Ground in front of a crowd of 423 just before the hour mark and added a second, six minutes from time.

He could have completed an unlikely hat-trick, too, but hit the post.

King said: “It was something we had looked at before the game.

“We had a very big side out on Saturday. We knew they had a younger, slightly inexperienced, keeper.

“Obviously we were not planning to score directly from them. But they were brilliant balls in, the second one in particular.

“Jack Penny has been outstanding for us all season. In terms of goal contributions, he has more than 20.

“There’s a little bit of luck involved. They could look at it and say they could have defended it better.

“But they were both outstanding deliveries.

"Jack’s someone I really rate.”

Fourth-placed Deal remain well in the hunt for a second-placed finish, too.

Despite having a Kent Senior Trophy Final to look forward to against Punjab at Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium in April, they have still been able to stay focused on the bread and butter of league football.

On reaching the Final, King added: “That was a big achievement for us.

“We were pleased to do it. But as soon as that happened and was over, we said we didn’t want to just run up to the Cup Final.

“Whether we get that second place or not, we want to finish strongly and get that momentum going into next season.”

This Saturday, the Hoops are at Holmesdale before another away clash at Lordswood on Tuesday.

King said: “It just keeps rolling, doesn’t it? It doesn’t calm down.

“But we want to be playing in games that mean something, so there’s no complaints from me.”

Penny was in the thick of it once more in Deal's 1-0 home win over fellow high-fliers Erith Town on Tuesday.

Their strike again came from a corner put in by him - but this time, it was adjudged to have been an own goal.

On-loan young Dover defender Alex Green was named the Hoops' player-of-the-match.