Deal Town manager Derek Hares found himself unable to get into the Oatmor Harris Stadium this week after all the locks were changed at the ground on Monday.

They were changed by members of one of the two groups who are involved in an on-going battle for control of the club.

Hares, who went to the ground on Monday to check the condition of the pitch ahead of a midweek reserve game, said: "I got a call on Monday night saying all the locks had been changed and that if I wanted to get access to the ground I would have to go through (vice-chairman) Bob Chivington.

"As of this (Wednesday) morning, I still haven’t got a new key but hopefully they will give me one before Thursday’s training session."

Mr Chivington who, alongside the Deal Town Rangers members on the board is fighting for control of the club against chairman David Reid and the Supporters’ Club, said: "There’s not a problem. Derek will be given access to the ground."

Asked why the locks had all been changed, Mr Chivington said: "We needed to get control of the ground back for security reasons.

"There were too many key-holders who could gain access to the ground and so we decided to change all the locks so that we now know who all the key-holders are."

As of Wednesday morning, neither Mr Reid nor Dayle Melody, the chairman of the Supporters Club, had been given new keys either as the relations between the two groups continued to harden.