Deal Town open their competitive season at home to Greenwich Borough on Saturday with manager Derek Hares confident his side are now better equipped to cope with the physical demands of the Bulmers Cider Kent League.

Hares, pictured, whose team beat a Margate XI 1-0 on Tuesday in their final pre-season friendly, said: "The Kent League is a physical league and in the past Deal sides have been muscled out of it a bit, but when I look at our team now we have got a lot of big guys who shouldn’t allow that to happen.

"Also, thanks to our new coach Mark Harrop, there won’t be a team in the league who are fitter than us because Mark has worked the boys hard in training."

The win over Margate, thanks to a Jamie Marriott first-half free-kick, followed Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Canterbury City, when Sean Brown, Mo Takaloo, Danny Smith and Joe Neilson were on target.

Hares said: "I am pleased with the way our pre-season has gone. We have won four of the seven games, most of whom were against teams from a higher level, but the only downside is the number of injuries we have picked up."