Manager Steve King hopes it’s third time lucky for Deal at Corsham.

Having already endured two wasted 386-mile round trips, the Hoops will return to west Wiltshire this Saturday for their FA Vase Fourth Round encounter.

Deal contacted the FA to see if the fixture could be reversed to their Charles Sports Ground.

But King said: “We have spoken to the FA and they have confirmed we will have to travel again.

“We presented the FA with all our evidence, but we have been informed we will have to travel on Saturday so that’s what we will do.

“It’s, obviously, too late to get anywhere to stay.

"We will do what we did last week and travel in the morning.”

Deal departed Kent at 7.45am last Saturday, but the referee turned up late and called the game off just after 2pm.

The visiting party had stayed overnight in a nearby hotel the previous weekend and arrived at a waterlogged Southbank ground just before 12.30pm, only for the referee to inspect the pitch and deem it unplayable.

On the latest postponement, King said: “I was very disappointed with what happened.

“I understand from Corsham’s point of view they followed the guidance.

"But when I arrived at the ground, the game was never going to be played. That call could have been made in the morning.

“We have travelled 800 miles, spent a lot of money and not kicked a football!

"But we have to crack on.”

The winners of the tie will host South West Peninsula League Premier Division East Brixham in the last 16 of the competition.

In a weekend statement, Corsham said: “We were contacted by the FA on Wednesday and were advised that we would need to conduct a pitch inspection by a Level 4 or above referee on Friday at 3pm to determine whether the pitch would be fit to play.

“This was scheduled earlier than usual to factor in the travel time for Deal Town and their supporters and was also done based on the forecast being similar for the 24 hours after. This pitch inspection was conducted and the pitch was deemed fit to play.

“On Saturday morning, we had a large group of volunteers at the football club to begin the preparation for the matchday.

“As the morning went on, the initial surface frost had cleared and the sun was trying to break through the clouds, as it did do on Friday morning.

"At just after 2pm, the referee turned up and the fog began to worsen, he then conducted a pitch inspection and made the decision to call the game off due to player safety.”

Corsham's statement added: “We would like to make it very clear that we, as a club, did everything we were asked of [by] the FA and not once was our intention to waste anybody’s time.”

Deal are now amid two big cup clashes in four days - having beaten Snodland 5-1 on Tuesday in the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Final - before a trip to basement boys Canterbury City next Wednesday on their return to Southern Counties East Premier Division action.

They last played in the league on January 7.

King said: “We’re massively motivated, anyway. My worry is we have not played much.

“It can work one of two ways - you can have that real freshness or a slight rustiness.

"I just hope it’s the former, rather than the latter.”

Two-goal Tom Chapman, Riley Alford, on-loan Dover defender Alex Green and Aaron Millbank struck against Division 1 frontrunners Snodland.

But Green, alongside Margate loanee Troy Howard, won't be available at Corsham.