Deal manager Derek Hares says he is hoping for a miracle as Covid continues to play havoc with the football season.

It’s anyone’s guess when the Hoops will play again, with the south east in Tier 4 measures as coronavirus cases surge in light of a new strain.

Their rearranged FA Vase third-round tie against Binfield this Sunday is off while the scheduled Boxing Day restart for Southern Counties East had already been put back to January 16 before the government’s Tier 4 announcement.

Hares said: “I’m hoping a miracle will happen and this thing will go away and we can all get back to normal and start playing football again. It’s thrown everything out of the window.

“It’s the first time I’ve known Christmas without football, which is really strange, especially with the games we had coming up.

“We had Binfield, Chatham and Canterbury, all at home, all big games and they would have brought good crowds in.

“Everything’s been scuppered, which is disappointing, but we all know health has to come first. That’s the bottom line.

“It’s looking extremely unlikely the league will restart on January 16 and I don’t know when this Vase game will be played.

“The next round is due to be on January 9. I don’t know whether we’ll be allowed to play it then but presumably not if we’re still in Tier 4, which I’m sure we will be.

“We can’t train now and we can’t plan anything. I really don’t know what’s going to happen.

“The league still feel they can get the season completed as things stand but it’s going to be a real headache.

“If it doesn’t restart on January 16, when do you get to a point when it can’t be completed?”

Deal players had been happy to honour Sunday’s rearranged tie against Binfield before the new guidelines put paid to the fixture.

“We’re all cautious but it’s not got to the point where anyone has said they don’t want to play,” said Hares.

“If anyone said, be it management, back-up staff or players, that we don’t want to take the risk, we’d abide by that.

“We’ve all thought about it but everyone’s been willing to play and do their bit.

“I think it helps because we’re such a young team but they’re obviously concerned because they don’t want to be taking it back to their parents or grandparents.

“They’ve all been really good at sticking to the rules.”

Deal will visit Norfolk club Fakenham Town in the last 32 of the Vase, should they get past Binfield.

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