Today for our focus in the “22 Days in May”, we speak to the man who quite possibly saved Deal Town’s Vase run when it threatened to be over before it even began at Eastleigh – KSN’s chief football writer Mike Green has been talking to “super-sub” Phil Miles…

Phil left the Charles Ground during that season but was at the Final as he told us, “It was a strange feeling as I’d been a part of Tommy’s team and part of that squad for a good six or seven years at Herne Bay – we’d already had a year down at Deal – everything was going well and I was part of a squad and playing in that team as well!”

“I left the club during the season so watching them at Wembley – they were my mates and I’d played with a lot of them for six or seven years. I pretty much played most of my career alongside Terry Martin – it was a little bit bittersweet, but watching your mates play at Wembley and then winning it was fantastic!”

“I wouldn’t be lying – if it was one of the decisions that I look back on in football; maybe if I’d kept my mouth shut a bit longer, perhaps I would have had my day out at Wembley – I really was chuffed for everyone; I actually spoke to Tommy Sampson just the other day; we had a long conversation, I don’t bare any grudges to anyone, I was really pleased for them and those boys deserved it.”

“Back then, I was in my late twenties, early thirties and I wanted to play football. I didn’t want to travel all the way down to Deal to sit on the bench and as every footballer believes when they’re sitting on the bench, they’re better than the players who the manager has picked!”

“But at the end of the day twenty years later and the stuff that I’ve been through for football, at that time as a player, I’m thinking that I should be playing. Tommy and I had disagreements and we had a falling out and we had a couple of rows over it, and he made a decision at the time which was right for the team and not just the team but for the football club.”

As Phil’s already reminded us, he played a lot of his career along with Deal skipper Terry Martin. We asked Phil what the Deal skipper was like; he told us, “Terry was a fantastic player. I know that when anyone asks Tommy Sampson about players Terry’s right up there. And he was honestly – he was right up there; he was so easy to play alongside!”

“Would I have won as much if I wasn’t in the same team as Terry? I’d like to think that I’ve won things because we’ve been in the same team and I hope that he feels that he’s won things because he’s been in the team with me! I played with him at Faversham where we won the League before I went to Herne Bay and then onto Deal where the partnership and the success continued.”

“I think we complimented each other very well – he was your eight out of ten player every week! He won his headers, he was a really good footballer – he won tackles, headers, wasn’t overly aggressive and I can’t remember him losing too many tackles or getting bullied.”

“He wasn’t shouty, he was very quiet and an absolute dream to play alongside – and you don’t realise it at the time! When I was eighteen playing alongside him and ten years later I was still playing alongside him, you took it for granted that he was going to be alongside you – for me it was easy to play alongside Terry because he made it look easy!”

Phil’s only game in that Vase run was in the First Round at Eastleigh, where the Kent side found themselves three-nil down just before half time, before manager Sampson rang the changes – one of which was the introduction of Phil from the bench.

He remembers, “Tom was never scared to make changes – he was “spitting feathers” at half time and he made a couple of changes. I’d like to think that I played my part in the comeback that day – I do remember getting a header in from a corner that’s hit the post, and Stevie Best tapping it in.”

“If I remember rightly that made it three-all and we went onto win the game with a goal from Roly Graham in the end. It was nice to come off the bench as I wanted to play week in, week out – I didn’t want to be on the bench, Tom made his changes and luckily we turned it around so we could go into the next round.”

“I remember the celebrations afterwards as we thought we were going out at three-nil – it was good to be part of a decent team!”

“By that time, two or three other players had come in and joined the club – Tommy had started to attract some really good players and competition for places was tough, but at the time you don’t realise – and I’m not even Tommy realised – where they would end up that season winning the Vase, it was just about winning each Vase game as they came.”

“With so many good players in the squad, you always had that chance of winning games of football. As poor as we had been in that first half, we turned it around which took us onto East Preston and the rest is history…”

Next time the “Twenty-two Days in May” turns the spotlight turns the man who’s been described as a “talisman” and was voted as the Gillingham fans all time number one favourite player – it is the one, and only Andy Hessenthaler…