When the new manager Ljubiša Tumbaković came in at the beginning of the 2004 league season he would bring in Zong Lei as competition for the first choice goalkeeper position.

When Chinese international goalkeeper Li Leilei came into the team in 2006 Deng Xiaofei was allowed to leave the club.

The following campaign he would continue to be a consistent regular within the team despite the club's difficult start to the season saw them in the relegation zone, however the team decided to controversially disband during the season after having a dispute with the Chinese Football Association over the club's punishment against Beijing Guoan on 27 September 2008 where a scuffle broke out during that league game.

[3] The fight for the goalkeeping spot continued until the 2011 Chinese Super League season saw Guan Zhen start as the club's first choice goalkeeper until a difficult start to the campaign saw the club in the relegation zone, this saw Dragan Okuka introduced as the team's new manager and he installed Deng Xiaofei as the first choice goalkeeper while the club finished in their best ever spot of fourth within the league.

[4] On 28 April 2012, Deng set a new Super League record for consecutive clean sheets with 643 minutes, beating the previous record of 620 minutes set by Yang Zhi of Beijing Guoan in the 2011 season.