Bearsted 3-2 Rusthall - We were resilient, determined, fought for the shirt and it's nice to get over the line and stop the rot, says Bearsted coach Stephen Sage

Bearsted 3 – 2 Rusthall
Location	Otham Sports Ground, Honey Lane, Otham, Maidstone, Kent ME15 8RG
Kickoff	22/11/2022 19:30

BEARSTED  3-2 RUSTHALL
Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Second Round
Tuesday 22 November 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Honey Lane

BEARSTED coach Stephen Sage says his side were resilient, determined and they fought for the shirt after beating Rusthall to book their place in the last sixteen of the Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup.

Kevin Stevens’ side went into this Second Round tie on the back of six games without a win and in the bottom six in the Premier Division table with 17 points from 16 games, just five points clear of the relegation zone that contains Canterbury City (12 points from 16 games) and Fisher (11 points from 12).

Bearsted won 3-2 at K Sports in the First Round, while fourth-placed Rusthall have banked 25 points from their 16 league outings and made five changes to the side that came away from Canterbury City with a 2-1 win at the weekend.

Rusthall goalkeeper Sam Weller conceded just 21 seconds into his debut as Bearsted striker Ollie Freeman scored his 12^th goal of the season, before Weller was beaten again with just four minutes and 17 seconds on the clock when impressive right-winger Omotunmise Akanni scored direct from a corner.

Rusthall pulled a goal back through Yassin Fares’ 22-yard free-kick half way through the first half.

Robert Lawrence joined Akanni on three goals for the season when he grabbed the home side’s third goal, before Rusthall striker Louie Clarke came off the bench and notched his 17^th goal of the season with his first touch.

“I thought it sums up our last couple of games really,” said Sage, who was sent out for media duties by Stevens, who is still recovering from a back operation.

“I thought we were superb for the first 20 minutes.  The boys did exactly what we asked for in terms of pressing high and we made a really good start scoring after only 21 seconds, a really good goal in terms of pressing from the front. It was a real high intensity and then really quickly we got a second goal.

“We’ve been making the odd mistake and they’ve been highlighted and that’s not to say to the boys it’s a defensive problem, it’s a whole team collective but we’re going through a little bit of a bad run. A win tonight stops that, which is good and it hopefully turns us around and we build on that but our mistakes are being highlighted at the moment.”

When quizzed about Bearsted’s poor run going into tonight’s Cup tie, Sage replied: “We’re not one for making excuses but we’re just stating facts.  We’ve had a bit of a difficult time.  The gaffer has been away for a number of weeks with a back injury and major spinal surgery and it gave me and Aaron Lorentson the reigns over the last six weeks and that’s been a step-up for us and we’ve learnt from that experience but it’s been a major step-up from being a coach.

“We’ve had a bit of a difficult time off-the-pitch as well with Roy Benton, our secretary, passing away and we’re a real close family nit club so that has rocked us.

“Performances have been a little bit lethargic.  I’m a schoolteacher and I used the expression the other week with the boys, it’s like the supply teacher coming in and whether the boys are doing what we’re asking them to do or can they get away with a little bit because the gaffer was not there.”

Sage added: “To stop the rot is nice. It will be nice to get a cup run.  Hopefully it breeds confidence for Saturday. We play the same opposition in another cup and hopefully that builds us into Christmas.  We’ve got three games that we’re targeting that we need to go and get seven points out of nine to move us up the table where we belong.”

Rusthall manager Jimmy Anderson is enjoying the club’s best start to the season in the ninth-tier of English football but was disappointed with his side tonight.

“It’s a disappointing result, we didn’t want to go out (of the cup).  We started the game quite poor, to concede two in the first five minutes is unacceptable at any level and then we’re chasing the game. We basically shot ourselves in the foot there,” said Anderson, who was then quizzed why he made five changes.

“We’ve got a big squad, players have been patient for the opportunity. Some players have played a lot of minutes recently. With the pitches the way they are, even though this pitch is really good and in really good condition, Canterbury away at Sittingbourne on Saturday was a hell of a dog-fight and a lot of boys put in a lot of effort so it was right to chop and change the squad.”

Joel Wakefield released Akanni down the right and his shot was parried by Weller at his near post and Freeman smashed in the rebound from close range to give Bearsted an early lead.

“Fantastic start.  That sums up Ollie,” said Sage.

“Ollie works exceptionally hard.  Goals have been missing from his game but he leads the press for us and it was a fantastic start.  We had really good intensity, we nicked the ball early, played it out wide and Ollie’s in there to follow-up a spill from the goalkeeper.”

Anderson added: “Shocking start, shocking start!  It’s gone back to Sam, he’s sprayed it out to Abdullah Khalil at left-back. His touch isn’t great, they got a shot away, he’s made the first save and then it’s just a follow up and it’s just a tap in from not that many yards.”

Bearsted swiftly doubled their lead when Akanni raised his left arm before swinging in a right-footed delivery from the left, which the hapless Weller allowed to sail over his head and drop into the far corner, without any other player touching the ball.

“T’s got a fantastic delivery on him. The other week, at Sutton Athletic, he had a free-kick that came off the bar and he scored a few free-kicks in pre-season. He’s got real quality from set-pieces and he’s a threat so it’s no surprise that’s gone in,” said Sage.

Anderson refused to blame goalkeeper Weller for the goal but his left-back on the post.

“It’s unacceptable! It’s not us at all. Abdullah is on the post, he should head it away,” said the former Corinthian reserve team manager.

“Sam’s made his debut and he’s come in to help us out today and whether he should come and claim it, we’ll analyse the Veo. Yes, it’s two poor goals in five minutes.

“Sam did fantastically well because he’s helped us out today. We didn’t have a goalkeeper if he didn’t play, I’m not going to criticise him.”

Bearsted were a dominant force during the opening 20 minutes and were hungry as they went about pressing the Rusthall back four.

Freeman pressed centre-half Emmanuel Jimenez some 35-yards from goal and won the ball before releasing the quick Akanni down the right and he teed up Freeman, whose first time shot from 20-yards brought an unconvincing save from Weller, who gathered at the second attempt.

No Rusthall attacker pressed Bearsted’s centre-half Colby Waite who pinged a 60-yard diagonal pass out to the left-wing for left-winger Jordan Ababio, who played a 20-yard pass inside to Lawrence, who was left in space to drag his right-footed drive past the far post from 30-yards.

Sage said: “It’s not me putting the focus on Ollie, we’re a collective as a unit but that’s what I’m saying – as a unit with our rut, we’ve been making mistakes like that and they’ve been punished and that’s where we’ve got to kill off teams.”

Anderson admitted: “We’ve spoken about it a lot.  We’re a young side and when things aren’t going our way in games we need characters to grab the game and take control of it and it took us probably 20 minutes to get a grip of the game.

“They started sharp, that’s good, we don’t mind that. We don’t mind teams pressing us, the boys are confident on the ball. They will move the ball about but yes, it just wasn’t a very good start today.”

However, Rusthall were given a lifeline, which they accepted with 21:51 on the clock.

Faced with a five-man wall, Rusthall’s left-winger Fares stroked his right-footed free-kick from the edge of the D over the wall and screaming into the top left-hand corner, leaving goalkeeper James Savage rooted to the spot.

Anderson said: “Fantastic free-kick, he’s got that in his locker. We’ve got a few boys that can score free-kicks. The keeper called it was going over so he might want to watch the Veo.”

Sage added: “We let Rusthall back into the game today and it gave them a real lease of life.  My initial feeling was could our goalkeeper have done slightly better. I’m not taking anything away from the fella, it was a quality set-piece technically, right in the top corner.

“At 2-0 down they looked a little but deflated and they didn’t know what hit them.  Maybe that’s down to the recent run of results and they thought we would be a little bit slow – but we were fully at it today and got our just rewards.”

Rusthall missed a glorious chance to grab an equaliser just four minutes after scoring through Fares’ sublime finish.

Fares was released down the left and he put it on a plate for his unmarked fellow winger, Reuel Powell-Downey, who hit his first time shot past the right-hand post from eight-yards with only the goalkeeper to beat.

“He’s got to score, he’s got to score,” insisted Anderson.

“We spoke about that at half-time and at the final whistle.  That basically brings us back in the game. We go in at half-time after that poor start.

“I feel like after 20 minutes when we scored, I feel like we grabbed the game a little bit and they were sitting back and we were controlling it a little bit better. We were getting in better areas. Yassin and Reuel probably didn’t get on the ball as much as I would like.”

Sage added: “A massive chance for them.  If that goes in, it changes the game slightly.”

Both sides were a threat out wide and Weller made a comfortable save just 85 seconds later.

Adam Turton released Ababio down the left and he easily cut inside Rusthall’s right-back Jeffrey Njuguna to cut into the penalty area before his weak shot just inside the corner of the box was comfortably held by Weller, smothering the ball low to his right at his near post.

Bearsted’s centre-half Colby Waite showed desire to flick the ball away from Rusthall striker Addo Amankwah on the halfway line before slipping the ball down the middle to Freeman, who sent Waite on his way down the middle of the pitch.

Once inside the box, Waite lost the ball but won it back with a sliding tackle on Jimenez before rifling his right-footed drive high into the side netting from 15-yards.

“For a big lad, he’s got fantastic feet,” said Sage.  “We brought him in pre-season and in my opinion, arguably, he’s one of our stand-out performers this year. He’s been consistent.  I know that seems slightly bizarre to say because of the run we’ve recently had because we’ve been conceding but he’s still young and developing and still growing as player.

“Funnily enough, that’s not new. We’ve seen that (run) a couple of times this season and he’s also got a great strike on him so don’t be surprised if he pops up with a goal from about 40-yards during the season because it’s in his repertoire.”

Sage was delighted with Bearsted’s first-half performance.

“We had a really good 20 minutes, the press was really good and we were back to our best, kind of what we expect from the boys.

“The goal gave them a bit of confidence because the run that we’ve been on we started to sit off and think ‘oh no! Here we go again,’ type thing.

“We just said to them (during the half-time interval) can we exploit them in wide areas because we got a little bit of success from that first half especially with T (Akanni) and Jordan Ababio but more really in terms of intensity and the battling and stuff like that to keep going but also at the same time to try to keep the ball a little bit more.”

Anderson added: “We still believed that we could win the game. I had a good bench to bring on if I needed to. We said they were going to come out first 5-10 minutes and press you and then just ride that wave and play your game.”

Rusthall put in a vastly-improved performance in the second half and started the half on the front foot and came close to levelling things up after only 131 seconds.

Rusthall’s left-back Khalil played the ball inside to an unmarked Powell-Downey, who cracked a right-footed dipping drive crashing against the crossbar from 30-yards out.

“It was exactly what we wanted. We wanted the boys to come out, not concede an early goal in the second half and try to nick a goal. The belief was still there that we could flip it,” insisted Anderson.

Sage added: “Funnily enough, I was slow coming out at half-time so I actually missed that but I heard the thud of the crossbar.

“I think second half we sat in well, Rusthall threw a lot at us first 10 minutes and we were camped in our half at times.

“That’s the bit that’s been missing, it’s about that resilience and to keep going. The boys that came on did exactly the same, that resilience, that fight and determination that’s been missing for the last couple of games so it was nice to get over the line tonight.”

Anderson went into the referee’s room post-match to ask why Bearsted’s holding midfielder Turton escaped a second booking for a challenge on Khalil beside the touchline, having already been cautioned towards the end of the first half.

Anderson said: “There were a few decisions today, shall we say.  It was the clearest yellow card you’d ever get!

“We waited the 20 minutes, we’ve gone in to see the referee and said that he is standing by his decision and said ‘it was never a yellow card.  It was a fair challenge but he didn’t win the ball.’

“What you make of that, I do not know but as far as we’re concerned it’s a yellow card.

“Their whole bench panicked and thought ‘here we go’, and he gets subbed. It’s obvious what happened.”

Sage admitted: “Yes, on another day, he’ll concede two yellow cards.  Maybe the referee has given him a bit of the benefit of the doubt.  That’s gone in our favour.  There’s no doubt if we do go down to 10, that changes our game plan. We probably might be standing here with another result.  We were a bit lucky to get away with one, in my opinion.”

Bearsted went direct in the 12^th minute with Waite hitting a long ball down the right channel to release Ababio, who played the ball into the box for Freeman, who dragged his shot across the keeper and past the far post.

“Jordan has been struggling over the last four or five weeks with a hamstring injury, so it was good to get him back in the side tonight and good to get him 90 minutes,” revealed Sage.

“He’s got pace in abundance, he is physical and strong and he is a full-backs nightmare so it was good to get him in and we know he’s got some quality as well.”

Lawrence then cut the ball onto his right-foot before hitting a 30-yarder into Weller’s midriff for a comfortable save.

Lawrence lost composure with a glorious chance to score with 18:12 on the clock, but regained it by giving Bearsted a 3-1 lead with 19:05 showing on a chilly Tuesday night on the outskirts of Maidstone.

The impressive Akanni and Ababio linked up down the right before cutting the ball back to an unmarked Lawrence, who hit a first time right-footed drive over the crossbar from 12-yards.

But Lawrence swiftly recovered from that glaring miss by putting Bearsted into the next round.

Freeman put the ball into the box from the right, his cross was intended for Wakefield, but the ball was knocked down by Rustics’ centre-half James White and fell to Lawrence, who placed his right-footed shot across the keeper to find the bottom far corner.

“It’s something that we said to the boys at half-time as well, in terms of that transition – can we get into transition a little bit better,” said Sage.

“We had some success in wide areas and we asked our midfielders to join in a little bit more.  Sometimes the boys up top get a little bit isolated and we don’t fill the box as much as we could do so it’s good that Rob took that on board on the edge of the box and he’s punished a slightly weaker header coming out.

“We got Rob in pre-season.  I contacted him myself as I knew he had left Canterbury City.  He’s been in and around the league.  We know what quality Rob offers, he’s fantastic technically and he’s a real leader in there.

“We’ve lost a couple of leaders over the last year or so just through players retiring and stuff like that, people like Scott Whibley have left so Rob’s come in and filled that gap massively in terms of offering that experience. He’s fantastic in the changing room and tonight he’s showed his technical quality and scored a fantastic goal.”

Anderson said: “I felt like in the second half they weren’t as effective in the final third as they were in the first.  I felt like we controlled it a lot better.

“When Rob scores the third goal we feel as a team there was a foul in the build up with an elbow on my centre-half (Emmanuel Jimenez).  The referee doesn’t give it, that’s fair enough and they go on and score and you’ve got to accept it and we’re 3-1 down and we make changes.”

Weller used his finger-tips to ensure Lawrence’s right-footed half-volley kissed the Rusthall crossbar at the halfway point of the second half.

Sage said: “I’m going to give a little bit of credit to the goalkeeper, I think it’s a fantastic save.  I think he gets a hand to it and that was certainly our view from the bench.  It was a fantastic effort, it’s hit the bar.  We’re missing chances at the moment and we’re not killing teams off.  Unfortunately, at the other end, they’re going in the back of the net.”

Anderson added: “I thought it was in. I thought it was a good save. I thought they scored, fair play to Sam, it’s a good save.”

Rusthall pulled a second goal back with 29:47 on the clock, with attacking midfielder Dwan Archer splitting centre-halves Phil Handley (a half-time sub for the injured Daniel Melvin) and Waite to put Clarke through on goal and with his first touch, clinically drilled a left-footed drive past James Savage to find the far corner.

Anderson said: “That’s what he’s about. He’s scored goals for us all season. He loves it here.  He’s been playing a lot of football recently. He went for a bit of a patch where he wasn’t score and we stuck by him so today was just about getting a bit of a rest. 

“We have Bearsted again on Saturday, so he’ll be chewing at the bit to start.”

Sage added: “I thought it was Louie’s first touch.  He’s been in and around the league. When we saw them put him on, we know he is a threat through the middle, he’s a direct hard runner and presses.

“We had a little bit of a moan on the bench from the defensive point of view about that. The two centre-halves were slightly too far apart.”

Rusthall appeared the more likely side to score the sixth goal of the game but Bearsted substitute striker Charlie Gill dragged a good chance past the far post inside the final five minutes of his debut. before a pressing Rusthall were to be denied the equaliser when Savage raised both of his hands above his head to push over Powell-Downey’s right-footed drive from 35-yards, which was screaming towards the roof of the net.

Sage said: “Charlie’s come in over the last two weeks training with us and he’s come in tonight. He’s a young lad.  I thought he showed some moments that we’ve seen in training and with a bit of coaching, he could be a threat.

“James Savage been superb this season. He’s had to wait for his chance a little bit.  Tom Benham, our first-choice goalkeeper is out injured at the moment. He broke his finger at Jersey Bulls away in The FA Vase.

“James has had a little bit of time on the bench and it’s always difficult having two quality goalkeeper’s but they’ve both been superb.

“James’ time has come in the cup games before but we know that we’ve got two quality goalkeeper’s that can come in and whichever one we play we’re fully confident in the way that they are and they can keep the ball out and he was lively to that and kept the ball out.”

Both these sides lock horns again here at Honey Lane on Saturday in the Kent Senior Trophy Second Round.

Sage said: “We do it all again and tonight was a good chance for us to get back to winning ways.  Hopefully this builds confidence and you might see two different sides on Saturday but for us it’s about getting some consistency and some performances under our belt.

“Some of the boys owe that a little but from the last couple of weeks.  Today we were resilient, determined and fought for the shirt and it’s nice to get over the line and we go again on Saturday to build some more confidence.”

When reflecting on their own league positions, Sage revealed: “We’ve had a little bit of a reality check and we get a little bit of stick when we mention it at committee meetings but it’s a fact.

“We haven’t got a massive budget here. We’re not paying a lot of money, the boys get a little bit in terms of their expenses.

“If we were to finish two places above the relegation zone that’s an achievement because of the money that we spend here but we’re better than that. For us as a club if we can stay in the division that’s the first thing ticked off and we finish as high as we can.”

When asked about Saturday’s team selection and their league campaign, the Rusthall boss said: “It’s another cup. I have players back, we’ll probably have a different squad. We’ve got some big games coming up before Christmas in the league.

17,16,14,16,13,15,17,14,17,16,17,16,13,17,16,15,15,16,16,12 – that’s the number of league games that each team has played in the division going into the final weekend of November.

Anderson said: “We’re in a good position in the league. There’s a lot of teams that have games in hand so on paper it looks like we’re in a good position. Once those games in hand are played, if they win them all, we’ll probably be midtable.  We’re just very grateful not to be near the bottom at the minute.

“There’s got to be progression at Rusthall. We’re progressing off the pitch, on the pitch has got to be the same. We’ve got a good squad and a hungry young squad and everyone’s loving it, so it’s good.”

Bearsted: James Savage, Callum Thomas (Jordan-James Tingley 58), Callum McCarthy, Adam Turton (Jonathon Rogers 58), Colby Waite, Daniel Melvin (Phil Headley 46), Jordan Ababio, Joel Wakefield, Ollie Freeman (Charlie Gill 67), Robert Lawrence (Joshua Akehurst 84), Omotunmise Akanni.

Goals: Ollie Freeman 1, Omotunmise Akanni 5, Robert Lawrence 65

Booked: Adam Turton 41

Rusthall: Sam Weller, Jeffrey Njuguna, Abdullah Khalil, Tommy Lawrence (Jack Smith 69), James White, Emmanuel Jimenez (Rory Salter 75), Yassin Fares (Tarik Ibrahim 69), Luke Miller, Addo Amankwah (Louie Clarke 75), Dwan Archer, Reuel Powell-Downey.
Sub: Louis Anderson

Goals: Yassin Fares 22, Louie Clarke 75

Booked: Dwan Archer 62

Attendance: 49
Referee: Mr Dan Tornbom
Assistants: Mr Jack Smith & Mr Gavin Farrington