Rusthall 6-0 Chessington & Hook United - I don't think we performed to the best of our ability and as good as we know that the team can play, admits Rusthall assistant Lee Chambers

Rusthall 6 – 0 Chessington & Hook United
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	17/12/2025 19:45

RUSTHALL  6-0  CHESSINGTON & HOOK UNITED
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Third Round
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

RUSTHALL assistant manager Lee Chambers says he doesn’t think his side performed to the best of their ability despite humiliating a poor Chessington & Hook United side to reach their second Quarter-Final of the season.

Glynn Stephens’ side made the 80-mile round trip for this Challenge Cup tie sitting at the foot of the Southern Counties East Football League First Division table, having picked up only five points (a win and two draws) from their 15 league games, extending their losing streak to four games.

Rusthall – who were without their manager Jimmy Anderson due to personal reasons – were in fourth-place in the Premier Division table, having picked up 34 points (10 wins, four draws and two defeats) from their 16 league outings.

The floodgates were expected to open when recalled Rusthall striker Adodeji Owoeye tucked home a penalty inside the opening four minutes, to score his third goal of the season.

However, Chessington & Hook United – playing with a defensive minded 5-1-2-2 formation were a tough nut to crack, as Rusthall put in a poor performance for the opening 40 minutes at Jockey Farm Stadium.

Chessington & Hook shot themselves in the foot when right-sided centre-half Daniel Tobechukwu Uzor was red-carded by the referee for violent conduct in the 40^th minute and Jack Low and Louis Anderson gave the home side a flattering three-goal advantage at the interval, whilst the Surrey outfit also had a man in the sin bin.

Impressive substitute winger, Joshua Reid killed the game off by scoring a fourth before Louie Clarke hooked in his 20^th goal of the season before Stephens' side went back to 10 men and Reid capped off a fine personal performance by drilling in his eighth goal of the season.

“It’s a game that we were never going to take for granted,” said Chambers.

“You look at teams from the division below, it’s easy to think it’s just going to be an automatic result for you if you’re in the division above, but it was a game that we spoke to the boys a lot about, make sure that we’ve got the right mindset.

“In the previous round we played against Sporting Club Thamesmead (winning 4-3 away), another team from this division and they gave us a good game, so we knew we were going to be in for another tough game tonight and a game that we had to make sure that we was on top of our game to get through to the next round.

“They set up as a back five. I thought they were looking to sort of make it difficult for us and in the first half we were nowhere near our best.

“They’re a team that are not losing games by many goals. We looked at some of their results previously and they lose by the odd goal, only lost to Staplehurst
2-1 and we knew that we were going to be in for another tough game tonight.”

Rusthall’s central midfielder Jack Kirby played the ball out to left-winger Yassin Fares, who drove into the penalty area before he was fouled inside the box by Uzor, who was shown a yellow card.

Three Rusthall players grabbed hold of the ball – Clarke and Fares before striker Owoeye drilled his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner, sending goalkeeper Temitayo Edun the wrong way, as Rusthall opened the scoring with only 207 seconds on the clock.

“We’ve got three or four boys that like to take the penalties and we always just leave it up to the boys on the pitch, make the decision themselves,” revealed Chambers.

“Deji was the one who picked up the ball and fancied it and stuck it well in the bottom corner.”

Chessington & Hook United offered very little in attack – despite having two men up front in Bailey Ellis and James Duffel, as their formation frustrated Rusthall who quickly ran out of ideas on how to get through a yellow brick wall of five men at the back.

Jamie Brewer, who played on the right of their three men in the middle (with Nicholas Wilson playing a holding midfielder role) kicked the ball up into the air some 30-yards out, which was comfortably caught by second-choice Rusthall keeper Daniel Moronfolu.

Rusthall were playing at a very slow tempo. Right-back Rahman Kareem was often guilty of sloppy play and nothing was going right for the home side for the first 40 minutes of this game.

“I think the pitch played a part in that tonight. The pitch plays pretty quick for us normally and it was the case of how we want to play our football,” said Chambers.

“It was either a touch too many or it hit a bobble. The surface was a bit sticky tonight and a little bit not playing with the tempo and the pitch conditions probably didn’t suit us and we just felt we were a bit lethargic in the first half.”

With Chessington often leaving 10 men behind the ball, Chessington created an opening with 30:37 on the clock when Archie Morgan (who sat beside Brewer) cut onto his left-foot and drove a low shot towards goal from 25-yards, the ball deflecting off Duffel on the edge of the penalty area and Moronfolu comfortably gathered low to his left to prevent the ball nestling into the bottom right-hand corner.

Rusthall’s threatening left-winger Fares was cynically chopped down by an awful aggressive challenge from Uzor inside the penalty area and Clarke summed up Rusthall’s poor performance at the time when his left-footed penalty was kept out by Edun, diving to his right to parry before gobbling up the rebound – with 34:39 on the clock.

“I think it was probably the right height for the keeper. Louie struck it well but it wasn’t low, it wasn’t high. It was a reasonable height for the keeper to save, so probably not the best from Louie to be fair,” admitted Chambers, who took the side alongside coach Joe Charlesworth.

When asked about the condition of their highly-rated Italian winger Fares, Chambers beleives he will be fit for Saturday's trip to Fisher.

"He took a knock to his shin. I think it's more impact than anything. I think he spoke to the bench and it was more a precaution to making sure that he's fit for the weekend."

Rusthall produced a sweeping move when Low played the ball along the deck into Kirby, who put Clarke through on goal and after taking a touch, the attacker swept his left-footed shot past the foot of the near-post from 10-yards, with only the keeper to beat.

“When we got into those advanced positions in the final third, especially when we had those two moments for the penalties, there were some good attacking play from us and it was probably limited in the first half,” admitted Chambers.

Last man Uzor brought down Owoeye on the edge of the penalty area and referee Daniel Davis consulted with assistant referee Thomas Marshall before coming to the right decision to show a straight red-card to the number five (39:51).

Any little hope that Chessington & Hook United had in pulling off a major shock disappeared when Uzor took the walk off shame and left the pitch.

“It’s difficult, isn’t it because it is a red but when it’s so early on in the game, it kills you and that killed any hope that they really had going down to 10 men in the first half,” said Chambers.

“Its always going to be an uphill battle, especially away from home against a team that’s a division above you – but I’ve got no arguments with it, it was a red card.”

Rusthall left-back Louis Anderson cracked the resulting right-footed free-kick towards goal from 22-yards, which was fingertipped onto the bar by diminutive goalkeeper Edun, high to his left.

“Always another one on dead balls. He’s always got an eye for them and it was a good save from the keeper and well struck from Ando,” added Chambers.

Both goalkeeper’s then displayed awful goalkeeping in the space of only 55 seconds, one got away with it, the away keeper didn’t.

Rusthall keeper Moronfolu kicked the ball straight to Ellis, whose composure was shot to pieces when he somehow clipped his right-footed shot against the right (near) post of an empty goal before the keeper made amends to pounce on the ball at the striker’s feet.

“He should be putting that one away,” admitted Chambers.

“Daniel’s a young keeper. I think it’s his only second appearance for us this year and he’s young (19), he’s willing to learn and as we all expect with a young goalkeeper, they’re going to make mistakes.

“Apart from that and speaking to Robbie Bissett our skipper and Frank Griffin, you’ve got two experienced defenders in front of him protecting him.  They’re not scared to give him the ball as well and that’s what our back line will do, when Serine (Sanneh) plays. He expects to receive it from the back line all the time because that’s how we want to play.

“No different with Daniel. It’s nice to give him 90 minutes and he would’ve been pleased to come away with the clean-sheet himself.”

Rusthall immediately went up the other end to double their lead, with 43 minutes and 43 seconds on the clock, courtesy of a blunder from Edun.

Griffin played the ball out of defence into Low who had oceans of space to drill a right-footed drive from 30-yards, through a crowd of players.  The keeper dived to his right but managed to get his hand to the ball (low to his left) but failed to prevent the ball tricking into the bottom right-hand corner.

“Frank Griffin plays him in, receives it on the half-turn and touch out of his feet. A great clean strike but as you saw, a bit of an error from the goalkeeper on that one,” added Chambers.

Referee Mr Davis threw Boe Fowler (47:07, first half stoppage time)-12:21) into the sin bin for dissent, following an award of a free-kick when Fowler fouled Low on the edge of the D.

Rusthall scored from the resulting free-kick, three minutes and 40 seconds into stoppage time.

Anderson drilled his right-footed free-kick over the four-man wall into the top right-hand corner from 22-yards, to give Rusthall a flattering 3-0 lead going into the interval.

“We spoke about the first one that got tipped onto the bar and again off that side of the pitch, did it suit a left-footer? I think it did but then obviously with our option with Louis Anderson, he struck it well and beat the keeper,” added Chambers, who demanded more from his promotion chasing side.

“I spoke at half-time. We wanted just a bit more intent with our play, more purpose to it and that’s what we got in the second half.

“I said to the boys at half-time, I think that anyone who’s not at the game today – after the first half-performance – three-nil’s actually flattered us because I don’t think we played particularly well at all.

“Second half was can we go out there, can we really put it to them, play with a little bit more intent, be a little bit more on the front foot and use the ball a little bit quicker.

“We thought they would always going to tire and we had some fresh bodies to come on as well, that we knew that can have an impact on the game and probably could’ve been more than six.”

The second half was embarrassingly one-sided, with wave after wave after wave of attacks, with Ryan-Bailey Stedman-Hoyte switching from central midfield to right-back in an awful tactical switch from the visiting manager.

Owoeye cut in from the other side of the pitch, however, and drilled an angled drive towards the bottom near corner, which was kept out beside his near-post by Edun, who wouldn’t get in any side in the SCEFL Premier Division.

Actually, none of the Chessington 16-man squad showed any glimpses of talent during tonight’s humiliation – and putting a Surrey outfit (with a Kingston postcode) in what used to be called the Kent League was a bad decision from The Football Association.

It was a case of damage limitation from the away side, especially when they only had nine players on the pitch, making it feel like a Sunday League game.

Chessington & Hook United would have needed eight and nine out of 10 performances if they were to pull off an upset tonight but Uzor and Fowler let their club and their travelling fans down with their ill-discipline.

Rusthall raced into a commanding four-goal lead, with five minutes and 35 seconds on the clock, following a well-worked move down the left.

Owoeye clipped the ball over the top of the defence and Clake’s good movement saw him find space inside the penalty area.  An often-high Anderson joined in before playing the ball inside to Reid, who clinically placed his first-time right-footed shot across the diving keeper to find the far corner on the angle from the corner of the penalty area.

Chambers added: “Another good finish, that’s what Josh is good at. If we can get in those channels, off both feet, he’s capable of doing that and calmy places it past the keeper.”

Still with nine Chessington players' on the pitch, Rusthall scored their fifth goal of this non-contest, with nine minutes and 56 seconds on the clock.

Anderson split open a woeful Stedman-Hoyte to release Kirby in behind before he crossed towards the back post where an unmarked Clarke hooked his left-footed volley across the keeper into the far corner from 15-yards.

“Clarkie, as I say, 20 goals already this season. He scores all types of goals but anyone in the penalty area, if it falls to Louie Clarke, you wouldn’t want your money on anyone else really,” said Chambers.

“He scored at the weekend (a 2-1 defeat at Bearsted) and missed a couple of good chances at the weekend, so he’ll be glad that he’s put another one away today.”

Fowler remerged from the dug-out and Chessington & Hook United lacked quality to create many clear-cut chances and suffered their highest defeat of the season and this was the eighth time that they have failed to score this season.

They continued to park the bus in the hope that Rusthall wouldn’t add to their advantage, as Rusthall dominated the corner count by nine-to-zero.

Rusthall missed a glorious chance (21:40) when Clarke played the ball in from within the right channel, the ball was spilt by Edun but an unmarked Reid swept his right-footed shot past the left-hand post.

“What we would say about anyone that plays in the front three for us, they’re very unselfish. As you look at the stats from this season, and the goals are spread out throughout the team,” said Chambers.

“If our number nine’s not scoring, our wide players are chipping in and that’s the beauty of the players that we’ve got in the squad, especially the ones that are playing in the front three.

“They can inter-change and if they’re not scoring then making sure they put it on a plate for someone else.”

Rewan Alyasi – who started at right-back - was pushed further forward later on in the second half when Ellis was hooked in the 58^th minute. and Alysai cut in from the left and was denied by Moronfolu, who rushed off his line to narrow the angle and maintained his clean-sheet.

“In games where there’s limited chances for the opposition, especially your back line and your goalkeeper, you’ve got to be alert and when you’re asked to be called upon, make sure that you’re doing your job and Daniel was on hand,” added Chambers.

Rusthall scored their sixth goal of the night with 26 minutes and 56 seconds on the clock when the dominant Clarke put it on the plate from the right to Reid, this time he drilled his clinical first-time right-footed shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

“Again, like I say, it’s the front three working together, looking out for each other and it’s another great finish from Josh,” added Chambers, who was asked about his side’s second half dominance.

“It’s a case of the game’s won but let’s just keep doing the right things. We’ve got another game that we’ve got to look out for on Saturday away to Fisher and that’s going to be another tough game. We’ve got to use our second half performance to take into that.”

Chessington & Hook United’s holding midfielder turned centre-half Wilson did whip in a couple of quality deliveries from free-kicks from the right towards the end without any chances being created  – but that was as good as it got for the poor visitors, who are four points adrift of Lydd Town at the basement in the tenth-tier.

Referee Mr Davis played five minutes and 46 seconds of stoppage time at the end of this one-sided humiliation and Rusthall created another big chance with their ninth and final corner delivery.

Griffin swung the ball in from the left and his central defensive partner, Robbie Bissett was denied by a point-blank save from Edun.

“I think it’s a great save from the keeper. Bissett, in those areas, of corners, he’s a threat, he’s a massive threat and I thought it was in and fair play to the goalkeeper, great save,” added Chambers, who was asked what he got out of tonight’s tie.

“As we said to the boys, it’s one of those ones, it can be, if you don’t have the right mindset, you can come into these sort of games expected to win and not perform.

“I don’t think we performed to the best of our ability and as good as we know that the team can play but if you then scored six goals and kept a clean-sheet, there’s obviously some positives out of that if you’ve not been at your best.

“We’ve got some good minutes out of a lot of boys in the squad today and some that probably haven’t had as many minutes as they would like.”

Rusthall are the sixth side to make it through to the Quarter-Finals, joining Bearsted, Fisher, Larkfield & New Hythe, Phoenix Sports and Tunbridge Wells.

“Still some good sides left in it, as you’d expect in the Quarter-Finals. It’s one that we’ll look out for in the draw. A home tie would be nice but that’s our second Quarter-Final of the season, so we’ll look to see who we get next, added Chambers.

Sutton Athletic missed the chance to climb into the play-offs after being held to a goal-less League draw at second-from-bottom side Stansfeld tonight.  Billy Shinners’ side remain in the drop zone but have picked up 12 points from their 18 games, two points adrift of Chislehurst Glebe but with two games in hand.

Whitstable Town are at the summit with 44 points from 18 games, while the play-off zone contains Larkfield & New Hythe (39 points from 20), Bearsted (35 points from 18), Rusthall (34 points from 16 games) and Punjab United (30 points from 19 games).

Sutton Athletic are sixth with 29 points from 19 games and this website will be covering Punjab United’s home clash with Bearsted on Saturday and the Rocks' derby between Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells here seven days later.

Steve Ives' side claimed a 1-0 win over their rivals in The FA Vase First Round on 18 November, but suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Windsor & Eton in The Third Round last weekend.

The Rustics’ travel to thirteenth-placed Fisher (23 points, six wins, five draws and five defeats) first.

Chambers said: “Fisher’s always a tough place, always gives us good games. This will be another hard place for us to go and get three points and it’s one that we’re looking forward to.

“It’s always a big occasion, the Rocks' derby. Obviously, the rivalry between the two clubs. Tunbridge Wells are in pretty good form themselves, obviously after the Vase defeat. We lost 1-0 here against them. Obviously, we want to turn that League form around and hopefully get a point here against Tunbridge Wells on the 27^th.

“I mean, at the beginning of the season, we said we want to be in and around it by Christmas and if you’re in and around it by Christmas, you’ve got half-a-chance after Christmas.

“Considering the start we had last season to where we finished up (sixth), we didn’t have the best starts last season and we’ve had a lot better start this season.

“We’re sitting in a relatively good position but we’ve got some tough games ahead of us and once we come out the other side of the Christmas and New Year period, we’ll asses and see where we’re at then.”

Rusthall: Daniel Moronfolu, Rahman Kareem (Oscar Opolot-Oguli 68), Louis Anderson, Thompson Adeyemi (Anthony Mepham 68), Robbie Bissett, Frank Griffin, Yassan Fares (Joshua Reid 37), Jack Kirby (Arun Suman 57), Adodeji Owoeye, Louie Clarke.
Subs: Jaevon Dyer

Goals: Ayodeji Owoeye 4 (penalty), Jack Low 44, Louis Anderson 45, Joshua Reid 51, 72, Louie Clarke 55

Booked: Arun Suman 82

Chessington & Hook United: Temitayo Edun, Rewan Alyasi (John Fouracre 89), Danielus Burbullis, Boe Fowler, Daniel Tobechukwu Uzor, Ryan-Bailey  Stedman-Hoyte, James Duffel (Curtis Ford 76), Nicholas Wilson, Bailey Ellis (George Martin 58), Archie Morgan (Joseph Kalbah 68), Jamie Brewer (Wezley Brown 60).

Booked: Daniel Tobechukwu Uzor 32, Nicholas Wilson 85

Temporary Dismissal: Boe Fowler 45

Sent Off:  Daniel Tobechukwu Uzor 40

Attendance: 125
Referee: Mr Daniel Davis
Assistants: Mr Steven Tunnicliffe & Mr Thomas Marshall