Rusthall 4-0 Holmesdale - I didn't feel like we were ready for the play-offs or promotion last season. Are we ready now? It's too early to say but I believe in my team, says Rusthall boss Jimmy Anderson

Rusthall 4 – 0 Holmesdale
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	23/09/2025 19:45

RUSTHALL  4-0  HOLMESDALE
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 23 September 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

RUSTHALL manager Jimmy Anderson says he wants to go one better than last season’s sixth-place finish after admitting his side were not ready to win promotion last season.

The Rustics’ thrashed their Bromley-based opponents to remain unbeaten in seven League games and show their intent in what can be described as an open title-race at this early stage of the season.

Rusthall central midfielder James Miles opened the scoring with a deflected strike and three goals were scored during the second half at Jockey Farm Stadium.

Winger Joshua Reid notched his fourth goal of the season before wide striker Louie Clarke scored his ninth goal of the season.

Holmesdale had their left-back Anthony Musoke sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity and Miles’ resulting penalty was saved by the keeper’s legs but substitute midfielder Jack Low tucked home the rebound with eight minutes remaining, as Andy Constable’s side were knocked out of the play-offs following a poor second-half performance.

Despite the four-goal victory for Rusthall, statistically, both goalkeeper's made six saves each.

“I felt like it was a bit of game, attack-versus-defence,” said Anderson.

“I felt like they sat in, maybe a little bit too deep and I felt like we potentially could’ve got more on the night but take nothing away from Holmesdale, I felt like they’ve got good players but I just felt we were the stronger team today.

“I felt like Holmesdale started the first 5-10 minutes, they came out and they were lively and I felt ‘here we go, we’re going to have a game’.

“I was questioning my tactics in the sense of how we set up and how we can counter act what they’ve done and I felt they were really on the front foot and then we had a chance with Josh Reid, so we carved out a chance.

“We were patient and I said to the boys before the game, the way AC (Andy Constable) has been talking in his interviews and obviously playing them previously last season, I felt like they were going to sit in and we have to be patient and bide our time and just keep the ball moving and eventually we got our joy from doing that.”

Anderson kept faith with the same starting 11 that defeated Seaford Town 4-1 in The FA Vase on Saturday while Holmesdale made six changes after being dumped out of the competition with a 2-1 home defeat to lower-league Rochester United at Oakley Road.

Constable was serving a stadium ban so coach Ross Mitchell took charge and faced the post-match questions and was asked why they made six changes.

“Disappointing night, better team won. Credit to Rusthall, I thought they played really well but ultimately, I think we’ve given them the game. We didn’t give a solid account of ourselves second half.

“We’ve got a squad of players that we trust, otherwise they wouldn’t be with us and it’s not about the 11 that start, it’s about the whole squad.

“I think we’ve got a reaction and we got a good performance in the first 25-30 minutes of today but other than that we was disappointed second half and that’s the disappointing thing.”

Holmesdale started the game on the front foot and Rusthall goalkeeper Serine Sanneh made a near-post save inside 218 seconds.

Attacking midfielder Callum Keeble hooked the ball out to wideman Nathan Palmer, who easily beat centre-half Daniel Blunn and his cross was half-cleared to big targetman Lewis Heywood-Oriogun, who lashed a left-footed shot towards the top near-corner, only for Sanneh to palm the ball over his crossbar high above his head at the near-post.

Mitchell said: “Good save. I think it was a good reaction save and they’re the fine margines in football. If that goal goes in, which in any other game it could, the game could be different but goals change games.”

Anderson added: “Like I said, they started off really well and I felt like we were going to have a really good game tonight for the fans, the (115) people who turned up.  After we scored, it felt like they didn’t come out after that, they struggled to really get going.”

Vinnie Medhurst swung in the away sides first of five corners and the ball was cleared out to five-goal holding midfielder Alfie Clarke, who drilled his right-footed drive over the crossbar from 35-yards.

Rusthall play-out-from-the-back with repetitive patterns of play where Sanneh, centre-half Robbie Bissett and holding midfielder Frank Griffin linking up before Bissett hits long diagonals either to Reid out on the left flank and most likely to high right-back Louis Anderson.

Mitchell revealed post-match that Heywood-Oriogun was told not to press Brissett or Griffin, when asked why the Holmesdale striker didn’t attempt to win the ball inside the Rusthall defensive third.

Anderson said: “We like to play-out-from-the-back as everyone knows but we’re trying to do different things this season in a sense of the movement off the ball and we have goals in the team. We have threats and if it pays off and we get that chance, hopefully we take it.”

Mitchell was asked why Heywood-Oriogun didn’t press.

“That was no reflection on Lewis, yes. That was his instructions. We have a plan that we stick to and that worked for us.

“They didn’t really hurt us in the first 25 minutes but Lewis stuck to the game plan tonight. He was told what he was meant to do.”

Griffin played a 20-yard pass along the deck into Kirby, who spun Alfie Clarke, before pinging the ball into the left-channel where high left-back Kareem Rahman fed winger Reid, whose angle drive flew straight down the throat of former Rusthall goalkeeper Charlie Wealands, catching comfortably at his near-post.

Palmer, who had his marker tight to him, played the ball in behind Anderson with a clever back-heal to send Musoke on his way into the left-channel but his deep cross was knocked down by Medhurst at the back post and Keeble’s looping header was clawed out by Sanneh underneath his crossbar, while under pressure.

Rusthall grabbed the lead – against-the-run-of-play – with 18 minutes and 6 seconds on the clock, following a well-worked move.

Sanneh kicked the ball to Bissett, who fed Kirby, who went on a 30-yard run in the middle of the pitch before sweeping the ball out to a very high Louis Anderson, who was in space within the right-channel.

His low cross was cleared out to Reid, who drilled a 20-yarder towards goal, which was beaten away by Wealands and the ball fell to Miles, whose left-footed shot from 16-yards took a deflection from within a crowd of players and trickled across the keeper to nestle inside the bottom right-hand corner.

“Milo’s been superb since he’s come back. He’ll be disappointed that he missed his penalty today but it happens.  Hopefully, he’ll score the one when it really counts and not when we’re 3-0 up,” said Anderson.

“He’s probably one of the best midfielders in the league, so he’s taken us to another level and we’re massively grateful that he wants to be part of this and this journey this season with us.

“We’ve got strong competition in midfield and he offers something different to the other boys we’ve got in there.”

Mitchell added: “First one, I think we can defend it better. I think we didn’t get out to the ball quick enough and then it’s deflected in off one of our players. But it's one of those goals where ours don’t go in and theirs does and that changes the game.”

Holmesdale showed good character to find their way back into the game but they lacked quality with their shooting from outside the penalty area.

Ineffective winger Kevin Dance dinked the ball to Heywood-Origun, who was pressed by Daniel Blunn but his poor left-footed shot from 20-yards rolled towards Sanneh in the 25^th minute.

Holmesdale created another opening just 96 seconds later when Palmer and Keeble both linked up well before central midfielder Medhurst hit a low right-footed drive from 25-yards, which was comfortably saved by Sanneh, holding low to his right.

Mitchell said: “I don’t think anything threatened the goalkeeper. I think he’s made one good save tonight but other than that we haven’t tested him enough and ultimately to win games of football, you’ve got to test the goalkeeper and test their goal more and we didn’t tonight.”

Anderson added: “In the first 5-10 minutes, I felt like ‘they’re going to have a go.’  I know quite a few of their players. I know Charlie (Wealands) in goal. Charlie’s been with us before.

“Their tactics, it seemed like it was going to kill our momentum in how we wanted to play and keep hold of the ball – kill the tempo of the game and when they did have the ball then they went long into the big man up top, who obviously was feeding off scraps and did the best he could.”

Reid easily beat Alfie Clarke inside the Rusthall half before dinking the ball over the top to put Kirby through on goal but he drilled his right-footed shot over the Holmesdale crossbar, as did seven-goal striker Charlie Clover, who pounced on a mistake from Holmesdale centre-half Alimamy Mansaray on the half-way line to run through on goal before his shot drifted over the top of the far post.

Bissett hit a long ball out of defence towards a couple of team-mates and Louie Clarke’s flicked shot was saved well by Wealands before Clover lashed the rebound over the crossbar.

“I felt like that should’ve gone in.  Louie’s movement was great. Charlie’s made a good save in goal and then it’s fallen to Char and he’s put it over the bar and it’s just unfortunate. Both of those boys are in good form at the minute,” said Anderson.

“I’ve got a front three or maybe even a front five at times.  Let’s not give too much away but we are quite good attacking and Louie and Char are getting goals, as a team we are.”

Heywood-Oriogun held the ball up inside the final third and waited for support from Palmer, who played the ball along the deck to Keeble, whose left-footed shot deflected off a pressing Griffin and rolled along the deck for Sanneh to collect at ankle height, as Rusthall’s players were more hungrier.

Rusthall created the final chance of the first half when Griffin’s right-footed free-kick was cleared out to Kirby, whose right-footed volley was destined for the bottom corner, through a crowd of players, but Wealands made a good save, diving to his right.

“I said to them that is one of those games where I felt Holmesdale had to come out and try and score and stay in the game. They probably felt like they were in the game at one-nil and the next goal would matter,” said Anderson.

“I said to the boys just bide your time, be patient, control the tempo of the game and goals will come and chances will come and it worked.”

Mitchell was asked about his thoughts at the interval and what threats Rusthall posed his players tonight.

“Very positive in the dressing room actually because I thought it could’ve been one-all, it could’ve been 1-0 to us but the team talk at half-time was very positive and we expected to come out of the traps a bit better than what we did.

“I think Rusthall’s wide players were good second half. I thought we nullified them a little bit in the first half and they didn’t really get in and I think they were getting a bit frustrated.

“I think their fitness levels were probably better in the second half and that’s something that we’ve got to address.  We just didn’t go through the gears and they did and that’s ultimately what won them the game.”

Mitchell made a change at half-time with holding midfielder Jason Goodchild replacing Alfie Clarke but Rusthall came out with all guns blazing and dominated and controlled large parts of the second half with Griffin pulling the strings and starting many attacks.

“That wasn’t the tactic but I felt like it was because of the tempo I felt like Holmesdale were going to come out but they didn’t, so they’ve sat in so then we manged to play the whole of the second half in their half,” added Anderson.

Mitchell hooked Keeble (7:20) and 30 seconds later, Rusthall doubled their lead with a clinical strike.

Kirby went on a trademark run straight down the heart of the pitch before laying the ball off on the inside to Reid, who clinically drilled his right-footed shot into the roof of the net.

“I said to Kirby at half-time to win me the game and he produces the goods. He came off because he was a little bit tired so he’s in superb form this season as well,” revealed Anderson.

“Josh Reid’s finding the back of the net consistently now. He struggled at the start of the season but he’s loving it at the minute, so it’s all good.”

Anderson replied Reid ‘should be fine’ and that it wasn’t a knee injury, just an ‘impact’ knock.

Mitchell admitted: “Too easy, too easy for them. I don’t think we put enough tackles in, in that phase of play and they cut through us too quick. 

“That wasn’t to do with the sub, that was just to do with personnel that was on the pitch at the time.”

Goodchild was to blame for Rusthall’s third goal of the night, timed at 17 minutes and 15 seconds on the clock.

Bissett hit a long ball down the line, Clover’s back-heal released substitute left-winger Ayodeji Owoeye, who fizzed in a great low cross towards the near-post.

Goodchild took a touch inside his six-yard box and was heading towards his own goal and instead of clearing his lines he didn’t have much room to pass the ball back towards his goalkeeper, who was being pressed by Clover and Wealands smashed the ball away first time straight to Clarke, who accepted the gift by slamming into the back of the net.

“You can say we’re gifted but I would say we worked hard for it,” said Anderson.

“At half-time, I said to my boys that we won’t get a clean-sheet or we won’t win this game if my defenders just defend, so I needed the whole team to defend.

“Now, Charlie’s pressed the keeper pretty much on his line and we’ve got the reward by Louie tapping in the back of the net, so that’s probably one of the best goals of the night for me personally because it shows how much we’ve worked hard to get it.”

When asked whether that was worked on the training ground, Anderson replied, “No, no, no, no. That’s just your attitude and your mindset that you’re coming out. It’s a cold Tuesday night. Can you give me everything you’ve got – and they did!”

Mitchell admitted: “Poor goal to concede and I don’t need to tell Jason that wasn’t good enough! He knows that and he’s put his hands up to that but that was defiantly an avoidable goal.”

Palmer drew a foul from Griffin on the edge of the D but Holmesdale centre-half William Bell smashed the resulting free-kick into the five-man wall.  Palmer then recycled the ball back into the box and substitute striker Marcus Elliott’s deflected swept shot on the turn trickled past the far post and behind for a corner as the game reached the final 20 minutes.

Both were asked about the lack of Holmesdale attacking threat.

Mitchell said: “Marcus is a good player, he’s an experienced player. He works hard and yes, he’s a threat but ultimately for strikers to be a threat you need to serve them and we didn’t get enough service into either of our strikers tonight. I don’t think that’s anything to do with Marcus.”

Anderson added: “He’s (Elliott) good in the air but he’s a target man but I just felt both of their strikers, it’s not a criticism, I just felt both of them were isolated up there.

“Both of their strikers did work hard and unfortunately for them, got nothing.”

Medhurst played a 20-yard pass along the deck to feed Elliott, whose left-footed angled drive was gathered at the second attempt by the Rusthall goalkeeper.

Holmesdale were reduced to 10-men inside the final seven minutes.

Rahman released substitute winger Jesse Hammond, who fizzed in a cross towards the back post where substitute winger Owoeye had two bites of the cherry to get his shot away.

Musoke wasn’t too far away but was deemed by referee Richard Airey to have used his hand make the block and pulled out a red-card.

Miles stepped up and his penalty was saved by Wealands legs, while diving to his right and Holmesdale’s players lacked desire to help out their mate, allowing Low to pounce on the loose ball to turn the rebound in (36:55).

Anderson said: “Jesse put in a cross, Thompson (Adeyemi) ran to the front stick, missed it.  Deji’s then at the back stick, he’s had a shot and their three has probably made the best save of the night. Unfortunately, he’s received a red card for it and we’ve got a penalty, Milo steps up, unfortunately mises. Jack Low on the rebound crashes in the net.

“It’s great. Jack’s being really patient. He’s a phenomenal player for us but it’s another goal for him. We’ve got a good group. I keep saying that to everyone. The group is really good, everyone together and we’ve got another tough game on Saturday.”

When asked his take on Musoke’s red – which will see the left-back miss next Tuesday’s trip to Gravesend to play Punjab United in the Challenge Cup – Mitchell replied: “Very, very harsh and I’m not sure what he’s expected to do in that situation.

“Tell me a defender that’s going to put their hands underneath their body to stop that?  He’s gone with the momentum and it’s hit his hand but anything’s handball this day and age, so I don’t know what is a handball and what’s not these days but I think that’s a harsh decision and one that the referee should probably reflect on.”

The fourth goal just summed up Rusthall’s desire levels were a lot higher than Holmesdale’s  - who just didn’t perform on a chilly Tuesday night where league titles and promotion’s are won and lost.

Mitchell said: “Again, Charlie, great save and we’ve not reacted and they have, simple as that. We should be following in and trying to protect our goal and we’ve not protected our goal and frankly I think that’s poor defending from us.”

Rahman skipped past Palmer in the build-up before Low cut inside and his ball into the Holmesdale box was cleared out to Hammond, whose low right-footed drive was heading for the bottom far corner, only for Wealands to dive low to his left to use a strong left hand to make a superb save, as Rusthall proved tonight that they can be taken seriously in this title race.

“A really good save. Charlie will be disappointed because obviously he conceded four but I felt like he had quite a good game today,” said Anderson.

“Obviously we could’ve been a little bit more clinical in front of goal but I felt like he had a good game and I’m pleased that he’s playing.”

Mitchell added: “I’m a really big fan of Charlie. I think he’s been superb for us this season. A great lad and he’s been one of our key players this season.

“I think from a goalkeeper’s perspective, you’re disappointed to come off that with a 4-0 defeat because I think he’s had a really solid game but overall this season, he’s been superb for us.”

Kevin Stevens’ Bearsted claimed a 3-2 win at relegated Hythe Town to remain at the summit of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table tonight, with 22 points from 10 games.

The play-off zone contains unfancied pair Sutton Athletic (19 points from nine games) and Kennington (17 points from 10).

Snodland Town – 2-0 winners at Whitstable Town – are in third-place with 17 points from 11 games are next, while Tony Reid’s Larkfield & New Hythe are in fifth-place with 16 points from nine.

Jamie Coyle’s favourites, Whitstable Town sit in sixth-place with 16 points from eight, followed by Holmesdale (16 points, five wins, one draw and four defeats) and Rusthall (15 points, four wins and three draws).

Anderson said: “We’re unbeaten in the league, not just at home, so I’m pleased but will it last? Who knows, We’ll take one game at a time.

“We’ve got Faversham Strike Force at home on Saturday, another tough game. The boys will be tired. Faversham haven’t played tonight, they’ve got a full week off, so I expect it to be a tough game.

“They’ve got some good results this season (thirteenth-place, 10 points, three wins, one draw, four defeats).  They’ve come up from Step Six and they have nothing to fear, so they’ll come here and want to win and we’ve got to try to keep our momentum going.

“Being in eighth-place means nothing at the minute, nothing. We’re eighth but it’s just another three points. We’ve got games-in-hand. When we play them, then we’ll asses where we are in the league. We’ll asses it at Christmas and then we’ll asses it at the end of the season but it’s a good performance tonight. We go again Saturday.”

When asked what he learnt from last season’s highest ever finish, Anderson replied: “I learnt that a group is probably more important than having individuals, like quality players. I had a great group last season. Even though I had quality players in it, I had a phenomenal group and I feel like I’ve built that again this season.

“I feel like a good group can get you 15-20 points. I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t feel like we were ready last season unfortunately, for the play-offs or even promotion.

“I feel like I have good players but they’re still developing and it’s a long old season and they’ll be ups and downs but we started last season really badly and then we went on a phenomenal run and now we’ve started this season like ok ish.

“We’ve got games-in-hand but I feel like every team has a bad bit throughout the season, so hopefully ours doesn’t turn up but I feel like every team has a bad bit and they have a struggle and you have got to fight, grind out results and there’s no easy games in this League -  So I learnt a lot last season.”

When asked whether Rusthall will be ready this season, Anderson, who will celebrate his seventh season at the helm in December, replied: “I don’t know. It’s too early to say but yes, I believe in my team. I believe in the team.

“What’s success this season? To try to do one better than we did last season, that’s success.

“We finished sixth last season. If we can do one better this season than that’s success and if we have a good run in the Vase, so to beat Tunbridge Wells will be really good but it’s going to be another tough game.”

Rusthall host Steve Ives’ side here in The FA Vase First Round on Saturday 18 October and Rustics have never reached the Second Round.

Orpington resident Anderson was asked his initial thoughts of being handed a lucrative home derby.

“It’s great, it’s great. It’s going to be good for the local people. We’re both in quite good form this season, so it’s going to be a really top game. They’ll be a lot of people here and it will be a cup game where there isn’t a favourite going into it and it will be on the day.  Normally the derbies are always on the day and it’s really good for the club.”

Holmesdale, meanwhile, travel to Gillingham to play Hollands & Blair on Saturday.

Darren Blackburn’s side sit in the bottom four, having picked up nine points (three wins) from their opening seven games.

Beneath them are Corinthian (five points from nine), Stansfeld (three points from eight) and Chislehurst Glebe (two points from 10).

“It’s another game of football. Again, if we put our best foot forward, we’ll be strong on the day but anyone in this League can beat anyone. We’re certainly not taking anything for granted there and nor will Hollands & Blair, I don’t think, so we’ve got to go there and put our best performance on,” said Mitchell.

“I think we’ve had a really good start. We’ve had a couple of poor results and we’ve addressed that but overall I think Andy’s got the team in a really good shape.

“We’ve got some really good players and I’ve been at this club for a long time. We’ve had some good teams here and I think this is one of our teams that I could say are going to compete and be competitive in this league.

“We’ve haven’t set any stupid targets. We’ll just try to do the best we can.

“Look, we’re a growing club. We’ve got some plans. We’ve got some really good things going on in the background and things that are quite exciting, if they come off, but I think every season our objective is to be competitive, put our best foot forward and where we end at the end of the season will be told.

“But this team have got, within their gift, to do whatever they want but they’ve got to play better than what they did tonight.

“We have to try to be competitive on the field and off the field and we’ve got some plans in place but it’s having an infrastructure in place where we can be that competitive.  We offer a nice club to play at. We try to treat the players with respect and give people opportunities.  It’s just not about throwing money at players.”

Rusthall: Serine Sanneh, Louis Anderson, Kareem Rahman, Frank Griffin, Robbie Bissett, Daniel Blunn, Joshua Reid (Ayodeji Owoeye 60), James Miles, Charlie Clover (Thompson Adeyemi 81), Jack Kirby (Jack Low 74), Louie Clarke (Jesse Hammond 81).
Sub: Jaevon Dyer

Goals: James Miles 19, Joshua Reid 53, Louie Clarke 63, Jack Low 84

Booked: Louie Clarke 80

Holmesdale: Charlie Wealands, Nathaniel Murray, Anthony Musoke, Alfie Clark (Jason Goodchild 46), William Bell, Alimamy Mansaray, Nathan Palmer, Vinnie Medhurst, Lewis Heywood-Oriogun (Marcus Elliott 65), Callum Keeble (Cameron McGovern 53), Kevin Dance (Cassius Sullivan 78).
Sub: Micquelle Murray

Booked: Cameron McGovern 68, Nathan Palmer 77

Sent Off:  Anthony Musoke 83

Attendance: 115
Referee: Mr Richard Airey
Assistants: Ms Katie Allen & Mr Steven Page