Rusthall 1-1 Holmesdale - I think you will see us go on quite a good run between now and January. We want to be a lot better and a lot higher up the league, says Holmesdale boss Lee Roots

Rusthall 1 – 1 Holmesdale
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	26/10/2022 19:45

RUSTHALL  1-1  HOLMESDALE
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Wednesday 26 October 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

HOLMESDALE manager Lee Roots insists his side are not involved in a relegation dogfight in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division and says his side will climb the table towards midtable.

The Bromley based side were thankful to an outstanding second half performance from their goalkeeper James Boughtflower, 22, for grabbing a point at Rusthall.

Holmesdale deserved their lead through a counter-attacking goal from striker Fred Obasa, but Rusthall were camped in Holmesdale’s half during a dominant second half performance and maintained their unbeaten home league record when striker Daniel Blunn came off the bench to score his third goal of the season to salvage a point with six minutes remaining.

“It’s disappointing, it’s two points dropped in my opinion,” said Rusthall manager Jimmy Anderson.

“I feel that we’ve totally dominated the game.  They’ve scored a goal from one of our mistakes, we’ve tried to play a miss-hit pass and they’ve gone through on goal and that’s the only shot they’ve had on goal for 90 minutes, you may correct me in a minute, but I feel like that’s the only shot they’ve had.

“I feel like most of the game was played in their half.  From our point of view, we’re disappointed.  It’s a point. We didn’t have a point at half-time so we changed the outcome.

“On another day we score four or five, I feel, with the chances we had but it happens in football. I’ll take a point.  They beat me here last season so it’s another point better than I got last season.”

Roots added: “I think we’re pretty happy. It’s not an easy place to come.  We’ve got a really good record here, we’ve never lost here so we always feel quite comfortable coming here.

“I think probably on reflection of the play it was not a bad result for both sides. 

“I thought we were excellent in the first half.  I think there were moments where we could’ve won it, moments where we needed to stand up strong and be defensively good.  I’m pretty happy with the point. I feel a point on the road in this league is always a good point.”

Rusthall are enjoying their best ever start to life in the ninth-tier of English football and have now put 18 points on the board from 12 games – they finished in the bottom three last season with 24 points from 38 games last season.

Holmesdale, meanwhile, are in the sixteenth-place (bottom five) with 12 points from 13 league outings.

Holmesdale started the game on the front foot and were a well-organised defensive unit against a Rusthall side that played good football on the deck.

A quickly-taken throw from Luke Adams released the pacey Obasa down the right and after cutting into the Rusthall box his shot from a tight angle was kept out by a combination of goalkeeper Tommy Taylor and right-wing-back Abdulah Khalil at the near post as Holmesdale created the first opening inside five minutes.

“I thought it was a tremendous start from us.  I thought the first 45 minutes we were absolutely sensational,” said Roots.

“The lads really took the instructions well.  We’ve been starting games really well all season.  The first attack is an important part of our make-up or model and sometimes you can score too early and I thought at that point it was a really good start, really happy.”

Anderson added: “Fair play to them, I thought they played really well. They came out quite quietly.  They were aggressive in their play. They wanted to stop us from playing out from the back.  I know Luke Adams really well.  I knew what they were going to bring today and they started well and I thought we defended really well.”

Reuel Powell-Downey was a threat down Rusthall’s left wing and he cut in from the flank and space opened up to unleash a low right-footed drive from 30-yards, which flashed past the foot of the left-hand post.

Roots added: “I worked with Reuel last year, a really good lad, a good talented player.  When I come up against these players I know they’ve got good quality but I always feel I know a little bit about them about how to stop them. I feel we did that really well today throughout the whole game.”

The impressive Dwan Archer then went on a 30-yard run with the ball before slipping in Powell-Downey, who cut onto his right-foot and his rasping drive from 25-yards was comfortably held at head height by visiting keeper Boughtflower.

“I felt in the first half it was our final end product, delivery or timing of passing which was off a little bit but the build-up play was good,” added Anderson.

Holmesdale worked a good move inside the final third with Edward Sata and Lueol Workneh Haile before the ball was played out to right-wing-back Zachary Hallett, who skipped past Rusthall’s left-wing-back Rory Salter and whipped in a cross, which was cleared out to Shield, who took a touch before his left-footed low drive from 25-yards was comfortably saved by Taylor, diving low to his right.

“Shieldsey’s right-footed but he can use both feet.  He took a bad back injury at Erith Town so he’s been out for a couple of games and he managed to bank 45 minutes at the weekend,” revealed Roots.

“I thought it was a good shot from him. If the ball drops to him on his left or right foot he can bend that in.  The keeper’s made a good save. We ask them to hit the target and from 25-yards I think if you can hit the target it’s got to be very good to go in.”

Rusthall’s 11-goal striker Louie Clarke was denied a spectacular goal in the 19^th minute after Rusthall went route-one.

Taylor’s big kick up field was flicked on by Archer and Holmesdale had a couple of chances to clear their lines.

Clarke had his back to goal and was closely marked by a couple of Holmesdale defenders and his overhead kick from 15-yards was comfortably caught by Boughtflower.

“I thought Dwan Archer was unreal today.  I thought he was the best player on the pitch for us and them,” said Anderson.

“We haven’t rushed Dwan back, he’s been injured for the last two or three games and we’ve missed him.  He played really well today and we had to protect him at the end and bring him off.

“I feel like their keeper was pretty good. His distribution, his all-round game was really good.”

Haile played the ball up to Obasa, who worked the ball back to Haile but the Holmesdale man who played in the hole behind Adams and Obasa, sliced a poor shot towards goal from 25-yards out, which was comfortably caught in Taylor’s midriff.

Skelley - who played as a high left-wing-back, with Cian McCarthy (right), Louie Reid Newth (central) and Daniel Vaughan (left) playing in a three man central defence - gave away a free-kick in a dangerous position for a foul on quiet Rusthall winger Tarik Ibraham.

Clarke drilled the free-kick into the wall and Archer lacked composure inside the box by drilling his shot past the near post from 15-yards.

Holmesdale deserved their lead when it arrived with 26 minutes and 3 seconds on the clock but it came from a sublime 25-yard through ball from the halfway line.

However, the man that played the ball was Rusthall’s Powell-Downey, who suffered from a rush of blood.

The through ball played in Obasa who raced into the penalty area, cut the ball onto his left-foot and curled a clinical finish into the top far corner, giving Taylor no chance.

“Reuel certainly knows the kit, he actually thought he was in white again. It was a weird play from them,” said the Holmesdale manager.

“We was right on top at that point.  Fred Obasa has got fantastic quality.  Fred came in (from Erith Town) and scored on his debut. He unfortunately got red carded in his next game and he had to miss a game and he picked up a hamstring injury three games ago so we were able to feel Fred at the weekend against Glebe.

“I’m really pleased with him. It was a great check back onto his left and to bend it all the way into the top corner.

“We were really good value for (the lead).  In football sometimes you don’t get your rewards for playing well, sometimes you do when you don’t so I think at that point we were good value for it and after 30 minutes you want to have some kind of foothold in the game.”

Anderson admitted: “I think their bench had a bit of a laugh and a giggle about that (pass from their old player). It was just unfortunate that he’s tried to keep the possession and their man has gone through on goal and it’s either a very good finish or he’s scooped it into the far corner.  It’s gone in and we’re 1-0 down through our own mistake.”

Holmesdale had a chance to double their advantage when Adams teed up Skelly, whose 25-yard dipping drive forced Taylor to dive to his right to parry the drive.

“Tommy Taylor is a great goalie and I think there were two fantastic goalkeeper’s on display today,” said Roots.

“Jacob played the lop-sided side of our shape really well. We tucked in and gave him the spaces and the passes to run forward with great quality.

“Jacob can play in any position on the pitch.  He isn’t even left-footed, which shows you how good he is playing pretty much the whole game with his left-foot. I thought he was quite aggressive in that moment and put in some really good balls and I was really happy with his game tonight.”

Just 47 seconds later, Archer drove at the Holmesdale defence but his 30-yard drive lacked power and bounced a couple of times before being comfortably gathered by Boughtflower.

Diminutive central midfielder Luke Miller played the ball out to Powell-Downey, who cut in from the left and once again his 25-yard angled drive wasn’t going to trouble the visiting goalkeeper as Holmesdale went into the break with the lead.

Anderson revealed what the mood was like inside the home dressing room.

“It was a bit heated at half-time, not with myself, with players. That’s never a negative thing in a way, the passion in there.  We are where we are in the league for a reason, we’ve got a good squad and standards are high so obviously a few questions were asked.  A few people needed to cool down.

“We said to the boys, play your game, don’t play the emotions of the crowd, or on the pitch.  If we get the ball down and play we know what we’re capable of doing.

“We spoke about their shape and how we could exploit their areas in what they were doing.  The players’ answered every question we asked for at half-time, apart from getting the win.”

Roots added: “We thought we could be a little bit more ahead. We felt we were in complete control of the game in a dominant spell.  That doesn’t last for 90 minutes in football, so we were trying to tell them about them having a bright start. 

“The way we play and the demands we ask of our players it exserts a lot of energy so we have to have coping strategies. We spoke about the half and we spoke about what was to come but we were happy at that point and the lads executed the game plan really well.”

Rusthall came out for the second half with all guns blazing and were camped in Holmesdale’s half for the majority of the half.

Rusthall went close to equalising inside the opening six minutes when Khalil went on a 60-yard run down the right before Powell-Downey played the ball inside to Miller, who cut the ball onto his right-foot and was unlucky when his 25-yard drive sailed just over the top of the right-hand post.

Anderson said: “We came out brightly.  Luke Miller usually plays on the wing but we played him in the eight today. We asked questions at half-time, could he get on the ball a little bit more, could he do a little bit more in the second half. He certainly kept the ball moving for us, like we asked.”

Rusthall kept knocking on the door and Boughtflower pulled off a remarkable save in the 13^th minute.

Salter whipped in a quality free-kick from the right towards the unmarked Clarke (who jumped out of Reid Newth’s pocket) to steer his header towards goal, only for the keeper to dive to his left to claw the ball out of his goal.

Anderson added: “I thought it was a great save from the keeper. I felt their keeper did really well today.  I thought he had a massive presence in goal and done a really good job. He’s got them the point.”

Salter’s through ball from the left-back position wasn’t cut out by Reid Newth and this mistake released Archer, who played in Clarke, who cut in and stroked a low left-footed drive which forced Boughtflower to dive to his right to make another save.

Archer then played a sublime through ball to send Clarke through on goal and Boughtflower came off his line to make another vital save to keep Holmesdale’s lead in tact at the halfway point of the second half.

“He should score, he should score,” insisted Anderson.

“Like I said, there’s a big guy in goal. He’s done well, he’s played well today but from our perspective Louie’s our number nine, he’s been scoring goals all season. On another day that goes in and he might’ve had two or three goals today.”

Reflecting on Boughtflower’s heroics, Roots replied: “There’s a good three clear-cut chances. JB’s only 22 so he’s got a hell of a career ahead of him.

“You’ve known me for quite a long time and we’ve had great quality in goal in Nathan Edwards, who is still apart of the club recovering from an injury.

“I’m really pleased with JB, he’s been excellent. He’s come in pre-season, has been great for us in every game.

“His biggest assets are one-on-one’s. He’s very big, powerful and he commits.  He’s actually feels disappointed with the goal. He feels like he could’ve got something on the goal but it’s a man-of-the-match display and the way that we play, we need the goalie to be on top and do their job but I thought he was tremendous today and I’m really pleased that he gets a moment to shine as well.”

Holmesdale weathered the storm but didn’t produce any goalscoring attacks to try to kill the game off on the counter-attack when they did have a slender lead.

Rusthall kept knocking on the door and Anderson made a double substitution by bringing on Blunn in attack and Ashley Sheppard in the middle of the park.  Earlier on, the 72^nd minute substitution of Yassin Fares was a threat.

“We was under a lot of pressure. We made a change to dispel that pressure and we did for a 10-minute period.  We were slowing the game down, we were managing that phase. I thought we would’ve been good value for it (a 1-0 win) as well,” said Roots.

Rusthall’s deserved equaliser finally arrived with 38:11 on the clock, following a well-worked move.

Hallett failed to stop Rory producing a quality deep delivery from the left, the ball was knocked down by Clarke at the back post and Blunn stabbed his shot past Boughtflower from inside the six-yard box in the middle.

When asked what he said to Blunn, who scored 91 seconds after coming off the bench, Anderson replied: “Go and enjoy it, like I say to all of my subs.  You’ve got eight minutes or whatever it was or probably longer with (five minutes) of injury time.  Ashley Sheppard is coming back from injury. We’ve said to them go and get on the ball and go and change the outcome and it worked.

“We should’ve scored two or three before that.  I felt like Dwan was pulling the strings.  The whole second half was played in their half and it was a deserved equaliser, 100%!

Roots added: “It was a really good goal from them and on reflection, on the chances they created, they probably deserved it.

“The lads have exerted a lot of energy. Two Saturday’s ago, at Greenways, we played on a 3G pitch, it was very hot, very zapping.  We played Merstham on the Wednesday, we just played Glebe on Saturday and we’ve played tonight. It’s a lot of energy and we haven’t rotated the squad too much so to concede in the last six minutes is disappointing.

“But like we said to the lads, Rusthall were top of the league a few weeks ago and it shows where our levels are at. There were six points between the two clubs today and it could’ve been less if we could’ve won.”

Holmesdale came out of their defensive shackles and created a couple of chances to snatch a late winner.

Hitting Rusthall on the counter attack with 43:23 on the clock, substitute four-goal striker Lester Lawrence released fellow substitute Clyde Semazzi through on goal but all he could do was drilled his shot into the base of the side netting from 15-yards.

Centre-halves Tommy Lawrence and James White were both booked by referee Matthew Charles for a couple of strong tackles during the build-up.

Rusthall could have won it too, when with 45:08 on the clock, Sheppard’s low dink was parried by Boughtflower and Holmesdale escaped the scramble.

Taylor maintained a point when Holmesdale almost snatched a last-gasp winner on the counter-attack down the right.

Hallett’s pass released Lester Lawrence in behind last defender Tommy Lawrence and Taylor came off his line to narrow the angle and used his chest to make a vital save to prevent Holmesdale snatching their first league away win of the season.

Roots said:  “Lester is the most hard done by at the moment. He’s been good for us but we’ve just taken him out of the squad at the moment to use him as an impact sub but I thought he did really well.

“It’s a fantastic save and I’ve just had a chat with Tommy about it.  Tommy said ‘if we dink it over him because he was totally committed’ but it’s a brilliant save straight off his chest.

“I think there was good quality from both teams. I don’t think you could say there was a lot between the two teams but the two goalies on display were equally as good, if not, the same as each other.”

Anderson added: “It was only towards the end, once we scored, it was panic stations a little bit from us because we were trying to go for the win and it was a little bit of a tennis match, It was end-to-end.

“All in all, as a collective group we’re disappointed. We felt like we’ve dropped two points today through the pure domination of the game.”

Meanwhile, Holmesdale substitute midfielder Jamie Rawsthorne was shown a red card by the referee for ‘foul and abusive language’ following the final whistle.

Roots said: “It’s not like Jamie, it’s out of character.  I’m not around the incident or seen it. I know there was an incident in the game where he’s had quite a bad gash through his shin and his knee and I think it’s to do with a conversation about the tackle.  I don’t know what has been said. I’ve spoken to the ref and to the player, until I know more, I won’t comment on that.”

Rusthall welcome 12^th-placed Lordswood to Jockey Farm Stadium on Saturday, while Roots takes his side to Lordswood to play tenth-placed side Hollands & Blair.

“We’re happy with our league position.  I think we’re six points off what I achieved the whole of last season so look, there’s a huge improvement but we want to keep improving week-in-week-out and we want to try and finish as high as we can,” said Anderson.

“In this league everyone’s beating everyone. It’s a mad old league. You look at (leaders) Erith & Belvedere, they’re beating teams for fun and then they get turned over by Tunbridge Wells and then Tunbridge Wells get beat by Stansfeld, so you can never predict results in this league.

“We’re happy but we want more points on the board.

“Lordswood is another tough game.  We’ve had them watched and they’re going to be a good side.  Everyone has got a good side.  You don’t know what will happen in this league.

“What’s success for Rusthall this season?  That we win more games, that we continue to play the football I want to play.  We’re unbeaten at home in the league, we’ve tried to make this our fortress so let’s see the whole season out and do it our way and then we’ll see where we finish.”

Holmesdale started their campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Hollands & Blair and Roots said: “That was our first game of the season so for me I’m scratching my head thinking are we so far into the season already?

“We’ve had them watched, they had a bad loss at the weekend at home. I don’t know whether that pitch suits them but Hollands & Blair play a huge style on the pitch, they’re a tough side, very physical.

“It’s the first team we’re playing twice so we’ve got a good history on them.”

Holmesdale are only four points clear of the relegation zone (Fisher and bottom side Punjab United do have games in hand), and Roots was asked whether he thought his side are involved in a relegation dog-fight.

“I don’t think so at this point.  The league is too wide open to say that on anyone.  For example, if we had won tonight we’d have gone three points off Rusthall and jumped up a couple of places.

“We feel there’s a really good run of games for us now all the way to January so we wanted a four point week from Hollands & Blair and Rusthall so I think that would’ve been respectful.

“We’re going to go there, we don’t get a chance to prepare with the lads now.  We’re going to do some analysis work online with them on Friday evening and that will be our preparation going into the game.

“I think you will see us go on quite a good run between now and January. We want to be a lot better and a lot higher up the league. 

“A lot of players (from last season) have got good money moves and we had to regroup the whole squad and we are probably the lowest spenders and the lower resourced in the league so to say is that (current league position) is unacceptable? No!

“I still think we should be midtable and above but I don’t think we are (in a relegation dog fight).”

Rusthall: Tommy Taylor, Abdulah Khalil, Rory Salter, Tommy Lawrence, James White, Jack Smith, Reuel Powell-Downey (Daniel Blunn 82), Luke Miller (Ashley Sheppard 83), Louie Clarkem Dwan Archer (Yassin Fares 72), Tarik Ibrahim.
Subs: Addo Amankwah, Andres Felipe Losada Tobon

Goal: Daniel Blunn 84

Booked: Louie Clarke 36, Reuel Powell-Downey 74, Tommy Lawrence 89, James White 89

Holmesdale: James Boughtflower, Zachary Hallett, Jacob Skelly, Louie Reid Newth, Daniel Vaughan, Cian McCarthy, Edward Sata (Clyde Semazzi 71), James Shield (Jamie Rawsthorne 53), Luke Adams (Kalum Daini 80), Fred Obasa (Nathaniel Olawole 72), Lueol Workneh Haile (Lester Lawrence 60).

Goal: Fred Obasa 27

Booked: James Shield 39, Daniel Vaughan 59

Sent off: Jamie Rawsthorne 90

Attendance: 141
Referee: Mr Matthew Charles
Assistants: Mr Andrew Stanford & Mr Simon Jackson