Rusthall 0-6 Whitstable Town - It's a massive statement that goes out and we've still haven't achieved anything but for sure we're going to be in the play-offs, says Whitstable Town's promotion chasing manager Jamie Coyle

Rusthall 0 – 6 Whitstable Town
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	19/04/2025 15:00

RUSTHALL  0-6  WHITSTABLE TOWN
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Easter Saturday 19 April 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

WHITSTABLE TOWN manager Jamie Coyle says his players have delivered a massive statement to the rest of the league after humiliating Rusthall to secure a Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division play-off place.

The Oystermen lost 3-2 to Larkfield & New Hythe in the Kent Senior Trophy Final last Sunday, before beating bottom two sides Lydd Town (2-1, Tuesday) and relegating Lordswood (3-0) just 48 hours later and they put in a dominant performance at Rusthall, who last tasted defeat here at Jockey Farm when Erith & Belvedere came away with a 3-1 win on 24 September.

A crowd of 410 saw central midfielder Connor Wilkins and winger Albie O’Mara-Knapp, 18, open their goalscoring accounts for Whitstable Town before the break.

Striker Dean Grant drilled in their third goal just 75 seconds into the second half, before centre-back Jake McIntyre found the top left-hand corner from a sublime free-kick.

Rusthall goalkeeper Serine Sanneh gifted Grant his 13^th goal of the season before Rusthall winger Yassin Fares was sent off for the second time this season – which means he will miss Saturday’s home game against Faversham Town, the play-off Semi-Final, the Play-Off Final (if Rusthall make it, of course) and the opening day of next season, as he serves a four match ban.

Whitstable Town’s attacking midfielder Bradley Schafer rifled in his tenth goal of the season to signal that Coyle’s men are now favourites to join champions Faversham Town in the Isthmian League South East Division next season.

“It’s been one hell of a week. We’ve had a game every two days. The boys have been absolutely unbelievable,” said Coyle, who joined his assistant manager Matt Longhurst standing up in the technical area rather than playing in central defence.

“We’ve rotated the team again today, a number of different starters and they’ve really delivered again and it’s a big, big performance and it’s a massive statement, I think, to the rest of the league as well, which is great at this stage of the season.

“It’s a difficult pitch and fair play to them. I thought they tried to play in a right way and I think they had a good 10 minute spell in the first half when they were causing some trouble in the half space areas with runners in midfield but I thought we got our tactics right today.

“We stopped them playing, especially in the second half and we nicked the ball off them higher up into the final third and we could’ve had a lot more goals than what we did.”

Rusthall manager, Jimmy Anderson, meanwhile, apologised to his supporters for their unacceptable performance.

“Well and truly beaten against a very good side, shock result, I ain’t going to lie, well and truly beaten,” said Anderson.

“We just didn’t turn up today for whatever reason and I don’t know. I spoke to you last week (after losing 2-0 at VCD Athletic) and said we’re allowed to lose games but today is a bit unacceptable.  The fans were brilliant and yes 6-0 at home is totally unacceptable!

“The last time we lost at home was 24 September, so we’ve gone a long time, so normally we’re really good at home and like I said we got well and truly beaten against a really, really good side and thoroughly deserved by them.

“We’ve had a fantastic season, don’t let this result kill it. It is what it is. It’s just a game, unfortunately it looks terrible because it’s 6-0. If we lost 1-0, it’s still a loss, or 2-0, like last week against VCD, so a loss is a loss.

“We’ve been on a great run (20 unbeaten games before last weekend), to even be where we are this season is incredible and we still have two games to play so I need to, do I need to pick up the boys? I don’t think I need to because they need to pick themselves up.  They’ve lost 6-0, that’s embarrassing enough. There’s surely is going to be a reaction from them.”

Coyle made five changes from the side that relegated Scott Porter’s Lordswood – but part-time footballers playing four games in six days at the end of the season needs to be looked at as it’s not good for their well-being, especially as they hold down full-time jobs and have families too.

The Southern Counties East Football League must put more midweek games during August, September and early October – and if club’s have lengthy cup runs, then League games should be scheduled the midweek after the Saturday Cup tie, to ease the crippling fixture congestion at the end of the season.

Both sides cancelled each other out during the early exchanges on a sunny, windy day on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, but Rusthall did find pockets of space in midfield but Whitstable’s two-centre halves of McIntyre and Finn O’Mara were resilient and Wilkins was an aerial threat from set-pieces.

Coyle said: “You’ve got to take your hat off to them, they’ve tried to play out from the back on a real difficult bobbly pitch but we knew that’s their style of play. They’ve not really got a focal point in terms of playing direct so we knew if we stopped them playing, we could actually steal the ball off them in key areas and we done that but we done that through real hard work and the players actually following the tactics that we set.”

Whitstable Town took 17 minutes to create the game’s first real chance, following the second of the away side’s four corners.

Schafer’s first corner failed to beat the first man but his second one was much better but the home side managed to clear their lines.

Mikey Dalton recycled the ball back into the final third and Wilkins’ first-time right-footed shot on the turn from 22-yards was comfortably saved low down by Sanneh in the centre of his goal.

“We knocked on the door. I thought set-pieces wise we were a real threat throughout the whole game,” said Coyle.

“We knew physically I thought we could impose ourselves a little but and I thought we done that and constant long throws and corners, we could’ve nicked a couple more.”

Anderson added: “As you say, it was a bit of a cagey start. I just felt like they were more aggressive than us. They certainly didn’t look like they played (four games in the last six days).  They looked like they covered the ground really well.

“No disrespect to the other teams (Lydd Town and Lordswood), they probably thought this was probably the hardest game they would face this week and they’ve produced a five-star performance.”

Rusthall created only a couple of chances during the game and they almost took the lead with 18:12 on the clock.

Rusthall centre-half Robbie Bissett fed attacking midfielder Jack Kirby, whose right-footed drive skimmed the base of the outside of the right-hand upright.

Coyle added: “It was a foul on Schafer and I think we almost stopped expecting the referee to give a foul and it’s literally just grazed the outside of the post.

“As I said to the referee, ‘it’s those big decisions,’ if that goes in the back of our net, it’s a different game.  Luckily enough it was the wrong side of the post.”

Schafer went over to the away dug-out to get treatment to his finger and Dalton floated a free-kick into the Rusthall box just over the half-way line and Wilkins’ glancing header sailed past the left-hand post.

Wilkins was fouled by Fares and Dalton delivered another free-kick towards a couple of his team-mates and Wilkins jumped up and his header was comfortably plucked out of the air by the Rusthall goalkeeper, as the ball sailed towards the top-left-hand corner.

Whitstable Town took the lead with 34 minutes and 9 seconds on the clock, with four players involved at a set-piece from the left.

Left-back Adedapo Olugbodi threw the ball, Grant stabbed the ball to winger Ashdon Day who laid the ball off to Wilkins, who stroked a right-footed dive from 20-yards.  The goalkeeper got a hand to the shot but the ball trickled into the bottom right-hand corner.

“He’s got his first goal today, which is really good. Connor’s knocked on the door for a number of weeks now,” said Coyle.

“He really offers physicality in midfield and picks up a lot of second balls and got a lot of first contacts today.

“Ashdon again was a constant threat for the whole time that he was on the pitch and for an 18-year-old, he’s been brilliant the last two games.  He was a little bit tired towards the end because he hasn’t really been playing much recently but him and Albie, I thought were unplayable at times in the final third.

“I thought once we got the first goal, I thought we grew in confidence. We kind of knocked them out of their rhythm a little bit because they were having a good spell for 10-15 minutes and after that I thought it was a little bit of an onslaught onto their goal and their keeper has made a couple of decent saves as well but it's a real positive afternoon.”

Anderson added: “It was going to be a moment of quality or a mistake that was going to break the deadlock and yes there were a couple of mistakes in the build-up to their first goal.

“There were phases of play before that, it was from a throw, we just don’t clear our lines as well as we could. 

“Serine has been fantastic all season for us and today he’s made a couple of errors and I feel like he could do better with their first goal.”

Rusthall’s second and final corner came in from the left from Frank Griffin in the 39^th minute and central midfielder Nodirbek Bobomurodov got round the back and volleyed his shot past the top of the near-post from a tight angle.

Whitstable Town doubled their lead with 40 minutes and 2 seconds on the clock.

Dalton launched a long ball forward, Grant held off Bissett within the right-hand side of the Rustics’ penalty area, his driven shot was blocked and fell to an unmarked O’Mara-Knapp in the middle, who hooked his right-footed shot into the right-hand corner.

Coyle said:  “He deserved his goal. He went one-on-one and unselfishly played it across the box where we scored at the end as well, when Schafer scored.

“His running and his work ethic today was outstanding but he’s also got the quality when it’s landed in and around the 18-yard box on a tough, bobbly pitch to put it into the corner.”

Anderson added: “I’ve watched the veo and I thought there was a foul on Robbie Bissett from Dean Grant. He threw his weight around today and in truth, as well as they played, he probably won them the game.  He led by example at the top and he was a bully and he done an incredible job today for them.  I generally thought that was a foul.”

Sanneh was called into action on the stroke of half-time making a triple save.

Dalton cracked a low right-footed drive from 30-yards, the keeper dived to his right to parry, and then swiftly denied both Grant and Schafer.

“It was a great save, the keeper’s made some real big saves today at key times, on another day it could’ve been a lot more,” added Coyle.

Anderson said: “Serine’s had a tough game today and he’ll get judged because he’s conceded six goals but he’s made some good saves today and it’s one of them.

“Like I said last week, we’ve lost the game. We can’t put too much into it and over think it. We have another game on Monday, so it’s a quick turnaround.”

Anderson was asked why his goalkeeper stayed on his line whenever Whitstable put free-kicks, crosses and set-pieces into his penalty area.

“We’ve done our research on Whitstable, they have a lot of movement, they rotate and block people in the box and we didn’t want Serine to get caught up in that.”

Both manager’s were asked their thoughts at the interval.

Anderson said: “Strangely because we’ve done it so many times this season, it was only 2-0 ‘well come back into this’ and I spoke to the boys, I wanted to change it tactically and I won’t go into that because we’ve still got games to play.

“My thoughts at half-time was we’re still in the game because I know what we’re capable of doing but unfortunately that quickly changed when they scored the third and then the fourth.”

Coyle added: “Just about their threat really. I thought they had really good movement in the final third. Their midfielders were running in the half space and causing us some trouble at times.  I thought we nullified that in the second half and we kind of imposed ourselves a bit more.

“We knew that they weren’t going to enjoy the onslaught of long-throws and set-pieces in their box and I thought we done really well getting on first contacts and then getting on the bits as well today.”

Whitstable Town came out with all guns blazing, increasing their lead just 75 seconds into the second half with a well taken finish.

The woeful Bobomurodov – who played for Littlehampton Town in their 3-1 home defeat to Ashford United in the Isthmian League South East Division just 24 hours earlier – failed to stop Wilkins driving straight down the middle before he played the ball in behind Daniel Blunn and Grant let the ball roll in front of him before drilling a clinical first-time left-footed angle drive across Sanneh, nestling inside the bottom far corner of the goal from the corner of the six-yard box.

“It was a great finish on a tough pitch and on his weaker side. He’s drilled it to the far post,” said Coyle.

“I thought his work ethic again today, he was causing problems for both centre-halves and they most certainly knew they’ve been in a game today and he deserved his goal.

“Obviously the scoreline states (how dominant we were) but I think their goalkeeper has been busy for the whole day.”

Anderson said: “It’s another mistake and Dean Grant scores and it’s just so quick and it’s kind of killed the game a bit then.

“I don’t expect it from the group, like we’ve been that team that play to ninety plus minutes. We’ve won games at the latter stages of games as well.

“It was just poor. No one puts in a challenge, it looked like we were the team that were still in the changing room. I knew we weren’t because then the boys tried to do what I was asking them to do but then you’re just up against it.

“You’re three, four (nil down), it was quick, heads are down and that can happen.  That’s the disappointing thing.

“We’ve been on a great run but we’ve been on this great run because we’ve earnt it, no one’s given it to us.  Today we’ve gifted them that win unfortunately, we’ve lowered ourselves and our standards.”

Dalton delivered a hanging cross into the Rusthall box and Day’s flicked header was heading towards the top left-hand corner, only for Sanneh to comfortably pick the cherry out of the tree.

The impressive Schafer ran towards the Rusthall penalty area straight down the middle before he was tripped by Griffin, who was booked.

Sanneh lined up a five-man wall but no goalkeeper in the world was going to prevent McIntyre stroking an emphatic left-footed free-kick into the top left-hand corner from 25-yards.

Coyle said: “Absolutely screamer, yes, he’s scored a couple like that now this season. He’s kind of taking over the mantle of set-pieces in and around the box – but what a goal!

“I thought Jake and Finn (O’Mara) were brilliant together. I thought they lead the back four really well and Rusthall didn’t have a sniff, didn’t look like they were going to score a goal today.”

Anderson said: “A great free-kick, a great free-kick.  It’s a clumsy challenge and it’s a great free-kick and he puts it in the top corner and fair play to him. He had an easy game at centre-half and he lead the team really well as their captain.

“The game was actually done then, like we’re 4-0 down unfortunately, even though stupidly away to Stansfeld we were 4-1 down at half-time and we still came back into that, so we’ve had moments this season where we’ve had that never-say-die attitude but unfortunately today, it just wasn’t our day.”

Rusthall were like a team that couldn’t handle the pressure nor the expectation of being involved in the intensity of the play-offs.  Play-offs are a hotbed of pressure and tension and do Rusthall have the minerals and the desire to get the points needed to qualify for them?

“It would seem like that, now we’re in the play-offs the pressure’s got to them but even when we were midtable and bottom of the league, we played VCD here, we drew, like we beat Whitstable away 3-1 so we’ve beat these teams already this season,” explained the Rustics’ manager.

“What’s happened is we’ve come up against two very good teams who are in the play-offs, they’ve secured their places both of them and on days like this it’s fine margines and we’ve made mistakes and let them in and they’ve just punished us and it goes like this sometimes.

“You can fall apart in games and we have a young team.  No one here at this club expects us or they would like us now because of the position we’re in to try to get play-offs but this is the best season that Rusthall has ever had at the highest level we’ve played.

“We were bottom of the league in October on five points, we’re now in a play-off spot. We still have two games to play to get that play-of spot, who knows what can happen?

“If we don’t get (a play-off place) and then we finish sixth, it’s an incredible season and I’m proud of the boys. They should be proud of themselves but obviously today is just disappointing and I apologise to the fans what turned up.”

Rusthall’s play-out-from-back policy was putting them in trouble as Whitstable Town often pounced to nick the ball off them within their final third.

Blunn put in an awful performance at the heart of the Rusthall defence. He failed to cut out Day’s ball in the box before Day pounced on the loose ball and hit his first time left-footed shot past the right-hand post on the hour-mark.

Sanneh often stayed on his goal-line, until he gifted Whitstable Town their fifth goal, timed at 20 minutes and 58 seconds.

McIntyre smacked a volleyed clearance from close to the half-way line which dropped just inside the Rusthall penalty area.

Sanneh sprinted to the edge of his penalty area and dropped the ball and Grant had the simple task of placing his low shot into the middle of an empty goal.

Coyle said: “We knew he kind of likes coming off his line and I thought we had another opportunity when Harvey (Smith)’s gone through and fallen over the ball. The keeper’s so far off his line he could’ve just lifted it over him.

“We’ve watched him a couple of times this year. I thought the boys done brilliantly today.”

Anderson said: “You’ve explained it, that’s pretty much what happened. I can’t really say much more on that. That is pretty much as bad as it was.

“I haven’t spoken to him, he obviously shot off (and left the ground before the Rusthall manager did the post-match interview) but he’ll be fine.  We’ve got another game on Monday and we go again.

“Like I said, he’s been great this season. You can’t judge, everyone judges people on their last game.”

Grant then turned provider, putting a good cross in from close to the corner flag down the right but Schafer flicked his near-post header just past the right-hand (near) post from inside the six-yard box, as Whitstable Town continued their dominance.

Fares, who failed to impress, showed his aggressive side when a late poor challenge on Whitstable Town’s right-back Ricardo Thompson saw referee Mark Fitzpatrick pull out a red card in the 74^th minute.

If Rusthall are to be promoted via the play-offs, then they will have to do it without the Italian winger.

Anderson said: “I originally thought that, I don’t know, it wasn’t a red card. I thought that it’s a coming together of two players with his leg up high, then I spoke to the assessor after and he said, ‘no, he’s led with his studs,’ so it is what it is. The referee’s given it.

“Yass will obviously miss games. He can play on Monday but then he’ll miss the Faversham game and then if we do achieve play-offs, then he’ll miss them, so it is what it is.

“We have a big enough squad, obviously he’s a big miss. He’s a great player for us and he’s been great all season and obviously he’s disappointed within himself. He’s obviously gutted about that but we’re not there yet, so all I’m concerned about is he’s missing Faversham.”

Coyle replied: “I didn’t see that. I was obviously the other side of the pitch. It looked like he tried to clear the ball or get hold of the ball but it was a little bit high but I didn’t really see if to be honest with you.

“After then we pushed on and carried on controlling the game.”

Whitstable Town wrapped up an impressive Easter Saturday’s work by scoring their sixth goal of the game with 36 minutes and 43 seconds on the clock.

O’Mara-Knapp easily cut in from the right in acres of space and his cross arrowed into the box.  Rusthall’s right-back Louis Anderson failed to clear his lines and was punished by a quality Schafer finish, right-footed into the top left-hand corner from eight-yards.

“He deserved his goal today, he was a constant threat and he’s got absolutely quality beyond this level and he’s shown that since he’s come to the club (from Faversham Town),” said Coyle.

“I thought he deserved maybe one or two others to be honest with you but he’s controlled the game for us in midfield in terms of impetus going forward, he’s been a constant threat.”

Anderson admitted: “There was a lot of players in my team today that didn’t play to their full potential and there were mistakes made and they got punished today and it felt like every chance they created, they scored.

“As well as the scoreline is, I didn’t feel like, it’s weird, they scored every chance they had but I didn’t feel like it was an absolute battering, does that make sense?  Even though it’s 6-0, you might not understand what I’m trying to say, but they fully deserved to beat us.

“But I come away from that thinking there’s things what I can take from it with the veo. If we do face these again, similar to VCD, so it’s nothing we need to be scared off. They’ve won today and great for them. It’s a great win and it secures their play-offs and if we don’t face them again in the play-offs and we don’t make it, they’ll be a team what 100 per cent will be a force in the play-offs.”

Rusthall’s best chance of the game came (40:47) when two substitutes combined, with central midfielder Thompson Adeyemi slipping a through ball in behind Finn O’Mara to put substitute striker Louie Clarke through on goal but his left-footed drive was kept out by Daniel Colmer, diving to his left and the goalkeeper got up to deny Clarke again from the rebound after Clarke chased after the loose ball.

Anderson said: “Louie’s standard, I probably expect him to score but he’s hit the target and Dan keeps a clean-sheet. He’s (Colmer) had a good afternoon because he ain’t really done much, so fair play to him.”

Coyle added: “Brilliant save towards the end to get a clean-sheet, which I thought we deserved because I don’t think he’s had a save to make outside of that, which was an outstanding double save that we made.

“We switched off a little bit, which would’ve been frustrating to concede. I don’t think we deserved to but really, really positive.  I said, as a goalkeeper when you’ve got nothing to do for the whole game and to still be alive in that scenario is really good.”

Report continues below…

WHO WILL JOIN CHAMPIONS FAVERSHAM TOWN IN THE ISTHMIAN LEAGUE SOUTH EAST DIVISION NEXT SEASON?

C  Faversham Town – P36 – W25 – D9 – L2 – F90 – A27 – PTS 84 – GD +63
Manager: Tommy Warrilow
Easter Monday, 21 April - Home Lordswood (relegated, 20)
Saturday 26 April – away Rusthall (5)

2 VCD ATHLETIC – P36 – W22 – D10 – L4 – F78 – A35 – PTS 75 – GD +43 (One point deducted)
Joint-managers: Ross Baker and Danny Joy
Easter Monday, 21 April – Home Sutton Athletic (14)
Saturday 26 April – away Bearsted (11)

3 WHITSTABLE TOWN – P35 – W21 – D5 – L9 – F78 – A44 – PTS 68 – GD +34
Manager: Jamie Coyle
Easter Monday, 21 April – Home Fisher (4)
Wednesday 23 April – Away Corinthian (8)
Saturday 26 April – Home Glebe (12)
Sunday 11 May – Wembley – AFC Whyteleafe (FA Vase Final)

4 FISHER – P36 – W19 – D8 – L9 – F61 – A37 – PTS 65 – GD +24
Manager: Ajay Ashanike
Easter Monday, 21 April – away Whitstable Town (3)
Saturday 26 April – Home Hollands & Blair (15)

5 RUSTHALL – P36 – W18 – D8 – L10 – F76 – A61 – PTS 62 – GD +15
Manager: Jimmy Anderson
Easter Monday, 21 April – away Tunbridge Wells (10)
Saturday 26 April – Home  Faversham Town (1, champions)

6 PUNJAB UNITED – P36 – W18 – D7 – L11 – F61 – A55 – PTS 61 – GD +6
Manager: Jugjit (Chipie) Sian
Easter Monday, 21 April – away Stansfeld (17)
Saturday 26 April – Home Erith & Belvedere (7)

Whitstable Town lost their 19 match unbeaten run in the Kent Senior Trophy Final but have the momentum to win the play-offs and will go into them as favourites, after sealing their spot in the end-of-season play-off lottery.

“It’s a real proud moment, although we’re rotating the team, you’ve still got players that you’re asking to deliver performance after performance after 48 hours’ rest,” said Coyle.

“I thought early in the game we were a little bit jaded. I thought they were the better side for 10 minutes. You could see they’ve not played a game since last Saturday. We’ve played four in six days!

“I can’t speak highly enough of the group that we’ve got. We’ve got six or seven players who aren’t even in the squad today because they need rests and whoever we’re serving up and whoever’s playing, they’re just delivering top, top performances.

“It’s a massive statement that goes out and we’ve still haven’t achieved anything but for sure we’re going to be in the play-offs at the end of the season and it’s been one hell of a season so far.”

Coyle takes his side to Fisher on Easter Monday.

“They’ve a very good side. I’ve got a lot of time for their management team and the style that they play and it’s going to be another real tough game,” said Coyle.

“We were fortunate to beat them at their place but I thought they were a really good side and on our pitch they’re going to enjoy that and its’ going to be a real difficult game.

“But we’ll probably have another different eight starters on Monday just to rest the boys that have just been delivering these unbelievable performances for us recently.”

Whitstable Town are not taking it easy as people thought they would since reaching The FA Vase Final at Wembley Stadium next month.

“We’ve got such a good group, they’re a bunch of mates as well as team-mates. You need that if you’re going to have any success at any level and the togetherness that this group has got now from the hotel stays in the Vase to being in some real dark places at the start of the season, the boys that have stuck with it and they’re still together,” said Coyle.

“Who would have thought after 10-13 games where we’d be right now?  The players have got to take all the credit for that because we have added absolute quality to the squad. They’ve really flipped what we tried to do at the start of the season to what we’re doing now and we’re getting the rewards that we deserve.”

When asked whether he knows his starting 11 to face AFC Whyteleafe at Wembley, Coyle replied: “Absolutely no idea, honestly.  I think that’s a positive. A lot of people have said to me and asked me questions ‘are you worried about losing momentum in the league when players’ might be pulling out of tackles because they’re worried about not playing at Wembley?’

“I said it’s actually been the opposite.  They are running, the data today again, it’s phenomenal. The physical side that we’re putting in, we’re out-running teams, we’re out-fighting teams, we’re out-battling teams and we’ve got the quality in the squad now that’s going to hurt the opposition in the final third, so if we continue with that mantle between now and the end of the season, we’re giving ourselves a massive opportunity.”

When asked about his side now being favourites to win promotion via the play-offs, Coyle replied: “Well, you talk about favourites. You want to go into it, if you get into the play-offs at any level, you need to go into it with momentum and you need to be in good form.

“Out of the last 20 games there’s 60 points available (and including today), we’ve got 50 points (16 wins, two draws, two defeats) and that is unbelievable, that’s championship form at any level.

“If we started the season with this team now, we would’ve given Faversham one hell of a run!

“But if we go into the play-offs with the same confidence, the same level of intensity that we’ve delivered the last 21 games, then we’ve given ourselves a real good chance.”

When asked about injuries going into their next outing, Coyle replied: “No, just absolute tired legs. I think physically and mentally it’s been a real tough week to have Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – it’s four days in six days, which is also unbelievable.

“As I said my aims to the squad after Sunday was to bounce back after our first loss in 19 games, we’ve done that on Tuesday but we’ve also delivered three massive performances that have got us nine points that I set that’s guaranteed us being in the play-offs.”

RUSTHALL’S WORST LEAGUE RESULTS IN THEIR SCEFL PREMIER DIVISION HISTORY:

07 November 2018 – Rusthall 1-9 Cray Valley (Paper Mills)
29 September 2018 – Rusthall 0-7 Chatham Town
25 November 2023 – Deal Town 7-3 Rusthall
28 April 2018 – Rusthall 2-7 Croydon
19 April 2025 – Rusthall 0-6 Whitstable Town

Tunbridge Wells – who are playing 10 games during April – lost 2-1 at home to Corinthian today and are in tenth-place in the table with 46 points (13 wins, seven draws and 15 points).

Looking ahead to Monday’s Culverden Stadium clash against their neighbours, Anderson said: “They’ve been playing every two days and stuff like that so we go there on Monday. It’s a big one for the fans.

“Look, whatever happens, happens, do you know what I mean?  It’s one of those days that anything can happen on the day. I’ve had so many of these now, when we’ve been down the bottom, up the top.  That will be another day when we go there and even though we’ve lost today, I’ll speak to the boys tonight on the Group Chat and stuff like that and we’ll go there full of confidence.

“Obviously, Tunbridge Wells will want to beat us. We want to beat them, both for different reasons but yes, it’s one of them. Our fans, their fans will be on it and it will be tough.

“The pitch will probably suit them more than it will us but we’ll have to make it work and we’ll go from there.

“It’s one of those games as far as I’m concerned. We’ve had a great season and we’ll finish above Tunbridge Wells (for only the second time in six season's that we've been in this division together), so they can’t really say much, so we just need to go there and enjoy our day and try to pick up a result.

“There’s two teams who have confirmed play-offs and that’s VCD and Whitstable so the other two spots are between three teams, so we’ll know a little bit more on Monday because we’re all playing.

“Monday is either going to be an exciting day or a great day or lead to the last weekend of the season or for us it will feel like a little bit of disappointment but we’ve had a great season so I can’t be too disappointed.

“At the minute it’s in our hands. We have two games. If we win two games or if the teams slip up, you never know, we’ll get a play-off spot but it’s exciting.

“We’ve played VCD and Whitstable, both have been relegated from Step Four, they’re big boys in the league. Faversham have won the league, they’ve been relegated from Step Four and now they’ve gone back up. They’re a big, big team, they’re big teams.

“We’re deemed little old Rusthall, should be nowhere near play-offs, so fair play to this group of players. Fair play to this club, the chairman (Dean Jacquin), he’s been fantastic all season and if we can achieve it then great, we’ll have a crack at it.

“If we don’t, then like I said, it’s been the best season we’ve ever had in 125 years, so it’s a proud moment.”

Rusthall: Serine Sanneh, Louis Anderson, Jack Lyons (Mustafa Hashemi 76), Frank Griffin (Tommy Lawrence 76), Robbie Bissett, Daniel Blunn, Yassin Fares, Nodibrek Bonomurodov (Thompson Adeyemi 56), Charlie Clover (Louie Clarke 71), Jack Kirby (Steadman Callendar 71), Kalani Barton.

Booked:  Nodibrek Bonomurodov 42, Frank Griffin 53

Sent Off:  Yassin Fares 74

Whitstable Town: Daniel Colmer, Ricardo Thompson, Adedapo Olugbodi (William Thomas 85), Mikey Dalton, Jake McIntyre, Finn O’Mara, Albie O’Mara-Knapp, Connor Wilkins (Robbie Rees 56), Dean Grant (Ronald Sithole 76), Bradley Schafer (Jerald Aboagye 83), Ashdon Day (Harvey Smith 68).

Goals: Connor Wilkins 35, Albie O’Mara-Knapp 41, Dean Grant 46, 66, Jake McIntyre 54, Bradley Schafer 82

Booked: Connor Wilkins 55, Dean Grant 73

Attendance: 410
Referee: Mr Mark Fitzpatrick
Assistants: Mr Chris Skilton Mr Maxim Solovev
Observer:  Mr Graeme Ions