Snodland Town 0-2 Rusthall - I want it, the boys want it and hopefully we can deliver promotion and it would mean that a small club like Rusthall can achieve great things, says manager Jimmy Anderson

Snodland Town 0 – 2 Rusthall
Location	Potyn's Sports Field, Snodland Community Centre, Paddlesworth Road, Snodland, Kent ME6 5DP
Kickoff	21/04/2026 19:45

SNODLAND TOWN  0-2  RUSTHALL
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 21 April 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Paddlesworth Road

RUSTHALL manager Jimmy Anderson says he is ready to deliver promotion into the Isthmian League South East Division for the very first time via the play-offs after putting in a professional performance in a thrilling outstanding game of 29 goalscoring chances.

The Rustics’ go into their final game of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division in third-place on 62 points (18 wins, eight draws and nine defeats) after extending Snodland Town’s winless run to six games.

The outstanding Jack Kirby notched his 19^th goal of the season with a clinical first-half strike before central striker Charlie Clover’s sublime chip brought his 23^rd goal of the campaign.

Snodland Town are jointly-managed by Luke Jessup and Fred Dillon and they go into their last outing of a season in 12^th place on 44 points (12 wins, eight draws and 15 defeats).

The club’s policy of signing London based players on lucrative deals for the ninth-tier of English football has certainly backfired, especially as they are 15 points adrift of the play-off zone going into the final weekend.

Snodland Town were without their 14-goal striker Charlie Sheringham, 38, due to a swollen ankle, while Connor Dymond was ruled out through a dead leg.

Rusthall, meanwhile, were without Jesse Hammond (hamstring) while holding midfielder Frank Griffin was on the sidelines with an injured toe.

The crowd of 187 were treated to a breathless, end-to-end first half, more suited to a basketball match than a classic Kent derby.

“We gave a better version of ourselves but it’s still nowhere near it really,” admitted Jessup, who’s game plan was to come out explosively fast.

“We’re conceding sloppy goals and not taking our chances, probably the story of our season, certainly the second half of our season.

“Its been a bit of a tactic of ours all season and certainly earlier on in the season was where we come out of the changing rooms all guns blazing.

“I felt probably Rusthall had a little bit more quality about the way they attack but we certainly gave a good account of ourselves but we’re conceding sloppy goals and don’t take our chances.”

Rusthall manager Jimmy Anderson added: “Professional performance on a Tuesday night, a cold Tuesday night away to Snodland, 2-0, fantastic, a clean-sheet, two goals, what more can you ask for?!

“Fair play to Snodland, they obviously turned up and wanted to beat us today. We obviously wanted to win (to move into third), so it was end-to-end and yes, fantastic, we took the lead, I felt like we were knocking on the door when we did take the lead and it put us in a good position going in at half-time.

“It was enjoyable to watch. I felt like it was two good teams going at it, different styles in a way. We’re obviously playing up the hill, they’re playing down the hill.  They’ve got loads of experience in their team.  Steve (Townsend) the boy up front, will run for them. The two centre-halves were experienced and knew what they were doing and Sam Wood has got a lovely left-foot.   

“Jack Kirby finds pockets of space. We started him again in a different position at kick-off and then he moved and he keeps moving and it’s hard for teams to pick him up. He’s been fantastic for us this season and hopefully he can continue that form.”

Snodland Town – with a point to prove – got the ball rolling (4:54) when right-back Reggie Rye cut back their first of seven corners to unpressed attacking midfielder Emmanuel Shoderu, who swept his first-time drive across the keeper and past the far post from just outside the corner of the penalty area.

Rusthall went swiftly up the other end (6:31) and left-winger Reuel Powell-Downey cut inside, fed Kirby, who played in high left-back Louis Anderson, whose right-footed shot from inside the penalty area was tipped around the post by Snodland Town keeper Justin Lee, using a strong right hand as he dived low to his right.

“My brother found himself on the edge of the box and tried to put it in the front post, front corner,” added the Rusthall manager.

Jessup added: “Great little bit of play. I think we were probably over-committed going forward from what I could see.

“We’ve got to do a little bit more. We’ve got to get closer to their midfielders, which was something we spoke about at half-time but with their midfielders sort of caused us a lot of issues certainly centrally.”

Snodland Town – who were kicking down the slope – just didn’t let Rusthall have any chance of slowing the game down, as Lee’s goal-kicks were quickly taken and so was every throw-in during an explosive high-tempo first-half.

Snodland Town broke away (7:25) and Shoderu linked up well with a one-two with central midfielder Harry Hudson before Shoderu cut onto his left-foot and his drive was palmed over the bar by Serine Sanneh in the Rusthall goal.

“Manny’s chance, I thought it was a goal.  I back Manny there especially on the left-side, on his left-foot that far out,” said Jessup.

“He said ‘he gave the keeper the eyes’ to go right and hit it at the front post and I thought the keeper’s made an unbelievable save there. There’s not many keepers who make that save and fair play to him.

“It was end-to-end stuff.  Look, we gave the boys a little bit more freedom to go and express themselves, take the shackles off a little bit and have a good go – that was certainly a game plan.”

Anderson added: “Snodland caused us all sorts of problems. Emmanuel Shoderu was a right handful in the first half and probably should’ve scored as well but Serine’s makes a fantastic save.

“I thought in the first half – you said Kirby was good – he (Shoderu) was good for them. He keeps running off their nine (Townsend) into space and breaking lines and I thought he was a real handful tonight, especially in the first half.”

Rusthall immediately went up the other end (8:04) and the outstanding Kirby ran at the Snodland defence before feeding Louie Clarke, whose left-footed drive was tipped around the post by the diving Lee.

Rusthall went close (15:57) when Powell-Downey and Anderson linked up well down the left before the ball was worked to Kirby, who dragged his right-footed drive across the diving keeper and flashing inches past the foot of the far post from 22-yards.

“There were so many chances, I can’t remember them all and talk to you about every single one of them but it was end-to-end and an exciting game, first half,” added Anderson.

Kirby split open Snodland Town’s debutant centre-half Jack Holland (signed from relegated Isthmian League South East Division side Beckenham Town) to put Powell-Downey through on goal but Lee advancing off his line and did just enough to ensure the shot from the edge of the penalty area bounced past the far post.

The vocally encouraging Holland, 34, was making his debut for Snodland Town, partnering former Herne Bay player-manager, Liam Friend, 38, at the heart of defence.

“Jack’s been at Beckenham all season but we’ve got him in today, finally. I thought he was brilliant,” said Jessup.

“It’s really hard to really fault what he did. He’s certainly a presence. He’s a voice, bundles of experience, aggressive. Probably everything you want and expect from someone of his quality.”

Snodland Town produced a well-worked move and Sanneh made a comfortable catch from a free-header with 24:27 on the clock.

Shoderu swept the ball out to high right-back Rye, who whipped in a quality cross in between Rusthall’s two centre-halves Robbie Bissett and Daniel Blunn but Hudson’s free-header from 12-yards looped towards the roof of the net and was comfortably cherry-picked out of the air by the 23-year-old stopper.

“You probably see what we see, he jumps big for a small, not necessarily a small guy but he jumps above his height.  You probably expect him to but I think he’s had a few headers today that I think you’d expect himself to do a little bit better but yes, a great chance,” added Jessup.

Anderson admitted central midfielder Thompson Adeyemi and holding midfielder Jeffrey Njuguna weren’t stopping the flow of Snodland attacks.

“Harry’s good in the air. He was causing me problems as well because Thompson and Jeff wasn’t picking up their men tight enough, so I had to address that at half-time.”

Snodland Town left-winger, Sam Wood, 39, played the ball down the line from the halfway line to striker Steven Townsend, who was running the channel and his speculative right-footed angled drive from 30-yards whistled past the foot of the near-post.

Snodland Town’s right-winger Bethel Gboda (who offered no threat to Rusthall’s left-back Louis Anderson) played a sublime deck through ball which split open Blunn to put Shoderu through on goal but he lacked composure and sent his left-footed shot over the crossbar from 16-yards, as the breathless first half continued.

The unplayable Kirby split open Snodland Town’s right-back Rye to give Clover his moment but Lee made another diving save, diving to his left to parry and Powell-Downey’s first-time shot was blocked by Friend to prevent the ball nestling into the bottom right-hand corner from the rebound (34:15).

“We should’ve took the lad at that point. I felt like that was a really good opportunity,” admitted Anderson.

“We worked it well the keeper made some good saves and Reuel has been blocked by the defender and at that point I’m thinking we need this goal because the longer it stays at nil-nil, you’re chasing, you’re chasing and you’re giving them hope.”

Rusthall deserved their lead when it arrived with 38 minutes and 8 seconds on the clock, however.

Bissett was often the man who would play the ball forward along the deck with his left-foot and Snodland Town’s problem was they didn’t press the centre-back and gave him the freedom to often travel towards the half-way line and start the promotion-chasing visitors’ attacking raids.

Bissett slipped the ball through the heart of the pitch to Kirby, who drove forward, easily shrugged past Snodland’s holding midfielder Zak Loveridge (who offered the game nothing) before clinically drilling his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand (far) corner from 25-yards, leaving Lee rooted to the spot.

Anderson said: “They backed off, which was fantastic for Kirby and obviously us.  He’s had a shot from distance and it’s gone into the far corner and the keeper ain’t moved and it’s a great finish!

“How was I feeling at that point? Obviously it’s fantastic to take the lead. What minute was it? Perfect time.  Nothing silly before half-tome, get them in chat and we’ve taken the lead and it’s where we want to be.”

Jessup just hasn’t found a player in Kirby’s mould, despite having a much larger budget than Rusthall.

“Across the pitch, he’s got good quality hasn’t he? He takes his chances, he’s very clinical, simplifies the game. We could learn a lot from that,” admitted Jessup.

“It was (clinical). A bit of showing of how to finish a ball today. I think if you notice as well, they weren’t lashing at the ball, they sort of stroke it, they hit good areas, they keep them in the corners, fair play to them.”

Snodland Town showed great character to recover from that and Hudson found Gboda, whose left-footed drive from 25-yards was superbly tipped around the post while diving to his left.

A big kick up field by Lee was flicked on by Hudson inside the Rusthall half but Townsend lacked composure just inside the box (45:08), lashing his left-footed half-volley over the crossbar from 15-yards, as the half-time interval allowed players and spectators to finally catch their breath.

“You can’t really fault the endeavour and the commitment going forward.  We attacked in good numbers.  We maybe looked sceptical to the counter but I thought going forward we looked really dangerous. Another day, maybe we get that on target and it’s a different game,” said Jessup.

Snodland Town created nine first half goalscoring openings during the first half (only two on target), while Rusthall created 11 during the first half (six on target).

When it was put to Jessup that both sides created 20 chances during the explosive first half the former Hollands & Blair boss replied: “I’d take your word for it. It certainly looked like that from where we were stood over there.

“We’ve had a real good go. It would be nice to maybe put Rusthall under a little bit more pressure by getting that goal but we couldn’t seem to do that.

“We wanted a bit more of the same. There’s not really a lot more you need to say (during half-time).  Keep it clinical and low risk at the back and get the ball up the other end and play a little bit of football and just do pretty much what they’ve been doing. We were actually fairly pleased with them.

“We sort of knew (the explosive tempo would die down in the second half) that would happen. Look, we threw everything we had at that point in the game.  You can’t fault the way the guys had committed. We were quite impressed how it went.”

Anderson added: “The supporters of each team both got their money’s worth tonight! It was a game I wanted to win tonight, so we were going to go all out and they put themselves about and done themselves proud, the other team, as well.

“Just a couple of tactical things I needed to speak to the players about because I felt Jeff was losing his man. Thompson wasn’t winning his aerial balls well enough for me and I felt like we didn’t need to go all guns at them. We were downhill, we felt space would create and the next goal was key and if we score early then potentially the game might be done.”

Hudson and Loveridge were being ripped to shreds by Kirby’s driving runs and Powell-Downey’s through ball played in Clover, who slipped around Lee but Danny Roberts’ offside flag was raised and disallowed the goal after only 77 seconds into a much quieter second half.

However, Rusthall killed the game off by scoring their second goal with only two minutes and 12 seconds on the clock.

Clarke’s sublime left-footed through ball split open Holland and left-back Liam Parle to put Clover through on goal and his sublime right-footed chipped half-volley from the edge of the penalty area sailed over the advancing Lee and dropped into the middle of an open goal to the delight of the travelling vocal fans housed in the covered terrace behind the goal.

Anderson said: “He did it last year here as well. He scored exactly the same way and yes, it was perfect.

“Just before that there was a dubious offside and Charlie’s taken it round the keeper and scored, so we could’ve had another one. I don’t think it was offside at all, so it was a perfect start from us.”

Jessup added: “That was probably a little bit of where the guys haven’t played together too much there. It looked like Justo (Lee) should’ve come and didn’t and then I think it may have been Jack, it was one of the centre-backs. I couldn’t tell exactly, one of the centre-backs sort of thought ‘what’s going on here?’ and by that point the old adage of like maybe we should’ve come, we shouldn’t come and we got caught in no man’s land and a superb finish.”

Clarke played the ball out to Clover in the right-channel and he held the ball up and waited for Kirby, who clipped the ball into the box but Rahman Kareem’s glancing header was comfortably gathered by Lee, stepping to his right.

Snodland Town went agonisingly close to scoring from a set-piece on the hour-mark.

Rye floated in a cross from the right towards a crowd of players and Townsend’s glancing header sailed across the keeper and skimmed the far post.

“We were in a perfect view of that and another day that creeps in the corner but not today,” added Jessup, who was disappointed with his side’s second half performance.

“Disappointing, disappointing that we haven’t gone and got that goal. We’ve had enough corners, enough set-pieces, enough of the play but we’ve still got people this time in the season not doing the basics and letting the ball go, letting that pass. We’re still holding onto it a little bit too long and that is costing us chances.”

Anderson added: “Very close, very close! I think it brushed the post and that’s the disappointment probably from tonight, how they had a lot of free headers in and around our box, so I’ll need to watch the Hudl just to see who’s being a little bit lazy.”

Kirby hit a long ball over the top of Friend from close to the half-way line and Clarke’s miss-kick let off Snodland, as he kicked the top of the football and the ball bounced into Lee’s gloves for a comfortable save.

Two of Rusthall’s substitute wingers linked up with (37:04) on the clock as Victor Aiye played the ball in from within the right channel and Yassin Fares’ right-footed drive from 18-yards was gathered by the busy Lee, stepping to his right.

“Yassin on his day is fantastic. Victor, fantastic on his day. They’re just coming back from injuries, the pair of them, so we’ve got to manage their minutes and what two brilliant players to bring on and cause more problems,” added Anderson.

Rye was putting in some good deliveries from set-pieces for Snodland and the ball was worked to substitute winger Christopher Alhazzan, whose shot on the turn from 22-yards was comfortably saved by Sanneh, low to his right which Jessup suggested “another one and we’ll add that to the list.”

Anderson was delighted with their 12^th clean sheet of the season (all competitions).

“Massive, massive, massive, massive. Clean sheets are good for confidence.  Like I said, on a Tuesday night to come away on a cold Tuesday night, what more can you ask for?”

The home side produced a sweeping move when Townsend played the ball out to the left by substitute striker Kian Scott, who put in a left-footed cross from within the channel and Hudson glanced his header (from within a crowd) across the keeper and past the far post.

Over the piece (46:18 first half, 48:54 second half), Snodland Town created 14 chances (two on target) and Rusthall created 15 (nine on target), so Rusthall ran out deserved winners.

Punjab United claimed a 1-0 home win over second-from-bottom side Stansfeld (21 points, a point clear of Hythe Town) to move into the play-offs tonight.

Champions Whitstable Town (86 points) look on to see whom will join them in the Isthmian League next season.

Fisher (65 points), Rusthall (62), Larkfield & New Hythe (60) and Punjab United (59, game in hand, Thursday expected home humiliation over Hythe Town) are in the play-off zone with one game left to play.

Bearsted (59), Hollands & Blair (54), Phoenix Sports (52), Sutton Athletic (52) and Tunbridge Wells (48) make up the top 10.

Snodland Town host Chipie Sian’s Punjab United on Saturday, who lost the Kent Senior Trophy Final 2-0 to Jamie Coyle’s Whitstable Town in Maidstone on Sunday.

“Look, if we have a little bit of what we showed today, I think we’ll be absolutely fine,” said Jessup.

“These teams have got everything to play for. We haven’t got a lot to play for with regards to play-offs or relegation. What we have got though is a good spirit around the team and there will be plenty of games where, let’s call them a dead rubber where maybe the team that haven’t got a lot to fight for shows that in the way that they play but I thought today we’ve had a real good go and we intend to do the same on Saturday.”

Jessup admitted his side’s League position going into the final game “is not acceptable,” especially given the budget that he has had at his disposal.

“You can probably tell from my tone, no listen, it’s not acceptable in my view.  I think we’ve dropped the ball a little bit.  A few weeks ago, we were in a prime position, a few games in hand, just floating in and around that sixth, seventh position.

“A multitude of reasons, probably too long for now but we haven’t sort of turned the screw enough and been clinical enough at both ends of the pitch.

“We’ve got a meeting with the chairman next week, this time next week. We’ll discuss it and see what everyone’s views and plans are, see if it aligns and make the best decision going forward.

“Will we be here next year? That’s very much dependant on the club.  Given a choice? Yes. But it’s their club, it’s their decision. If they express to us that they want us to stay, then it gives us a decision to make at that point but I generally love this club, I love the people, that’s never changed.”

Rusthall, meanwhile, make the trip into Bromley to play Holmesdale.  Andy Constable’s side that are in thirteenth-place in the pecking order with 41 points (12 wins, five draws and 18 defeats), 20 points clear of Stansfeld, who could receive a reprieve from relegation following VCD Athletic’s closure next month.

“We have another tough game on Saturday away to Holmesdale. It’s a local one for me, I only live in Orpington, so it’s lovely. I’m sure my wife won’t appreciate it but I can get home earlier,” said Anderson.

“It’s going to be tough, tough. They’ve obviously got a result (a 4-3 win) away to Sutton, they’re going to go for it as well, probably be end-to-end.

“I might be able to rest a few players or rotate, not rest but rotate and give players some more minutes but we’ve got another tough game and hopefully fingers crossed we can go into Tuesday’s play-off game full of confidence.”

Tuesday night’s play-off semi-finals will see the second-placed finishers at home play the fifth-placed finishers, while the third-placed finishers will be at home to the side that finished in fourth.  The highest ranked club will host the Final on Bank Holiday Monday, 4 May.

“The boys are hungry for success. We’ve created loads of chances today and it’s the hardest thing to do is to score goals and we’ve scored two tonight and kept a clean sheet at the other end,” said Anderson.

“We have great support, when you get into the play-offs, it shouldn’t really matter whether you’re home or away. We have a good crowd and they’ll turn up next Tuesday whether we’re at home or away and I expect them to be loud.

“I expect the boys, they’re hungry, they want success. It’s been a long season and we want things.

“I’m delighted. In a sense I said to a lot of people at the start of the season I wanted to do better than what I did last season (finishing sixth), so I should, hopefully do that.  That will be another thing ticked off after the Cup Final but I don’t want just that. I want more, so it’s going to be hard.

“Do I want to win promotion? I do, yes. I want it. The boys want it and hopefully we can deliver.

“I’m going to go into it like I go into every game. We’re playing teams in our league. It’s not like we’re playing in The FA Cup and you’re playing a team higher up. I’ll treat the team with respect but first of all we’ve got to be 100 per cent confirmed in there.

“I’ve got a tough game on Saturday against Holmesdale and we’ll get that one over and done with and then once we’ve done that then we’ll focus and recover. It will be a quick turnaround because it’s on next Tuesday night and then you’ve got a slight little break and recover to the final on Bank Holiday Monday.”

Apart from the original Fisher Athletic, who reached the GM Vauxhall Conference (now National League), having started out on park pitches, Rusthall, Larkfield & New Hythe and Punjab United have never played any higher than this level and have all come from similar backgrounds.

When asked what promotion would mean to him and his club – should they win two play-off games, Anderson replied: “It would mean that a small club like Rusthall can achieve great things. It should give hope to a lot of clubs out there. It we can do it then I don’t see why other clubs can’t do it, if they get the right people in charge and they back the right people.

“I’ve been at this club for seven years now. I’ve got a fantastic chairman (Dean Jacquin) who’s backed me. He’s stood by me. It’s been hard. We’ve struggled with relegation fights and stuff like that.

“I’ll be honest with you, not every season is the same. When you’re a club like Rusthall and you don’t have loads of money, you struggle to keep players because other teams, who have money, will throw more money at them because they think that they can get the best out of them but naturally they can’t.

“They keep coming back and we’re at this stage now I’ve got a collective group of players with most of them have nearly made 100 appearances for me in the starting eleven, what’s fantastic and they’re with this club because they want to achieve greatness and we’re close but we’re not close enough and we’re hungry for it so that’s all I can say.”

Snodland Town: Justin Lee, Reggie Rye (Alfie Johnson 75), Liam Parle, Zak Loveridge, Liam Friend, Jack Holland, Sam Wood (Christopher Alhazzan 70), Harry Hudson, Steven Townsend, Emmanuel Shoderu (Calum Goatham 75), Bethel Gboda (Kian Scott 56).
Subs: James Teodorescu

Booked: Sam Wood 60

Rusthall: Serine Sanneh, Louis Anderson, Rahman Kareem, Jeffrey Njuguna, Robbie Bissett, Daniel Blunn, Reuel Powell-Downey (Yassin Fares 72), Thompson Adeyemi, Charlie Clover (Ayodeji Owoeye 77), Jack Kirby, Louie Clarke (Victor Aiye 72).
Subs: Joshua Reid, Abdullah Khalil

Goals: Jack Kirby 39, Charlie Clover 48

Booked: Charlie Clover 60

Attendance: 187
Referee: Mr Tyler Diminieux
Assistants: Mr Steven Tunnicliffe & Mr Danny Roberts