Holmesdale 2-0 Rusthall - I think that the performance wasn't good enough and we have standards that need to be met, says third-placed Holmesdale joint-manager Andy Constable

Holmesdale 2 – 0 Rusthall
Location	68 Oakley Road, Bromley, Kent BR2 8HQ
Kickoff	15/08/2023 19:45

HOLMESDALE  2-0  RUSTHALL
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 15 August 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakley Road

HOLMESDALE joint-manager Andy Constable says his side’s performance wasn’t particularly good enough despite beating winless Rusthall to move into third-place in the table after three league games.
 

The Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division (the ninth-tier of English football) is currently lead by Corinthian and Fisher – two clubs that do not pay their players – on nine points, while Bromley based Holmesdale have picked up seven.

Lee Roots – who has joined Kevin Rayner to jointly-managed AFC Croydon Athletic – performed miracles to keep the club in the ninth-tier, finishing three points above the relegation zone last season on a budget of £300 per week.

Rusthall, meanwhile, finished a personal best finish of sixth-place last season, and while Constable and Tony Beckingham have been handed “a slightly better budget than what it was last year;” Rustics’ boss Jimmy Anderson revealed that he is working with the same budget that he had last season.

The difference between the two sides were Holmesdale’s set-pieces were on point than their opponents, as two first half goals gave the home side the points.

Holmesdale centre-half Donald Macauley headed home from a corner to give the home side the lead, before central midfielder Samuel Bayford converted from the spot on the stroke of half-time, leaving Rusthall on two points and in fourteenth place in the table after three outings.

“Overall really, really pleased to pick up three points and a clean-sheet,” said Constable, 44.

“If I’m going to be critical and look at the performance, it probably wasn’t our best performance and you could probably argue from a possession perspective that Rusthall probably deserved something from the game.

“I don’t think they troubled us too much to be honest but we weren’t very good.  We took a couple of chances in the first half and managed to then see the game out and walk away with three points, so obviously really pleased about that.”

Rusthall manager Jimmy Anderson added: “Disappointing to lose, obviously. Prior to tonight we’ve drawn two games. From our standards going from last season, we are a little bit disappointed in the way we have started the season.  We had a really good pre-season and got some really good results against some top sides and we’ve started the season a bit slow.

“We’ve got a completely new side, like everyone, so it’s not an excuse, but we’ve just started the season really slow.”

Rusthall won the corner-count by nine to six and struck the near post following their first flag-kick inside the opening eight minutes.

Debutant left-winger Jesse Hammond floated a deep delivery from the right  towards the back post where towering centre-half Jonathan Sanchez headed against the near post from a tight angle.

“Jesse made his debut today, he did well. We expected more from him but he did well.  Jesse’s got a lovely left foot,” said Anderson.

“We changed our shape tonight and put a lot more bigger boys, shall we say, in the starting 11. We changed the formation. I felt like it worked and we started the game really well.

“I felt like Holmesdale deserved to win because they scored two goals but I felt like they scored against-the-run-of-play when they scored and you have to accept it.”

Constable added: “Their set-pieces were good. They put us under a lot of pressure with those and I didn’t think we actually dealt with it very well.  I don’t think we got tight enough.  There were three or four that went into the box that they got on the end of - and we didn’t.

“We commented on it before the game that we’ve been alright at (defending set-pieces) throughout the season so far but for some reason tonight we weren’t on it enough.”

Holmesdale (5-2-1-3) should have taken a tenth minute lead on the counter-attack.

David Martin – who sits behind the front two – was inside the Holmesdale half and released left-wing-back Anthony Musoke down the left and his pacey run took him into the channel on the counter-attack. His cross was inch perfect and was met by striker Miles Cornwell, who volleyed against the crossbar while left unmarked at the far post.

Martin, 38, has played for the likes of Dartford, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Derby County, Southend United, Luton Town, Bromley and Margate (and others) during his career and Beckingham’s links with Steve O’Boyle at Phoenix Sports (where Martin played last season) has brought him to the smallest club of his career.

“Dave is someone who has had a lot of Football League appearances and we’re really pleased to get him on board,” said Constable.

“He’s keen to just keep playing football for as long as he can, which I can obviously relate to, so he’s happy to be a part of it.

“He’s bought into what we want to do with the set-up and younger players that we want to bring through and try to push on in the game and thankfully we’ve been able to strike a deal with him and he makes a big difference to us, so we’re pleased to have Dave on board.”

Constable added: “I actually thought Miles should score. It’s a great ball in from Tony Musoke and he’s put a great ball across the box and normally I’d expect Miles to tuck that one away.

“I think it sat up a little bit for him but he perhaps just didn’t get over it enough and it’s hit the bar and came away and that was probably our only real bit of football in the first quarter of the game really.”

Anderson added: “It was simple play by them. It’s well-worked. The guy should probably score.  I certainly felt at the time, when they did score it was kind of against-the-run-of-play. We had control of the game, they sat in deep, they kept their two strikers up top and were basically trying to hit us on the counter.  That worked on that occasion but then I didn’t feel like they had much joy after that and we kind of dealt with that problem.”

Rusthall hit Holmesdale on the counter-attack when holding midfielder Jeffrey Njunga fed Joshua Stirman, who released Hammond down the left but after getting the better of Holmesdale’s right-wing-back De’Andre Williams, his drilled angled drive was pushed into the side netting by goalkeeper Javarn Pitterson at his near post.

“Javarn’s came from Welling United’s under 23s along with some of the other youngsters that we’ve got,” revealed Constable.

“He was due to come in at the start of pre-season but he was training with the first team at Welling and got a few appearances for them. He came off the bench for them against Luton, so we know he’s got pedigree.

“We’ve had Lee Kidman come in as well and he’s done a good job for us in the opening couple of games and Javarn’s become available and Lee isn’t at the moment and it worked our quite nicely for us because I thought he was outstanding.

“I thought his handling is brilliant – he’s got a massive kick.  I think he needs to work on his direction of it a little bit. He’s got a great strike on him and he’s definitely someone that I think has got an exciting future in the game.”

Rusthall’s second corner of the night was swung in by right-back Louis Anderson and was met by striker Valeriu Gurguvrov, which he steered over the crossbar from within the six-yard box.

“Val’s from Moldova and he’s 21 years of age. I like to find hidden gems. He's been in an academy in Moldova, so we had to get international clearance for him at the start of the season. He would want to play on the left but we’ve been playing him as a striker.

“We feel like he’s got a bit about him. He’s another Yassin Fares’ type player. He’s not as exciting as Yassin.

“You’re going to ask me the wonderful question, have I replaced (33 goal) Louie Clarke?  I will probably say no, not at the minute. He’s very hard to replace and yes, we’re still working on it.”

The game was played at a high-tempo and Holmesdale grabbed the lead with 19:02 on the clock, following their first corner.

Martin and Bayford stood beside each other for the majority of the home side’s set-pieces but Bayford’s excellent delivery with his right-foot was on the money and Macauley found a pocket of space at the near post to use his shoulder to guide the ball over a crowd of players to find the far corner.

“We changed up our set-pieces a little bit just to change the angle a bit with that little set to Dave Martin and it’s worked perfectly. Sam’s put in a great ball and Donnie’s made a great run across their defence and flicked it over I the far corner, so really pleased to see that one land in the back of the net,” said Constable.

“Sam’s with us, he’s dual-registered from Welling United. He’s had a couple of first-team appearances (in National League South) at the end of last season and he’s part of the set-up we’ve got to try to develop and get some good senior level football experience for these youngsters.”

Anderson added: “I’m really disappointed because I spoke to the boys and said that they’ll be a threat from set-pieces and that’s why we went a little bit bigger.

“Their centre-half loses my centre-half and it comes off his shoulder and goes in the back of the net and it was probably against-the-run-of-play.”

Martin was penalised by referee Kenny Agboola for using his arms to foul Tommy Lawrence inside the D but Louis Anderson was wasteful and lashed his right-footed free-kick high, high over the Holmesdale crossbar.

Rusthall then started to dominate proceedings for the final 20 minutes of the first-half but they lacked composure and quality to net the equaliser.

Louis Anderson threw the ball to striker Daniel Blunn, who did well to skip past Macauley and Musoke but went to pieces inside the box and lashed his right-footed drive over the top of the near post.

“Last season, Daniel Blunn started as a striker, then I played him centre-half at Phoenix, so he can play both positions. He’s a bit of a handful, so we tried him up top tonight. He did ok. He did a job for me and I’m not criticising any of my players,” said Anderson.

Rusthall kept knocking on the door and in the 38^th minute, Louis Anderson played a corner shot to left-back Matthew Faithorn, who had time and space to float a cross into a crowded box.  Gurguvrov flicked the ball on but Sanchez knocked his free header over the bar at the back stick.

Constable added: “They had a lot of the ball. Possession wise they maybe had 10-15% more than us over the course of the game I would imagine but without really causing us any problems.

“We might be a team that can play that way, which is a positive thing for me but I don’t think they did enough to actually hurt us.”

Hammond swung in Rusthall’s fourth corner in from the right, which was hit deep and Sanchez knocked the ball back to an unmarked Callum Adonis-Taylor but the centre-half flicked his shot straight at Pitterson, who produced a fine reaction save to beat the ball towards safety.

Faithorn then released Gurguvrov (who often dropped deep to collect the ball at his feet) and he cut inside and drove a right-footed angled drive which was initially spilt by Pitterson at his near before collecting at the second attempt.

“We’re working on a lot of patterns of play,” revealed the Rustics’ boss.

“It’s a new group. I have a way of playing, the way I want my team to play, you’ve watched us many times, everyone in the league knows that.  As a manager, I want my team to play football, so when introducing new players into that system, they have to buy into it and you have to be comfortable with players around you on the ball and tonight I felt like everyone was, but we didn’t move the ball quick enough and that’s what let us down.

“I felt they had three chances, they scored two and hit the crossbar with the other one.”

Holmesdale grabbed their second goal, totally against-the-run-of-play 36 seconds into stoppage time, of which there were two minutes and 29 seconds of it.

Rusthall were raiding down the left but Holmesdale countered and the impressive Bayford pinged a first-time diagonal pass to release Cornwell charging forward down the right.  He held the ball up and waited for support from Williams, who was played in on the overlap before cutting into the box before being tripped by Adonis-Taylor, who became the first of four players to be shown a yellow card.

Bayford capped off a good day’s work to emphatically rifle his right-footed penalty into the top-left-hand corner to score his third goal of the season.  Beckingham drank from a yellow water bottle standing behind the green dug-out saying that ‘he doesn’t watch penalties’, but claps from the small crowd of 52 was confirmation that his side had doubled their lead going into the interval.

“I think that came from their attack down the left side and we’ve managed to nick it back,” said Constable.

“We got the ball into Miles, who done exactly why we brought him in. He’s held it up and he’s put in a great ball for De’Andre to run in behind, something that we’re trying to encourage De’Andre to do a lot more than he actually is and Anthony has won the penalty.

“Sam Bayford tucked it away really well, I thought.  Pleasing to see that go in, probably against-the-run-of-play at the time and puts us in a nice position at 2-0 up, although it’s such a bad scoreline in football, it really is.  If you concede at any point at 2-0 up and momentum swings massively so that was always at the back of our minds during the half-time team-talk.

“We said a lot of harsh words to be fair. I think that the performance wasn’t necessarily good enough, although we found ourselves in a winning position, certainly from our perspective, the standard of what we’re trying to do should be a lot better than what we actually did, so it was really just a bit of a realisation for some of the lads in there, that we have our standards and they need to be met.

“It isn’t anything complicated or complex at all, it’s really basic football; turning teams, playing off a target man, picking up second balls, playing at a high tempo. I certainly didn’t think we did that enough throughout the game.”

Anderson said: “I thought their number two (Williams), who played right-wing-back, who won the penalty, I thought he was really good tonight, him and probably my eight Jeff Njunga.  I felt Jeff played really well in the middle of the park, broke up play for me nicely. Those two were probably the standout players today.

“He (Williams) caused us a threat. Obviously they get joy out of it. The confusion of who follows the man. Jesse should probably follow the man but Jesse goes to the forward, Matt (Faithorn) comes in, he gets past Matt and CT (Andonis-Taylor) is the last man and pushes it past him. It’s a trip, blatant penalty, so yes there was no arguments from my side.

“They deserved 2-0 because they’ve won a penalty and they’ve scored from a set-piece.”

When asked about his thoughts at the break, Anderson replied: “I just said to them, we can still get back into this game. We need to move the ball quicker and we need to believe in ourselves and trust each other on the ball and if we can do that then chances will come.

“In the second half we moved the ball really well, like we normally do. All the subs I made, made an impact. I thought they were really good and I demanded that off the boys.

“We didn’t take our chances. I didn’t feel like they created anything. They were hanging in deep, they weren’t hanging on, so don’t take that the wrong way but they were hanging in, sitting in deep, a low block and they defended their lead.”

Louis Anderson, who is a set-piece king for Rusthall, had the first chance of the second half just 205 seconds in but his 30-yard effort took a slight nick and was comfortably saved by Pitterson.

“You need to work on them (set-pieces) and it’s frustrating. It’s something that teams work on. We had a load of chances from set-pieces but we didn’t take them,” admitted the Rusthall boss.

“We don’t have any luck at the minute. We’re playing well but we don’t have any luck and when we do have luck, we’ll beat teams.”

Both sides produced some good patterns of play on the deck and Bayford had a chance to increase Holmesdale’s lead shortly afterwards following Williams right-wing throw.

Strikers Richard Jimoh and Cornwell both linked up within the final third but Bayford lacked composure just outside the corner of the box as his weak first-time left-footed shot rolled comfortably into the arms of visiting goalkeeper Tommy Taylor, who didn’t have a lot to do at Oakley Road.

Rusthall, the better side, should have pulled a goal back in the 12^th minute when Stirman cut in from the right wing and laid the ball off to Anderson, who shaped to curl the ball with a first-time shot into the right-hand corner from 22-yards, only for the ball to go wide.

Holmesdale were a threat on the counter-attack and the quiet Jimoh dwelled on the ball on the edge of the box instead of getting the ball out from under his feet and having a shot and Bayford did exactly that, curling a left-footed shot across the Rusthall keeper and past the far post from 20-yards.

Rusthall will need to work on their finishing during training, as they missed a sitter in the final 17 minutes.

Central midfielder Tommy Lawrence pinged a lovely long ball along the deck which Louis Anderson did well to control and keep in play on the right by-line and putting it on the plate for Hammond at the far post and his last contribution of the game before being hooked was to lash his first time drive over the top of the left-hand post.

Anderson said: “It was good play, good build-up but we didn’t hit the target, so it was another chance we missed.

“It’s frustrating on our part because I’ll be truthfully honest with you, tonight we wasn’t at our best but we played better in stages tonight than we have done in the last two games and we’ve got draws out of that.”

Constable added: “That was a great ball in, Tommy Lawrence, he’s hit a lovely ball in between our left-wing-back (Musoke) and left-centre-half (Macauley) and Louis Anderson’s got in.  I wasn’t sure he was going to get there at first and he did and he cut it back lovely.

“I think De’Andre’s got back in and maybe put him off a little bit and he couldn’t quite get his shot off cleanly and thankfully it flew wide, so I was pleased to see that go wide.”

Njunga fed Gurguvrov, who cut in and dribbled with the ball at his feet along the edge of the penalty area before cutting into a shooting position before dragging his shot across the Holmesdale keeper and past the far post.

Rusthall kept plugging away (5:23 of stoppage time) but they couldn’t get through a well-marshalled Holmesdale back five.

Holmesdale lost their home FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie to Midhurst & Easebourne 2-1, while Rusthall were thrashed 5-0 away to Isthmian League South East Division side Lancing, so both sides have a day off on Saturday.

Holmesdale travel to Seaford Town in The FA Vase First Qualifying Round on Saturday 26 August, before travelling to Stansfeld in the League on Bank Holiday Monday, 28 August.

Reflecting on their start to the new season, Constable replied: “We would’ve taken that all day long.  I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t have (Corinthian, Fisher and Holmesdale in the top three) but that’s no disrespect towards Corinthian or Fisher, who are both fantastic clubs.

“Corinthian have come down from the level above, so you know they’re going to have pedigree, they always have and Fisher, we know are a dangerous side and they’ve shown that by beating Deal at home, which is a massive result and going on a three wins on a row streak, so fair play to them.

“I’m sure no one expected Holmesdale to be up there but for us we’ll take that. 

“We have a break now on Saturday, so we’ll get a friendly or get a run out for some of the lads that haven’t had minutes and then we go into a busy Bank Holiday away at Seaford Town in The FA Vase, which is a Step Six side so a great opportunity to have a run in that and then come back on the Bank Holiday away to Stansfeld, which will be a tough game, so one we look forward to.”

When asked about his aspirations and budget for the season ahead, Constable replied: “Initially, the position the club found itself last season, just to make an improvement on that.  We’ve come here, myself and Tony Beckingham and our management team to really try to build something, rather than just come in and see how we can do for one season.  There’s a bit of a project going on here and ideally if we can improve on last season, that’s a plus.

“We’re not going to make any crazy predictions or set any expectations about play-offs or anything like that but we take it game-by-game and we’ll try to build up a points target to get safe in this division and then we’ll see where that can take us.”

Constable added: “Our budget is slightly better than what it was last year and that’s all you’re going to get from me on that!”

Rusthall, meanwhile, host Stansfeld in the League on 26 August, before their date with local rivals Tunbridge Wells at Culverden Stadium two days later.

“We’re training on Thursday and Saturday and we need to work on a few things, just the togetherness,” said Anderson.

“We haven’t picked up a win yet so like anyone will say this time last year we won five on the bounce (three in the League and twice in The FA Cup), so everyone will go ‘it was a great start’. It was, we had a lot of luck with that and this season we haven’t had luck.  We haven’t had the rub of the green potentially but we haven’t earnt it as well. We haven’t done enough to deserve results yet, so you’ve got to go to the training ground and work on things.

“It’s a tough game against Stansfeld, they’re always a tough side. They will work hard, they’re a great team what have a togetherness, they’re all mates down there and it’s always a struggle to beat them so it will be tough to get a result.

“We’re at home. I wouldn’t say we need a win. We need a performance and if we get a performance, we’ll get a result.”

On Tunbridge Wells away, Anderson added: “The derby. It’s a great game for the supporters because there’s probably be a thousand people there. 

“Both of us haven’t started the season that well. It will be a great game for the fans. For me, it’s another game. I don’t live local. It’s a great game to be involved in but first and foremost it’s training on Thursday and then all the focus is Stansfeld.”

When asked about his budget for the season and aspirations for the season ahead, Anderson replied: “The business at the club is the business at the club. My budget is generated from the fans what come through the door. I don’t have an investor.  We’re not big-spenders in the league. I have the same budget as I had last season, so I can tell you now people will say you done well last season with the players you’ve got and I feel I can do well this season with the players I’ve got and the money I have available.

“Players want to play for me and they want to play for Rusthall so I’m not complaining about the budget. 

“I would say Faversham (tenth-place with three points from two games) are the favourites but it’s still 11-v-11 on the day and you need to turn up consistently to win the league. If they are the best side, do it week-in-week-out, then they will win it.

“My aspirations for the season are to take game-by-game, like I did last season and enjoy it the best I possibly can, make my boys enjoy it and let them express themselves and who knows, it’s a long old season.”

Holmesdale: Javarn Pitterson, De’Andre Williams, Anthony Musoke, Tola Odedoyin, Donald Macauley, Jack Church, Callum Rollings (James Shield 74), Samuel Bayford, Richard Jimoh (Wale Odedoyin 68), Miles Cornwell (Thomas Osei 68), David Martin (Antwon McKenzie 82).
Sub: Owen Raymen

Goals: Donald Macauley 20, Samuel Bayford 45 (penalty)

Booked: Samuel Bayford 47, Wale Odedoyin 81

Rusthall: Tommy Taylor, Louis Anderson, Matthew Faithorn (Abdullah Khalil 62), Jeffrey Njunga, Jonathan Sanchez, Callum Adonis-Taylor, Jesse Hammond (Luke Miller 74), Tommy Lawrence (Jack Lyons 80), Valeriu Gurguvrov (Addo Amankwah 80), Daniel Blunn (Tariq Ibrahim 62), Joshua Stirman.

Booked: Callum Adonis-Taylor 45, Valeriu Gurguvrov 59

Attendance: 52
Referee:  Mr Kenny Agboola
Assistants: Mr Gavin Farrington & Mr Ashley Barnes