Rusthall 2-4 Corinthian - Getting in the play-offs is massively under appreciated and under estimated, says Corinthian boss Michael Golding, while staying in the league will be a fantastic achievement for Rusthall boss Jimmy Anderson

Rusthall 2 – 4 Corinthian
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	10/04/2024 19:45

RUSTHALL  2-4  CORINTHIAN
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Wednesday 10 April 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

CORINTHIAN manager Michael Golding says cementing their place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division play-offs is massively under appreciated.

The Fawkham-based outfit leapfrogged over Glebe into second-place in the table with a 4-2 victory on a wet and miserable night at Jockey Farm Stadium, as relegation threatened Rusthall extended their winless run to 21 games.

The second-from-bottom Rustics are two points clear of Welling Town, who occupy the sole relegation slot but the Boots have five games remaining, Rusthall only have two.

Rusthall gave their survival hopes a boost by taking the lead through Frank Little, 16, scoring first senior goal, as Corinthian must have regretted making five changes to their side that lost 4-0 at Faversham Town at the weekend.

However, Corinthian skipper Jamie Billings scored direct from a corner a couple of minutes into the second half to score his ninth goal of the season as a centre-half.

Rusthall winger Jack Kirby restored their lead just 70 seconds later but Rusthall threw away a 4-0 lead away to Lydd Town before having to settle for a point at the weekend.

The impressive Oscar Housego smacked in a sublime volley, before scoring his eleventh goal of the season with an emphatic penalty on the hour, before former Rusthall man Luke Adams came off the bench to drill in a fourth goal.

Corinthian Substitute attacker Sam Bewick is likely to serve a three-match suspension and will miss the play-off semi-final for being sent-off by referee Jack Mottram for violent conduct in the 84^th minute and Rusthall’s toothless attack couldn’t break through a resilient Corinthian defence.

“I thought we got there in the end. I thought we were good value for it eventually,” said Golding.

“Going 1-0 down was disappointing but at this stage of the season ultimately it’s about the result.  I thought our performance wasn’t too far off where we can be at times.

“We’ve not been in the best of form recently so when you’re struggling a little bit for form and a bit of consistency, you’re thinking is it going to be one of those games tonight?

“Full credit to the boys, they stuck at it and I thought second half we suffocated them a bit. We didn’t let them out too much.  I’m overall pleased, I think, in the grand scheme of things.  It confirms we’re in the play-off’s now, so it’s a good position to be in.

“It’s a massive achievement.  I’ve said to you before what we’ve achieved this year as a team, as a management team, as staff, as a group of players, is massively under-appreciated and under-estimated.  The work that people have done and the effort the players’ have put in.

“Yes, we have got good players and money is not the be-all-and-end-all. I don’t like talking about that and making a thing but obviously it helps.” added Golding, who operates without a playing budget.

Rusthall manager Jimmy Anderson added: “It’s disappointing (to lose) against a good Corinthian side. I thought it was a good battle from my boys. I’m not too disappointed in the way we battled. It was just the way that we conceded the goals. It was quite poor from us.”

Corinthian came out with all guns blazing and central midfielder Brandon Davey’s left-footed drive from 20-yards, was parried by Rusthall’s 20-year-old goalkeeper Serine Sanneh after only 34 seconds.

Rusthall centre-half Callum Adonis-Taylor went down screaming in pain and was taken to hospital with an ankle injury and Corinthian played on before Housego played in winger Corey Holden, whose right-footed angled drive was beaten away by a diving Sanneh.

“I thought we were good. I think we’ve started games ok recently and then what we’ve not done, we’ve not converted it into chances or we’ve not been converting the chances and then we’ve given away c**p goals and letting teams get a head start on us,” said Golding.

“I thought it was a good start from us.  The one thing that was missing was just getting it over the line and getting a goal.”

Anderson added: “They did start really well. They came out of the blocks.  Serine made a very good save in the first half and for the first 15-20 minutes they were on top.”

Corinthian centre-half Ryan Cheek was booked for taking out Rusthall striker Steadman Callender, who linked up well with Kalani Barton, 18, in the first-half but failed to do so during a second half that was controlled by Golding’s men.

Rusthall grabbed the lead following the resulting free-kick, timed at 14 minutes and 59 seconds on the clock.

Seventeen-year-old left-wing-back Jack Lyons drilled his left-footed free-kick from 30-yards into the three-man wall before Kirby recycled the ball back into the box with a deep left-footed cross for left-back Little to bury his free-header into the near corner from inside the six-yard box.

“We weathered the storm, we hit them against-the-run-of play and Frank Little scored,” said Anderson.

“Frank’s been superb for us. He’s only 16 and it’s his first senior goal, so I’m delighted for him and he played really well tonight.”

Golding added: “It was just a poor goal.  We had good possession on the edge of their box and we’ve given it away and our defenders are probably on the back foot and then it goes to Steadman, who I thought was good tonight. I thought he worked hard and he ran our back three hard and that’s how the free-kick originally came from.

“We gave away a rubbish free-kick and we’ve just not dealt with the ball into the box and it’s poor because if and when you’re playing the better teams and you’re playing in the play-offs and you’ve got teams with a lot better quality, then those things will kill you in those types of games.

“If you’re going to concede a goal against Rusthall, you’re probably expecting them to pass it and open you up and work good patterns and areas and have the ball in the box, which should really be our bread and butter.”

The goal lifted Rusthall’s confidence and they enjoyed a good spell of pressure and chances.  The last time that Rusthall celebrated a victory was on 28 November, coming away from Stansfeld with a 2-1 win.

Central midfielder Ben Branch released Kirby down the right but he dragged his shot across the keeper and past the far post.

Kirby played a short free-kick to Barton, who cut inside and from outside the box floated a cross into the box where an unmarked Callender jumped up and looped his header over the crossbar.

A mistake from Cheek let in Callender in the 21^st minute but Corinthian goalkeeper Nathan Boamah made a big save, getting down low to his left to tip the ball around his post.

“Steadman went through on goal and the keeper’s made a good saved and pushed it away well. Unfortunately, since he’s been at the club, he’s been really unlucky but we’re backing him to be really good,” added Anderson, who demands more from one of his more senior players at the club.

“I suppose it was an end-to-end game in the first half but I felt like going in at half-time, potentially against-the-run-of-play, I felt like we deserved it and second half happens.

Golding added:  “Cheek had a bit of a strange one tonight.  He’s just come back from his honeymoon.  He pulled his hamstring in the game against Snodland (a goal-less draw at home on 9 March), and he went away for a couple of weeks, so it was his first game tonight for four weeks and it looked like that.

“He needed to get the minutes into him and he’s been different level for us since he’s come in. He’s exactly what we need and he gives us good balance.

“We had a bit of a wobble. We tried to force the issue a bit too much and we maybe left a few too many spaces. They probably grew into the game but Rusthall didn’t really cause us loads of problems.”

Corinthian weathered the Rusthall storm after 25 minutes on a wet, windy and miserable Wednesday night in Tunbridge Wells.

With Housego pulling the strings, he played a left-footed diagonal out to left-back Ahmed Salim Futa, who teed up Jamie Billings, whose left-footed angled drive was beaten away by Sanneh.

Housego cut on to his left-foot and cracked a 20-yard drive, slipping while shooting and Sanneh dived to his right to parry the ball towards safety.

The Rusthall goalkeeper pulled off a brilliant save to prevent Corinthian deservedly equalising in the 36^th minute.

Corey Holden played the ball into Housego, who played striker Charlie Clover in behind the Rusthall defence and was destined to score with a right-footed shot, only for Sanneh to fingertip the shot against the outside of the right-hand (near) post.

“A good save. I thought it was a lovely pass from Oscar. I thought his end product was alright tonight,” said Golding.

“Charlie missed the last three weeks with his broken ribs but we gave him a start tonight just to see where he was fitness wise and we’re fortunate that he got through a good 74 minutes.

“Probably a fit Charlie, a Charlie who plays week-in-week-out probably goes and scores that.”

Anderson added: “Very good save, very good save.  Serine’s been superb. I love him to bits and he’s probably up there as one of the best goalkeeper’s in the league and we’ve been lost without him, so I’m really happy with his he’s performed.”

Both managers were asked their thoughts during the interval.

Anderson said: “To go and get the second! Keep playing how we’ve been playing, keep fighting. It’s going to be tough but we’re playing against a team who have been up there the whole of the season. They’ve got good players, they’ve got experienced players in their team and just weather the storm and if and when can we score the second goal.”

Golding added: “Paul (Sawyer, my assistant manager) talks and it was a difficult one.  You’re frustrated that you’ve gone 1-0 down to an avoidable goal but I think it was about still believing, still having faith.

“You’ve come to a team that’s fighting and scrapping for their lives and they’re on a horrendous run of results and it’s a bit of a banana sandwich when you come here.

“What you don’t want to do is get on at the boys. Our run of form has not been great. We’re a little bit scratching around trying to find that little bit of end product, so I think it was having belief.

“It was a positive half-time. Listen, we’ve been through nine and a half months of a season, we’re nearly 10 months of a season and the position we’re in is unbelievable and it’s about instilling that little bit of belief and just making sure the boys know and full credit to them, I thought we were by far the better side in the second half.”

Corinthian took only 110 seconds to restore parity, scoring directly from their seventh of nine corners.

Jamie Billings delivered a left-footed inswinging corner from the right and Callender nor Branch managed to clear the ball on the goal-line and the ball curled straight in at the near-post.

“Jamie’s been brilliant for us this year. He’s really stepped up the last couple of years, this year in particular,” said Golding, who’s side spent the last two seasons in the eighth-tier Isthmian League South East Division.

“It was rubbish last year. It was tough for us and Jamie and Oscar Housego were the two senior players. Jamie’s gone past 400 games and I can’t sing his praises enough. I think he’s been brilliant.

“The goals he’s scored this year, some of them have been outrageous, the goals against Whyteleafe and Holmesdale.

“Nine goals is a fantastic return from a defender. He captains and leads the team really, really well. He’s having a very good season.”

Anderson added: “I feel that’s so poor. It’s gone past two of my defenders Steadman and Ben Branch are at the front post. Serine is expecting the cross and it’s just a poor goal to let them back in the game.”

However, Rusthall swiftly raced up the other end and regained the lead just 70 seconds later, with the 30-yard goal coming exactly 180 seconds into the half.

No one in a Corinthian shirt came out to press Kirby, who was inside the right-channel and he whipped in a right-footed cross, which sailed across a flat-footed goalkeeper, the ball kissing the far post before rolling over the line into the opposite corner of the goal.

Anderson said: “Jack’s been superb since he’s come in. I think he’s my top goaslcorer now (on six goals).  We’ve been that bad in scoring goals.  We’ve been really poor this season.

“We haven’t really replaced Louie Clarke (33 goals) or Yassin Fares (13). We’ve struggled. We’re the joint worst scoring team (40 goals) and that isn’t good enough.  We are where we are because of the amount of goals we’ve scored this season.”

Golding added: “I really like him (Kirby) as a player. I thought he was good tonight and he’s come in and had a real good impact for them. He’s a player we’ve had an eye on for a while.

“You get to one-all and now it’s time to put your foot down and really start to make it happen and then within 70 seconds, the boys are saying it was a tough one to take. It was a deflection that’s flown straight over Nathan. We’ll have to watch it back. Could Nathan have done better? From our view, possibly but you’re back at square one. It was frustrating but the response was very good.”

Corinthian restored parity again, scoring their second goal with eight minutes and 28 seconds on the clock.

Jamie Billings swung in a left-footed free-kick from the right, the ball was partially cleared and Housego capped off an impressive night by hooking his right-footed volley into the roof of the net from a central position, 15-yards out.

Golding said: “Great finish from the kid, that’s what he’s got.  A set-piece, a ball into an area that’s asked a question. It’s made them defend, which was the whole plan. When you play a team like Rusthall, you’ve got to make them defend.  You’ve got to make them do the bits they’re not very good at and they don’t like going.

“To control the shot is an incredible piece of skill and you go to two-all relatively quickly then they’ve got to decide whether they stick or twist and fortunately we’ve got enough to over-power them.”

Anderson added: “A great finish, a great finish by him. I thought he grabbed the game in the second half. I know Oscar after previously been at Corinthian (as reserve team manager).  I thought he was probably their main man second half, stepping them back into the game.”

Rusthall goalkeeper Sanneh got down low to his left to deny former Rusthall striker Clover, who was played through on goal.

“Charlie’s got his critics throughout the division and people will say what they want but the lad’s got 19 goals this year, he’s in double figures for assists as well, so as far as I’m concerned he’s led the line really well,” added Golding.

The boisterous Rusthall vocal fan-base was giving Corinthian right-back Alexander Jack Billings plenty of good-natured banter during the first half but he played a key part in the penalty, being brought down by Little inside the box and the referee awarded the penalty and booked the full-back.

Housego drilled an emphatic right-footed penalty into the left-corner to send Sanneh the wrong way to give Corinthian the lead with 15 minutes and 29 seconds on the clock.

Golding revealed his side have not missed a penalty this season, but they did lose on penalties to Erith Town in the recent Challenge Cup Final.

“A good penalty from Oscar. Between him and Sam Bewick we’ve scored every penalty. I think we’re up to 10 penalties now this season,” revealed Golding.

“Jacko’s feet are really, really good, so it’s not a massive surprise that it’s that type of tackle and it’s a penalty and the kid’s tucked it away and all off a sudden it’s 3-2.”

Anderson added: “It was a penalty, a stonewall penalty, I can’t argue with that.  I think he’s gone to block the shot with the follow through he’s hit the fella’s leg. It's fair enough.”

Corinthian sealed the victory with 21 minutes and 28 seconds on the clock with substitute striker Adams notching his sixth goal of the season.

Latching onto Clover’s pass, Rusthall centre-half Ryan Styles opened the gate for his versatile former team-mate, who bundled into the penalty area before drilling his right-footed shot past Sanneh to find the right-corner, which silenced the home fans in the crowd of 169.

Golding said: “We say to the boys, ask questions, make them defend. What can we make teams do and it’s not being disrespectful, at this level if you can make teams defend and if you ask them questions, you’re going to have more joy than not.

“Yes, we all want to play pretty football and we want to be Man City and get the ball out and pass it from the back but sometimes you’ve just got to put the ball in.

“Luke was unfortunate he missed out tonight. He started on Saturday and he plays a fantastic role for us, he really does. He works incredibly hard. He links up the play, he plays with his back to goal better than anyone that we’ve had for a while, doesn’t always get the goals or the assists, so to come back to his former club, I’m sure he enjoyed getting on the scoresheet.”

Anderson simply replied: “I’m pleased for him. I’m pleased that he’s doing well. I’m pleased for all the boys I’ve had before, Charlie Clover, Luke Adams, continue to do well, do well in the play-offs, so I’m pleased for you.”

Corinthian were now in control of proceedings and Sanneh made a double save in the 72^nd minute.

No surprise that it was Housego’s pass which played in Clover in a one-v-one but Sanneh used his legs to make the save before getting back up to comfortably catch a shot from an unmarked Holden.

“Once it went three and four, I think we could’ve run away with it to be honest.  I thought our shooting was off and they’ve got a massive net behind the goal at this bottom end and we just about hit that on a few occasions rather than the target,” admitted Golding.

“We were going to bring Charlie off, just to protect him. The job was done by that point, probably expect a fit Charlie to come away with two goals tonight, so positive signs and stuff for us to work on.”

Rusthall offered very little in attack during the second half but they did call Boamah into making a save.

Abdullah Khalil, who came on for Adonis-Taylor after only seven minutes to play right-wing-back, put in a cross from within the left-channel and Lyons controlled the ball in the middle before cutting onto his left-foot and forcing Boamah into making a diving save to his right.

“I thought their keeper did alright tonight. He’ll be criticised for our first goal but I thought he did alright,” said Anderson, who has thrown in some young players during this season and Little and Lyons were part of the club’s FA Youth Cup run when the weather was a lot warmer and drier.  This being the wettest winter in history in the UK.

“Since I’ve been here, it’s always been about developing player and I’m really proud of it.

“We have got a very young team, probably an average age of like 22, so to stay in the league with this team will be a fantastic achievement. If we don’t, then we’ll have to rebuild it.”

Holden clipped a ball from one side of the penalty area to the other and Housego chested the ball before turning Jeffrey Njuguna, before arrowing his right-footed volley just over the top of the far post.

Referee Jack Mottram had no option but to send Bewick off (38:35) for violent conduct.

Rusthall goalkeeper Serine Sanneh was about 35-yards from his goal and cleared his lines and fell to the ground before getting back up.

Not going by video evidence but my naked eye, Bewick allegedly swung his arm and allegedly made conact with the goalkeeper's head, in an off-ball flashpoint.

The referee had his back turned at the point of contact and it was only the roar of disapproval from the Rusthall fans standing close to the incident that alerted the referee that something had happened, so Mr Mottram walked over to senior assistant referee Thomas Sansom, who saw the incident and the referee pulled out a red card from his right pocket to send off Bewick.

The 32-year-old denied post-match that he acted in such a manner but both managers gave their thoughts on the red card.

Anderson said: “I thought it was well-deserved. I don’t see the point of him why he needs to go over to Serine and stand over the top of him and then actually lash out to him.

“If I’m being really critical and I think it might potentially change the game. I felt like the ref should’ve given a red-card to Ryan Cheek in the first half for a second yellow card.  He (the referee) ran over and went to his back pocket and then decided not to because I think he realised he was booked.”

Golding said: “We’re a long way away, from our view, it doesn’t look pretty. It’s something that we’ve got involved in. The goalkeeper’s probably antagonised it a little bit and brought it but listen if Sam’s raised his hands then he deserves to be sent off but we’ll look back at it on the video and see if we can pick out anything on the footage.

“Sam’s adamant that he didn’t raise his hands but we’ve just got involved in something at 4-2 up that we didn’t need to.

“Sam’s been good for us this year so there’s no witch hunt or anything like that. It’s frustrating and he’ll now miss games, which will be the frustration.”

Suspensions kick-in seven days after the offence so Bewick will miss the games against Deal Town (20 April), Whitstable Town (27 April) and the play-off semi-final.

Golding said: “He is a big player and he’s scored good goals for us this year and Sam’s a great lad. I’ve got a lot of time for Sam. He’s an experienced head and he speaks really well and he’s working incredibly hard on his fitness level after his knee injuries to get back to a level.”

Sam Fitzgerald was also sent-off at Faversham Town at the weekend and will miss the trip to VCD Athletic on Saturday.

Golding confirmed that Michael Hagan (hamstring) and Dean Nayler (ankle) were ruled out for tonight’s outing.

“That’s why we have squads and that’s why we have players’ to come in. We can make five changes (tonight) and still come and get the result and get the job done,” added the Corinthian manager.

Rusthall failed to make the man-advantage count for the rest of the game, which lasted a total of 107 minutes and 36 seconds.

Anderson admitted: “Our heads went down against a very good side so you’ve got to accept we’ve been beaten by a better side today. They won the game fair and square.”

Deal Town will claim the league title should they beat sixth-placed Lydd Town on Saturday, as Steve King’s side have picked up 83 points from their 35 (of 40) games.

Corinthian (23 wins, seven draws and seven defeats) are in second-place tonight, with 76 points from 37 games, while Glebe are now in third with 74 points from their 37 league outings.

Faversham Town and Erith Town are also in the play-off zone, both on 71 points from 36 games.

However, Lydd Town (64 points from 36 games), Whitstable Town (64 points from 37 games) and Bearsted (62 points from 62 games) are ready to pounce.

Golding takes his side to fifteenth-placed VCD Athletic on Saturday (a side that have picked up 41 points, 10 wins, 11 draws and 16 defeats).

“I went to watch VCD play Stansfeld the other day (4-1 away win, 30 March) and I was really impressed with them.  Their front four are good players, so we’ll have to prepare for that,” said Golding.

“Playing on Wednesday is frustrating because we won’t see the boys until Saturday, so we’ll have to get the information to them however we can.

“We’ve done particularly well there over the last couple of years when we played them at Step Four we beat them both times.

“At the start of the season (15 August) we won 4-1 and it was probably the most one-sided 4-1 in terms of they battered us that night, they absolutely battered us and we got away with a victory, so it will be a tough, tough game.

“We follow that against champions-elect Deal, they’ll be champions by then, hopefully, so a tough game and then we finish away to Whitstable, which will probably not have anything to play for.  They have probably under-achieved in that sense.

“We’ve got three tough games to finish the season. When you look at the run-in we’ve got the hardest run-in (of the teams in the play-off zone) so the fact that we’ve got the points on the board is fantastic.

“We’ve gone above Glebe, which has been a target for a while, to make sure that we capitalise on our games-in-hand and lets see how many points we can put on in those last three games.  If we can get a couple of victories, I’m sure that will be enough for a home semi-final.

“We went to Faversham on Saturday and lost 4-0 and they were a lot better than us and rightly so.  All the teams will not want to play away (in the play-offs). I’m sure the other three teams who are in the play-offs are looking at it and going they want to play Corinthian because why wouldn’t you?

“But if we can get that home fixture it will just give us that little bit extra and just give us half a chance.  We obviously back ourselves when we go away and we come up with game plans but we know our pitch so well and teams often don’t like travelling down to the Farm. If we can get that home semi-final, I think that’s really important.”

The side that finishes in second-place will play the Play-Off Semi-Final and the Final at home (should they reach the Final).

At the bottom, Rusthall are in a precarious position, second-from-bottom in the table with 20 points (four wins, eight draws and 26 defeats) and Welling Town have five chances to get themselves away from the trap door, although they have gone 17 games without a win.

Rusthall host play-off chasing Bearsted (20 April) before a trip to Chislehurst to play Glebe on the final day of the season, hoping that Welling Town slip up.

“Two bloody hard games, like the last eight or nine have been. Every game in this league is today, there’s no easy games,” said Anderson.

“Bearsted are going to come here full of confidence. They’ve got a very good side. I like the way they play. I’m quite an admire of how they operate so it’s going to be a really tough game.

“When we go to Glebe for the last game of the season, maybe they’ll be thinking (about resting players for the play-offs on the Tuesday night). I don’t know but no one’s not going to really drop off now. They need minutes.

“It’s two hard games but we hope to try to get something out of the pair of them but if not, we are where we are.”

Anderson is keen to avoid Rusthall suffering a second relegation in their history in the space of five seasons.

“It’s all in Welling’s hands, they’ve got a lot of tough games. There’s no easy games.  Snodland are a good side, they’ve got good players.  Going to Faversham is never easy for anyone. Holmesdale are a very good side as well and they’ve put together a very good young side down there and Kennington might want revenge for the draw the other night.

“What does it mean if we stay up? It’s fantastic! Obviously, it’s been a hard season. It will be great to stay in the league.  What do I need? To not finish bottom of the league, that’s it, to not finish bottom of the league.

“We’ve got two games left.  We can’t finish bottom of the league, so we’ve got to finish above whoever we possibly can.  We’ve got to challenge the other two, Sutton and Stansfeld. I say it’s between the four of us.

“We need to pick up some points and if we get relegated, we’ve been at Step Six before. We came back at the first hurdle so that’s fine. I’ll do it again.

“It’s really, really tough so it will be incredible for all of this group if we stay in the league, just because they’ve experienced so much this season.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of mangers or clubs who try to develop players. Us at Rusthall, we do and there’s a lot of boys in my team right now who will go on to bigger and better things. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way to Rusthall. They’ll go on and go higher.

“They haven’t given up. We’ve been really close. We’ve been in games, we’re not a team that’s been rolled over. Even tonight, I don’t think we got rolled over. I think we battled but it’s against really, really good sides full of confidence. We’re not full of confidence at the minute.

“We’ve got the weekend off now, sit back, watch the results, see if they go our way. If we don’t we’ve got Bearsted, we’ve got to try to get the three points.”

When asked how he’s coping being involved with another relegation dog-fight in the ninth-tier, Anderson replied: “As mad as this must seem, I feel like it makes me better as a manager. We’ve experienced so much in the five years’ I’ve been at Rusthall.  I don’t do midtale. It’s mad but being at the top is completely different to this.  Your team talks, your motivation skills, everything.  Your recruitment but when you’re down the bottom it’s hard to get players in.”

Players in this league are now commanding wages of £300 per week and Rusthall and many others cannot compete with that.

Anderson said: “This season has been very challenging with the financial aspect of the league. That will probably only get worse next season. I don’t really agree with it. Average players now are on ridiculous money, it’s ridiculous!

“Players want money and they want it now. They don’t want to develop as players. They’re not really fussed, that’s the most annoying thing. Players now are not fussed about climbing the pyramid, they’re happy to stay at this level, earn money, it’s local and they only train once a week.”

BATTLE TO BEAT THE DROP:

18. Sutton Athletic – 23 Points
13 April – Home – Glebe
16 April – Away – Bearsted
20 April – Away – Stansfeld
27 April – Home – Hollands & Blair

19. Stansfeld – 22 Points
13 April – Home – Whitstable Town
20 April – Home Sutton Athletic
27 April – Away – Deal Town

20. Rusthall – 20 Points
20 April – Home Bearsted
27 April – Away – Glebe

21. Welling Town – 18 Points
13 April – Home – Holmesdale
17 April – Away – Snodland Town
20 April – Away – Faversham Town
23 April  - Home – Kennington
27 April – Home – Snodland Town

Rusthall: Serine Sanneh, Daniel Blunn, Jack Lyons, Ryan Styles, Callum Adonis-Taylor (Abdullah Khalil 7), Frank Little (Malcolm Dixon 79) Ben Branch (Jeffrey Njuguna 70), Dylan Riches (Daniel Watson 70), Steadman Callender, Kalani Barton (Stacey Petrou 76), Jack Kirby.

Goals: Frank Little 15, Jack Kirby 48

Booked: Dylan Riches 45, Ben Branch 53, Frank Little 60, Serine Sanneh 63, Jimmy Anderson 80 (manager)

Corinthian: Nathan Boamah, Alexander Jack Billings (Tom Fitzgerald 88), Ahmed Salim Futa, Jamie Billings, Ryan Cheek, Corey Holden (Martin Youngah 81), Brandon Davey, Charlie Clover (Sam Bewick 74), Michael Ihiedi (Luke Adams 65), Oscar Housego.
Sub: Sam Fitzgerald

Goals: Jamie Billings 47, Oscar Housego 54, 60 (penalty), Luke Adams 67

Booked: Ryan Cheek 15, Michael Ihiedi 63

Sent Off: Sam Bewick 84

Attendance: 169
Referee: Mr Jack Mottram
Assistants: Mr Thomas Sansom & Mr Dylan Wood
Observer:  Mr Graeme Ions