Rusthall 2-0 Tunbridge Wells - To have 32 points at Christmas is the best present I could ever ask for, says second-placed Rusthall manager Jimmy Anderson

Rusthall 2 – 0 Tunbridge Wells
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	26/12/2022 12:00

RUSTHALL  2-0  TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Boxing Day Monday 26 December 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

RUSTHALL manager Jimmy Anderson says heart and desire from his players’ sealed a derby day victory which sent the club to their highest league position in their 123-year history, in front of their largest crowd.

Italian winger Yassin Fares scored a goal that would grace the Milan derby inside the San Siro Stadium, giving Rusthall the lead over Tunbridge Wells with his fifth goal of the season, in front of 936 fans inside a noisy Jockey Farm Stadium.

Tariq Ibrahim notched his first goal of the season to double the Rustic’s lead in the second half to maintain their unbeaten home league record and put the club in second-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table.

Tunde Aderomu’s 18^th goal of the season saw Andy Constable’s side win the Erith derby at Park View Road, as runaway leaders Erith & Belvedere have collected 53 points from 20 games, with many clubs vying for that elusive second-place.

Rusthall go into 2023 in pole position with 32 points from 19 games and they are pursued by Stansfeld (31 points from 18 games), Phoenix Sports (28 points from 15 games), Erith Town (27 points from 15), Deal Town (27 points from 16) and Tunbridge Wells are languishing in seventh with 27 points on the board from their 19 league outings.

“Another three points, a great win for the fans.  To bring 936 people out on Boxing Day is incredible. I think that’s the highest ever in this derby, it’s huge,” said Anderson.

“To be fair, Tunbridge Wells will probably say it wasn’t a great game.  Rusthall fans will probably say it was a good game.  I think it just came down to who wanted it more today, who had the bigger heart, who sacrificed their Christmas to who wanted success for today.

“We were both missing players today.  There could be so many excuses.  The pitch is a bit boggy due to the weather but we’re a passing team. We managed to play football on it today so there’s no excuses and there shouldn’t be from them.”

When asked what his players’ gave him, Anderson replied: “Heart, passion and commitment.  We asked the boys to sacrifice a lot over Christmas.  They’re all young boys anyway and a lot of our boys don’t really drink and a lot of their families came down to watch the game but it’s nice to spend Christmas with the family, so I’ve had a wonderful Christmas.”

Tunbridge Wells boss Luke Carpenter added: “It was a frustrating result today.  We’ve created so many chances but they just wouldn’t fall for us.

“Our initial reflections from our half-time notes and then those taken during the second half are that we have felt we had a lot of the ball, which in itself is worth nothing, but we’ve created so many chances and haven’t finished them with the conviction we normally do.”

This was a hard-fought local derby with Rusthall’s players receiving treatment on six occasions, having not played a league game since being held to a 2-2 home draw by Fisher on 10 December, seven days prior to Tunbridge Wells coming away from bottom side Canterbury City with a 3-0 victory.

Rusthall beat First Division side Croydon 3-0 in a behind closed doors friendly last Wednesday night and Anderson praised his number two, Ollie Saunders for being the tactical mastermind behind today’s victory.

“Huge praise for Ollie. We did a tactical session last Monday about how to break Tunbridge Wells down, how to stop them playing out, how to deal with their main threats and we played Croydon on Wednesday, so a massive thank you to (Croydon manager) Liam Giles and we tried to use that in that game and it worked well.”

Carpenter added: “We’ve been training twice a week as usual, although we’ve had to adapt slightly with the poor weather. 

“We constantly reflect with (watching clips) of previous games and we use that to improve ourselves as well as using our knowledge on the opposition to build our game plan.”

Rusthall created the first opening inside the opening nine minutes.

Tunbridge Wells’ holding midfielder Jack Walder hit Fares’ right-ankle with a challenge some 30-yards from goal.

The returning Louis Anderson whipped his right-footed free-kick just over the crossbar, with the right-back aiming for the top right-hand corner.

“It was Louis’ first game back from his pulled hamstring injury so he’s missed a load of games.  Unfortunately for him he was in really good form up until that FA Vase game and today was his first start,” said the Rusthall boss.

“We were a little bit worried due to the pitch and stuff like that and he’s like an explosive player and his main asset is his pace and he’s been very clinical on free-kicks this season and from where we were standing we thought he caught the keeper out and it was going in but unfortunately it went over.”

The opening exchanges was a stop-start affair with both sides cancelling each other out before Tunbridge Wells created several chances, being denied by former Wells’ goalkeeper Tommy Taylor in the 14^th minute.

A long throw from Robbie Bissett (who plays on the left of a three man central defence) launched a long throw into the box, the ball was flicked on by striker Matthew Gething and dropped to talisman 21-goal striker Trevor McCreadie, who hooked his left-footed volley towards the top right-hand corner, only for Taylor to claw the ball out, high to his left.

Anderson said: “McCreadie’s massive for them. I’ve read he’s committed for the season, there was a lot of interest.  He’s a handful and causes any defence loads of problems and today he had loads of chances.  Fortunately for us he wasn’t clinical enough and he’ll probably be beating himself up but he’s a handful and a huge asset for them.”

Carpenter added: “Tommy is a decent keeper.  I think he made a couple of saves in addition to putting some over the bar and wide.

“I think you need to add (Rusthall centre-half) James White into this as he threw himself at everything and made a few blocks too.”

Gething then released Connor Pring down the right channel and his cross came out to Rhys Bartlett, but the left-wing-back lost composure and sliced his left-footed half-volley past the left-hand post from 18-yards.

Taylor was called into action again, just 61 seconds later.

Walder pinged a diagonal out over to right-wing-back Matthew Astle, who slipped in McCreadie, whose low right-footed angled drive took a deflection off Rusthall’s holding midfielder Jeffrey Njuguna inside the box and Taylor got down low to his right to hold.

Tunbridge Wells kept knocking on the door and went close to taking a deserved lead in the 20^th minute.

Harry Hudson (who plays on the right hand side of their three man defence) launched the second of his four long throws towards the edge of the Rusthall box and the ball came out to Bartlett for a second time and he swept his right-footed shot across Taylor and past the far post.

Rusthall grabbed the lead, however, with 26 minutes and 29 seconds on the clock, courtesy of quick thinking from Taylor and sublime skill from Fares.

Taylor pinged a right-footed clearance from inside his penalty area towards Fares down the left and his first touch was sublime.

Fares then cut inside his man and cut the ball onto his right-foot before curling a sublime shot into the top far corner from 25-yards, leaving goalkeeper Jason Tibble well-beaten.

It sparked delirium among the vocal Rusthall fanbase situated along the side of the pitch and their celebrations caused a section of their perimeter fencing to collapse with the weight of fans celebrating the goal with their players.

Anderson said: “Yassin sent a Christmas card with a stamp on it. It was right in the top corner!

“We’ve got that asset with Tommy Taylor with his kicking ability. We like to play out but we don’t see that as just going route one because he’s picked a player out.

“In games like this you need a moment of magic. That basically was a huge goal for us.  Yassin deserves that as well. Once that goes in, we’re buzzing!

“Yassin’s having a good season. He’s new to non-league and people like to tackle him because he looks like a fourteen-year-old but he’s phenomenal on his day.”

Carpenter said: “You have to take your hat off to the lad. It was an unreal touch and then strike.”

Reflecting on his side’s profligate finishing, the Tunbridge Wells boss replied: “Honestly, I just felt the final shot or even delivery in some cases was all that was missing. 

“Had we gone in at half-time with three or four goals I don’t think it would have been the surprise of anyone.”

Astle got in behind Rusthall’s left-back Abdullah Khalil and his deep cross was latched onto by Bartlett, who stabbed the ball into McCreadie but his right-footed shot was gathered at the second attempt by Taylor, smothering the ball low to his left as the game reached the half-hour mark.

Tunbridge Wells were getting plenty of joy down the right and this time Jack Palmby put in a low cross towards the near post where McCreadie nipped in front of Cameron Smart to drill a shot on the turn over the top of the near post from a tight angle.

Fares tried to score with another long range effort, this time from 30-yards, after cutting into a pocket of space but his right-footed drive was speculative and Tibble made a comfortable and routine low save in the final five minutes of the half.

Anderson claimed, “I think he was still excited from the other one so he got into position and had a shot and basically the keeper can gather it really easily, unfortunately.”

Taylor put in an outstanding first half performance to thwart Tunbridge Wells again.

Louis Anderson was in the right place at right time to deny McCreadie on the line and Bartlett swung in the resulting corner from the right which was met at the far post by Hudson’s header, which was tipped over the bar by the former Fisher goalkeeper.

Bissett recycled a deep corner back into the Rusthall penalty area and Gething’s near-post header was flicked onto the crossbar and the ball dropped to visiting centre-half Daniel Tear, who lashed his first time drive over the bar.

A frustrated Carpenter said:  “He’s done so well to attack it and get it on target. It just summed up our day to see it hit the bar.  It wasn’t his day, as he did the same in the second half but I thought that was in all the way until it hit the bar.  Both were close to being followed up too.”

Anderson added: “I haven’t seen enough of them to judge it but I feel like their main assets are set-pieces or they’ve got long throws from both sides (of the pitch).  They just get the ball in the box.  They’ve got two boys up front (Gething and McCreadie) who play off the seconds and they want the ball in and around the box.

“For that five-to-10-minute spell just before half-time they were knocking on the door to try and get something and we were under pressure. They weren’t clinical enough today.”

The always threatening McCreadie latched onto Walder’s pass but his right-footed angled drive took a deflection and trickled past the far post, before a front-foot Tunbridge Wells created another chance following a well-worked set-piece.

Bissett’s long throw came in from the left, the ball was flicked on by Gething and McCreadie got in behind Smart before drilling his shot past the top of the near post from a right angle.

Anderson urged his players to replicate the passion on the terraces out on the pitch when rallying his troops during the interval.

“I said before the game you’ve got to play the game, not the occasion. It’s Boxing Day, you’re against your local rivals, a lot of my boys aren’t local but I said to them you have to enjoy it.  Games like this don’t come around every week so if you don’t enjoy playing in front of all this crowd, we’re not going to win.

“So I said you’ve got to keep enjoying it.  You have to do the sh*t bit and you have to weather the storm and stuff like that and you have to throw your bodies on the line and they did that today.

“It weren’t all pretty and now they’ve got their reward for it and they’ve all got a smile on their faces, like I asked.”

Carpenter said: “We felt we had them pinned back and under a lot of pressure.  We found that playing forward quickly was causing their centre-backs a lot of problems and that we were getting joy down our right-hand side too.

“It was a case of remaining patient and not panicking, whilst trying to exploit those areas.

“I don’t think they had really managed a shot on goal barring a bit of magic, so we felt the game was very winnable still.”

Rusthall striker Louie Clarke endured a quiet afternoon but Anderson revealed his brother Louis and Clarke was suffering and feeling under the weather.

Rusthall went route-one and went close to grabbing a second goal after only 172 seconds into the second half.

Taylor’s quickly-taken kick caught out the Tunbridge Wells defence and Clarke’s left-footed dink from 18-yards went over the onrushing goalkeeper and dropped just the wrong side of the right-hand post.

“Huge credit to Louie Clarke today and my brother Louis, they’re both really struggling today with the flu so they both played today.  We had to dose Louie up before the game so first half he didn’t have that many touches and second half we came alive a little bit.  We said to him give us all you can and then we’ll drag you (in the 86^th minute),” revealed the Rusthall manager.

“Louie Clarke’s been phenomenal for us this season, he’s turned down opportunities to go elsewhere, he’s committed to us this season and he’s our leading goalscorer (with 18 goals) so normally he would score.”

Tunbridge Wells suffered similar fate in the eighth minute following another long throw.

Bissett launched the ball in from the left for the third and final time and McCreadie found a pocket of space at the near post to hook his left-footed half-volley screaming just over the crossbar.

Tunbridge Wells went close from another set-piece just before the hour-mark.

Pring floated a free-kick from the halfway line and it was allowed to travel a long way by the Rusthall defence and Hudson prodded his half-volley into the side netting from a tight angle.

Rusthall were clinical when it mattered and grabbed the decisive match clinching second goal with 23 minutes and 26 seconds on the clock.

Njuguna played the ball along the deck and down the line to release Ibrahim, who travelled into the penalty area and had to dig the ball out from under his feet while being pressed but kept composed to place his right-footed shot across a flat-footed Tibble and trickling into the bottom far corner from 12-yards.

Anderson said :”Tariq was fantastic today. He got man-of-the-match and I think thoroughly deserved.  I feel like he caused them so many problems in the first half. He was always on the half-turn, always wanted to drive us forward.

“When he gets in those positions and he feels hungry that he can get us forward, you get the best out of Tariq, I feel and they can’t really do anything about it.

“It is like men-versus-boys out there.  Tunbridge Wells are grown men, they’re established at this level and they have been for a while.  We have a young side that’s trying to build their way forward.  We’re progressing really quickly, probably quicker than we thought. We matched them today and we did one better and got the result.

“It purely came down to how much you wanted it. We said it could be men-versus-boys but the boys have to show the men how to play, that’s what we wanted today. We wanted them to go out there and give it their all.

“We’re doing really well in the league.  I know you’re saying to me ‘what does it mean?’ I’m looking at the league table, it’s three points.

“Notoriously 30 points keeps you in the league so have that done by Boxing Day, considering last season how bad it was (finishing third-bottom with 24 points from 38 games), it’s a huge improvement.

“We’re improving off the pitch as well as on it and to have 32 points at Christmas is the best present I could ever ask for.”

Carpenter added: “I felt the defending wasn’t as aggressive as it had been and the lad has done well to take advantage of that.”

The Rusthall fans were clearly enjoying their derby-day Boxing Day victory but they held their breath as Tunbridge Wells struck the crossbar again in the final six minutes.

McCreadie turned provider by slipping the ball along the deck for Gething, who took a touch before drilling a left-footed drive over Taylor’s head and against the underside of the crossbar (while aiming for the top far corner) before the resilient Rusthall defence cleared their lines for the away side’s sixth corner.

Carpenter said: “It looked like it was going in from our angle and maybe had it been on his right foot it may have gone in.  He has struck it well for his weak foot, maybe too well.”

Anderson added: “As soon as he run through, he shifted it a little bit away from goal and my assistant Ollie Saunders shouted straight away ‘he’s missed’.  From my point of view, it’s great he missed!”

Rusthall created a couple of late chances to add more insult to injury to the travelling fans, who have now seen their side lose here for the second successive season.

Jack Smith played a one-two with Ibrahim in and around the Tunbridge Wells penalty area before the central midfielder swept his shot past the foot of the near post.

Rusthall created the final chance of the game following a set-piece move of their own with 77 seconds of stoppage time remaining.

Debutant substitute Ugonna Emenike threw the ball into Fares, who slipped the ball through to Ibrahim, who dragged his shot past the foot of the same post.

Anderson said: “Tariq was phenomenal today, he could’ve had two or three today easily.”

Carpenter added: “I felt we defended well. We threw caution to the wind a little in the last 10 minutes and they started to create some chances on the counter but other than that we didn’t feel under much pressure.”

So the local bragging rights are Rusthall’s today, similar to when Tunbridge Wells won 1-0 at Culverden Stadium back in August.

Carpenter added: “I thought the Wells’ fans were brilliant today.  I get engrossed in the game more often than not but the atmosphere was really good.  I could hear the Wells’ fans throughout, even when we were behind, we could still hear them.”

Both return to action on Bank Holiday Monday, 2 January, with Anderson taking his side to third-from-bottom side Bearsted (17 points from 17 games, a point clear of Welling Town (who lost 3-0 at Phoenix Sports today) and five clear of Canterbury City), while Phoenix Sports come to Culverden and both Anderson and Carpenter haven’t ruled out grabbing that second-place.

“Erith & Belvedere have won the league, they’ve won the league. If they don’t, then that’s the biggest shock you’ll ever going to meet, ever and they thoroughly deserve it,” said Anderson.

“We’re not getting carried away, we just need to worry what we’re doing, get three points.  There will be a lot of teams that fancy their chances to get second place.  It’s only midway through the season, there’s a lot of football to be played.

“Since I’ve met you, we’ve had chats about getting points, relegation, sackings, now chatting about finishing second in the league, it’s mental but it’s great.

“The reason probably why you sacrifice so much in your life to do it, it can be so stressful but it’s so rewarding – to get three points is huge.

“Merry Christmas (to the Rusthall fans) because you’ve got the bragging rights, enjoy it!”

Anderson added: “I tell you, Bearsted will be a really tough game.  I like Bearsted a lot, they always produce really good players and they’re a bit of a bogey team.  I don’t think Rusthall have ever beaten them.

“I’ve just said to the boys after the game, as much as this game is great and we’ve got three points and we go away happy, you made a sacrifice for this game, now you need to do it again when we go away to Bearsted otherwise it doesn’t mean anything today.  You’ve got to keep continuing or just get a point, get something from the game.

“I think it’s massive to reach Christmas and still be unbeaten at home in the league.  We set these targets at the start of the season to achieve them, it’s phenomenal.”

Carpenter said: “It’s another tough game.  We’ve played them twice this year and both games were really good, with a bit of old school bite to them.

“We have a tough December and January, which has now become harder with games being rescheduled.

“It really is (up for grabs) and that’s what makes today so disappointing. Teams will continue to take points from each other though so we have to dust ourselves down and continue to put in the work to make sure we’re in contention.  There’s a long way to go!”

Rusthall: Tommy Taylor, Louis Anderson, Abdullah Khalil (Ugonna Emenike 84), Jeffrey Njuguna, James White, Cameron Smart, Yassin Fares, Jack Smith, Louie Clarke (Daniel Blunn 86), Tariq Ibrahim, Reuel Powell-Downey.
Subs: George Porter, Jamie Miller, Calvin Gitiba

Goals: Yassin Fares 27, Tariq Ibrahim 69

Booked: Louis Anderson 67

Tunbridge Wells: Jason Tibble, Matthew Astle (Jacob Feasey 73), Rhys Bartlett (Johnny Phillips 57), Daniel Tear, Robbie Bissett, Harry Hudson, Connor Pring, Jack Walder, Trevor McCreadie, Matthew Gething, Jack Palmby.
Subs: Luca Bradley, James Nurden, Zak Wolvey

Booked: Matthew Astle 23

Attendance: 936
Referee: Mr Wayne Horsfall
Assistants: Mr Stephen Gorman & Mr Daniel Roberts