Rusthall 4-1 AFC Walcountians - I just felt like we didn't do the things what I expect my team to do, admits Rusthall boss Jimmy Anderson, who watches his side steal a place in FA Vase First Round with a flattering 4-1 win

Rusthall 4 – 1 AFC Walcountians
Location	Jockey Farm Stadium, Nellington Road, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8SH
Kickoff	12/09/2026 15:00

RUSTHALL  4-1  AFC WALCOUNTIANS
The FA Vase Second Qualifying Round
Saturday 12 September 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Jockey Farm Stadium

RUSTHALL manager Jimmy Anderson admits his players’ lacked quality, leaders, lacked someone who could grab the game for him and basically lacked energy and didn’t do the things he expects his team to do after stealing a place in The FA Vase First Round, for the sixth time.

The Rustics' were simply awful for the first 70 minutes of their tie against minnows AFC Walcountians, who arrived at Jockey Farm Stadium unbeaten in all of their nine games this season and sitting top of the tenth-tier Southern Combination League First Division table with 16 points (five wins and a draw) from their first six games in the National League System.

Matthew Scola’s impressive side spooked Rusthall, who were given an almighty scare in front of a sparse crowd, especially when attacking midfielder Charlie Moore notched his fifth goal of the season from the penalty spot, which proved to be the only shot on target from the Surrey based outfit.

Rusthall were on course of enduring their most embarrassing defeat but bringing on Rolls Royce Christian Lawal (who lives in Tunbridge Wells) and Jeffrey Njunga in the middle of the park turned their fortunes around and four flattering goals were scored inside the final 16 minutes to prevent Anderson enduring an awkward grilling during the near 24 minute post-match press conference.

Lawal, who is a personal trainer, has a website where he states, “My purpose as a personal trainer and in life is simple – to assist others on the journey of self-improvement.”

That’s exactly what the outstanding Lawal did for the 37 minutes that he was out on the football pitch and many of his team-mates will need to look themselves in the mirror and replicate the same desire of their talented team-mate.

Football manager’s live and die by their decisions and Anderson pulled off  tactical masterstrokes while Scola will regret handing his goalkeeper Jay Nakamichi his debut, as he was at fault for Rusthall’s first and third goals.

Rusthall grabbed the leveller when all things lost when substitute attacking midfielder Rajan Sahni notched his first goal of the season, capitalising from a mistake from Nakamichi, before Italian substitute left-winger Yassin Fares stroked home a penalty with seven minutes remaining.

The Rustics added a couple of flattering goals during stoppage time from Njuguna and winger Joshua Reid but Rusthall played like a team of imposters for the first 70 minutes of their very lacklustre performance.

“Got there in the end, through to the next round, that’s all that mattered and probably as a squad my quality showed in the squad in making changes and obviously changing the game and us winning,” said Anderson.

“They’re unbeaten in the league and only conceded two goals.  The way they played you could see they were good at the back.  They were structurally well-organised.  The full-backs didn’t really venture on too much. I thought their wingers were quite good. The targetman up top, his hold-up play was good, worked hard considering his size.  I just felt for 60 minutes they controlled the game from midfield.

“I had a look at some things, we changed shape, changed personnel, managed to give a few people a rest. A few people I could have a look at and yes, it didn’t pay off.

“The intention was to try and get the early goal and try to take the lead and that didn’t work. They scored a goal where we switched off. They took an early free-kick and get a penalty.

“I felt like they were a good passing side. It wasn’t like they came here and just crashed it forward, even though they have a target-man, so I felt like they were a good side.  You could tell why they’re doing well in the league and they wanted to play football.

“Their two centre-backs were calm when they had the ball. The full-backs got it and played channels to give it to the wingers and their wingers tried to get at our full-backs.”

When questioned whether Rusthall were complacent in playing against a lower-league side at home, Anderson replied, “You could say that, watching the game, I don’t think it was.  I just think we lacked quality in the first half. We lacked leaders, we lacked someone who could grab the game for us and basically we lacked energy in their half when we were playing.

“We had the ball and we were keeping it around the back and we wasn’t moving forward because I didn’t think we won the midfield battle at all.”

AFC Walcountians played with confidence for the opening 20 minutes, spraying the ball around the pitch, with winger Theo Huey-Walker impressing down the left and notable stand-out performances came from left-sided centre-half Jospeh Martin and Moore.

Rusthall were slow, passing it around the back and when they did venture forward, balls were often overhit, or went out of play and they were trying to thread balls in behind along the deck but striker Louie Clarke was a shadow of his usual self and Olalekan Osideko was atrocious.

Anderson handed Ben Sangare his first start and he was just as bad on the right-hand side of a three-man defence.

Sangare never made it at Port Vale before joining Chatham Town’s Academy before switching to Fisher and the Bermondsey resident just simply failed to impress as Anderson’s lack of strength in depth was evident here today.

“Well, so he came to us in the summer and played a couple of pre-season games and he’s a hidden gem 100 per cent,” claimed Anderson, when speaking about Sangare.

“Like for me he’s fantastic on the ball. He got two little niggles in pre-season on both of his knees that he struggled with and today was his first start of the club.

“Obviously, in front of a crowd that may have played a part. He looked; he’s not a nervous character but he looked nervous. He didn’t play to his full potential but that’s fine. As I said, everyone’s allowed bad games. It’s just how we react to it.”

Despite AFC Walcountians’ eye-catching brand of football, they didn’t create any goalscoring on-target chances other than the penalty -  and Rusthall created their first one with 22 minutes and 41 seconds on the clock.

Holding midfielder Frank Griffin travelled over the halfway line and played the ball out to left-wing-back Reid, who easily cut inside right-back Isaac Tossio to reach the by-line before drilling a low cross which Nakamichi got down low to his left and used his leg to make the block.

“There wasn’t many chances in the first half. It wasn’t exciting,” admitted Anderson.

“I was sitting there thinking. I changed the formation after about 15-20 minutes. I can do it with the people I had on the pitch and look, I suppose everyone’s allowed to play bad at some point but the boys who potentially started the game in certain areas didn’t do themselves any favours because the boys who came on in the second proved that they were up to the job.”

AFC Walcountians stunned Rusthall by taking the lead from the penalty spot, with 26 minutes and 19 seconds on the clock.

Holding midfielder Kyron Rose-Green drilled a long ball over the top of an out of position Robbie Bissett and goalkeeper Tiwalade Fujamade came charging out to bring down big target man Jacob Sewell and referee Patrick Joliffe pointed to the spot and cautioned the Rusthall keeper.

Moore stepped up and emphatically stroked his right-footed penalty into the right-hand corner, sending the Rustics stand-in keeper the wrong way.

Anderson said: “There was an incident leading up to that goal that he (the referee) gave a free-kick and Rob (Bissett) was basically arguing the case.  He got hold of the ball, he’s given the ball back. The referee, I don’t know whether he has to blow the whistle or not, hasn’t blown the whistle. They’ve taken the free-kick, clipped it over the top, Rob’s out of position and we’re not set, fair enough, that’s our fault.

“Tiwa’s come out and as soon as he comes out, if he makes any contact, the referee’s going to either send him off because he’s committed a foul or it’s a penalty. I thought it was outside the box. I’m glad it wasn’t because he would’ve been sent off and they’ve given the penalty and it is what it is.

“He receives a yellow card, I didn’t think it was. Well, he could’ve received a red, I suppose, he was last man, so look, I’ve got no complaints about the penalty decision that was given. If anything I’m probably going to question the free-kick leading up to it.”

AFC Walcountians’ right-winger Chike Ejezie put in a cross, which was headed away by and Rose-Green drilled a low right-footed drive from outside the box into a crowd of players, the ball taking a nick as it deflected past the right post.

Rusthall should have grabbed themselves a lifeline with 31:49 on the clock but the awful Osideko spurned his big chance.

Sangare threaded the ball along the deck in behind, the ball was destined for attacking midfielder Jack Kirby, who didn’t touch the ball and the ball ran through for Osideko, whose composure went to pieces inside the box and placed his right-footed shot into the side netting when he only had the keeper to beat.

“It’s a half-chance, should he try to be more clinical? I would expect him to hit the target in that situation, yes, but unfortunately, he hasn’t,” added Anderson.

Reid and Bissett were having an exchange of views as nothing was going right for Rusthall – who simply put in their worst performance under Anderson during the first half.

Too many players – and I’ll name them here, Rahman Kareem, Sangare, Reid, Thompson Adeyemi, Clarke, Kirby and Osideko were all rated MINUS FIVE during the first half – they were all that bad!  Yes, you read that right, even Kirby!

If Rusthall were playing a Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division rival then they would have been on the end of a thrashing. A four-win victory after playing like this proves just how bad the Southern Combination League is!

Sangare gave the ball away in midfield – Rusthall were doing this a lot during the first half – and Lucas Mingle played the ball over the top of Bissett and Sewell’s right-footed drive from 25-tards flashed across the keeper and past the far post.

Sewell showed his lack of finishing quality when he cracked a right-footed 30-yard volley, which screamed past the foot of the left-hand post after Rusthall cleared their lines.

Rusthall created an off-target chance (48:19) when Bissett’s left-footed ball up field was knocked down by Kirby and Griffin dragged his right-footed shot from 30-yards in a central position harmlessly past the left-hand post and the half-time whistle was met by silence by the shell-shocked sparse crowd.

Anderson was asked whether he read his side the riot act during the interval and was asked whether he was angry with his under-performing players.

“A lot was missing in that half.  No there was no point (in being angry). I don’t believe shouting at people helps. If someone’s down and they know that they’re playing bad, none of the boys were thinking they were playing well, so I don’t believe you should kick a man when he’s down.

“I feel like they’re only going to listen to you if you try to encourage or trying to talk to them man-for-man and yes there were a few people dug out and I expected better from them.

“I just felt like we didn’t do the things what I expect my team to do. I don’t want to give too much away because I believe most managers in the League know how I want to play.

“We wasn’t doing that and I don’t know where you stood but I was very quiet. I sat down and watched the first half. Normally I might be a little bit more vocal and fight for my team, not in an aggressive way but if they’re going to war on the pitch, I go to war with them but I just felt like they weren’t going to war.

“At half-time there was no need to go in there shouting and screaming at people. It was just people needed to be told that things weren’t good enough and the standards wasn’t there.”

Anderson added: “What did I say? I just wanted us to play a little bit quicker, like move the ball quicker. I wanted us to play in their half. I wanted us to set traps and I wanted us to win the ball back quicker and I said to the boys if you don’t change your attitude, I’ll make subs and then I did make subs.”

AFC Walcountians, who won the corner count by four-two, should have done better with their third flag-kick with five minutes and 26 seconds into the second half.

Huey-Walker cut his left-wing corner back to captain Rose-Green, who cut onto his right-foot and delivered a cross towards the back post where centre-half Thomas Jones (not the former Fisher and now at AFC Greenwich Borough attacking midfielder) ghosted in at the far post to loop his flicked shot over the crossbar.

Anderson, who was sitting quietly on a grey chair within his technical area made am emergency call-out by bringing on Rolls Royce Lawal (left central midfield) and Njuguna (right central midfield) with 58 minutes on the clock.

It was no big shock when Anderson hooked Griffin, Adeyemi, Clarke, Sangare and Osideko during the second half but the five players who replaced them all made an impact and changed the game in Rusthall’s favour.

“The first two subs were Frank Griffin and Thompson off and Chris Lawall and Jeff on and (they changed the game) because you’re winning the battle in midfield,” highlighted the Rusthall manager.

“One scores and one was man-of-the-match (Lawal) so that kind of says it all. Goals changes games so I knew as soon as we’d score the first, we have enough quality in this squad and this group to grab the game even more and it brings confidence and it brings fear into the opposition.”

The home fans had to wait until halfway through the second half when they witnessed signs of life from their team.

Bissett fed the ball long to Lawal, who found himself within the right-channel and he fizzed in a low cross flashing across the face of goal and Kirby woke up from his slumber to prod his shot towards goal, which was blocked by the keeper’s legs and the ball came out to Fares, who skied his first time shot over the bar.

Anderson were without Troy Sivera (ankle) and Jesse Hammond (hamstring) and made four changes to his side that beat Kennington here 3-1 last weekend to move into 12^th place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with six points (two wins) from their first four League outings.

“As soon as Chris (Lawal) came on, he grabbed the game and he wasn’t put on the bench for any reason. He wasn’t dropped or nothing. All the boys that were put on the bench, Rajan Sahni and Daniel Atta (who replaced Sangare at right-wing-back) have found it a bit tough to break into the starting eleven but yes after that performance they’re going to find themselves in the starting 11 and the other boys it was just rotation.

“We have a small group and I just need to keep everyone on it and alive and for whatever reason it didn’t work today but those two boys and the others clearly showed. Yassin (Fares) came in and he grabbed it. He got at his full-back (Issac Tossio) all the time and produced the goods.”

Anderson’s last throw of the dice came with 27:27 on the clock when Sahni came on for Osideko and he grabbed an equaliser just 65 seconds later (28:32).

“I’ve enjoyed today, even though it was a game of two-halves, I enjoyed it because it makes me think,” explained Anderson, who has been in charge since December 2018.

“I was a manager today. I had to act. I had to make subs. I had to change formations. I had to do stuff. I’ve got a good group around me.”

Sahni is not renowned for his goalscoring but he probably scored his biggest and most important goal of his career here today.

Kirby slipped the ball to Lawal, whose sublime first-time through ball split open Jones to put the emergency attacking midfielder through on goal.

Goalkeeper Nakamichi came charging out and smashed the ball against Sahni and the rub of the green went Rusthall’s way and Sahni held his composure to sweep his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner of an open goal.

“Honestly, he literally came on probably (seconds) before that and once again we’ve changed a different shape. We’ve taken off our two forwards when we were 1-0 down and most people wouldn’t have done that. I’ve gone for it and tried something different and tried a different shape and Raj has found himself in the right position at the right time.

“He’s made a big challenge on the keeper. Some people would’ve pulled out and just let the keeper smack it up the pitch. He made a big challenge. He’s got the ricochet and it’s fallen for him and he’s put it in and open net.”

Local lad Bissett proved he cared about what was going on out on the pitch today and all those London based players in green and white were just going through the motions and not taking any pride in their own personal and collective performances.

Bissett launched a long ball over the top and Jones took a knock after fouling left-wing-back Kareem inside the penalty area and referee Patrick Joliffe awarded his second penalty of the game (34:37).

There was a lengthy delay as Jones received treatment but Farres held his nerve and Nakamichi went down low to his left as the Italian calmly stroked his right-footed penalty just left of centre, as Rusthall grabbed the lead with 37 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock.

“The five (Jones) hurt himself in doing so. It’s like the penalty what we conceded. It’s an obvious penalty and it’s come at the right time and Yass has stepped up and put it the other side of the way the keeper’s dived and he’s put us in the lead,” said Anderson.

“Then I’m thinking my message actually to the group because some of the boys came over to the bench, I said, ’if we score this, I don’t want us to sit off, just keep going.’ At that point the momentum was in our favour. We grabbed the game and I knew we could get more goals.”

AFC Walcountians offered nothing in attack during the second half but they almost grabbed an equaliser with 43:04 on the clock when substitute left-winger Simon Fraser cut onto his left foot and arrowed his angled drive across the keeper and whistled past the top of the far post from the corner of the penalty area.

“That kind of reaction, I wanted from the group. That’s why I was trying to say play the whole half in their half, don’t give them any chances but don’t be complacent and be sloppy because sometimes in non-league and even in the Prem, one long ball can cause you all sorts of problems,” added Anderson.

“I believe in the second half we were aware of that and I just felt like the subs grabbed the game and pushed us a little bit further.”

Rusthall scored a flattering third goal with 45:02 on the clock and visiting goalkeeper Nakamichi was at fault.

No one had pressed Njuguna, who cracked a right-footed drive towards goal from 35-yards in a central position and the goalkeeper allowed the ball go through his gloves and nestle into the centre of the goal.

“I’ll be honest with you, I was telling him not to shoot. I’ve seen some of them and they’ve hit the cow in the field behind the goal, so I was telling him not to shoot,” admitted Anderson.

“But I don’t think the keeper had much to do but what he did well, I felt he did really well. He looked like a young lad.

“There was a lot of movement on the ball. Jeff will say he’s hit it clean and it’s moved and it’s a great strike. Look, he’s far out. You could say the keeper’s made a mistake. Everyone looks at the keeper when it’s like that. He gets a hand to it and he parries it in but look, it puts us 3-1 up and we’re in the next round.”

If three-one was flattering, four-one was super flattering, when it arrived with 46 minutes and 26 seconds on the clock.

Sahni’s right-footed pass from central midfielder split open a high Walcountians left-back Pawel Biegajlo and Reid controlled the ball inside the penalty area on the right-hand side before drilling a low right-footed angled drive across the poor goalkeeper to find the bottom far corner with a clinical strike.

Reid’s performance was back to his usual self when he was deployed as a right-winger with Atta often being released on the overlap, which simply didn’t happen earlier on in the game when the awful Sangare was on the pitch.

“To be honest with you, I thought Josh Reid was one boy who was trying all game. I thought he was really good all game. He was finding it a bit hard. He played (three) different positions today. He started left-wing-back and then he went left-wing and then he went right-wing and right-wing you know what you’re going to get out of Josh.

“I was asking him to do something different today and we wanted to work on something on the left-wing but right-wing you know what you’re going to get and I felt like it wasn’t just Josh Reid.

“What helped when Chris and Jeff came on, I thought Dan Atta coming on at right-back and Dan was constantly over-lapping and was a threat down that side and then you had Yassin the other side and Rahman who was doing exactly the same, so we were pinning them back and they couldn’t get in our half.”

Several Rusthall players will need to look at themselves in the mirror today and your personal and collective performances were unacceptable if your name didn’t end in Bissett, Lawal, Njuguna, Fares, Sahni and Atta.

Anderson agreed, adding, “Some of the players will go home disappointed, some of them will go home full of confidence, can’t wait to go into Tuesday night’s home game against Beckenham.

“Some will be like ‘I’ve let myself down today’ and that’s the nature of the game unfortunately. Not everyone’s going to be perfect. You’re not going to get perfect performances out of everyone and that’s why you have a squad and that’s why we are a bit of a family on and off the pitch.

“So look, we’ll take a 4-1 win today. The boys will stick together; the boys will pull together. We’ve got a massive game now against Beckenham who have started the season really well under a new manager.  I know a couple of their players. I don’t know much about Beckenham, they’re going to come here and they’re going to take it to us and try and get the win and it will be down to us to try and get another result.

“We’ve got a really tough run now. We’ve got Phoenix and then we’ve got SE Dons the following Tuesday, so we will know probably, I know it’s so early, we will know what this group is potentially capable off in the next couple of games, I would think.”

Adam Griffin’s side arrive at Jockey Farm sitting in the top eight with eight points (two wins, two draws and one defeat) and were dumped out of The FA Vase by losing 2-1 at home to AFC Varndeanians at Eden Park Avenue this afternoon.

“I want to win every game so if I win every game, then it means I win everything, so I want to win every game and every manager should say they want to win every game. If we can’t win it, then we’ll try not to lose it,” said Anderson.

“My aspirations are to win every game and we’ve already lost two in the league so we’re playing catch-up, so we’ll take one game at a time, enjoy the ride, try and be consistent and stick together. That’s what it comes down to, so a long way to go.

“By the way, I thought my fans’ today, Rusthall fans were back on form, they were superb and not only did the subs change the game but they changed the game in the second half because I felt non-stop signing second half and long may that continue. I thought they were brilliant today. We need more that atmosphere again on Tuesday.”

With goalkeeper Serine Sanneh, 23, under suspension following a personal off-the-pitch matter, Anderson is looking to find a replacement goalkeeper as Fujamade performed like a temporary stand-in in between the sticks today.

“We may potentially sign someone but we may add to the group in the next couple of weeks, so we’re probably one or two short at the minute, so we’re looking for some players.  I don’t need to tell you or everyone else whoever reads this what we’re looking for but we will have a good enough squad to have a game on Tuesday.”

Rusthall: Tiwalade Fujamade, Rahman Kareem, Joshua Reid, Robbie Bissett, Louis Anderson, Ben Sangare (Daniel Atta 63), Olalekan Osideko (Rajan Sahni 73), Frank Griffin (Jeffrey Njuguna 58), Louie Clarke (Yassin Fares 63), Thompson Adeyemi (Christian Lawal 58), Jack Kirby.

Goals: Rajan Sahni 74, Yassin Fares 83 (penalty), Jeffrey Njuguna 90, Joshua Reid 90

Booked: Tiwalade Fujamade 26, Christian Lawal 69

AFC Walcountians: Jay Nakamichi, Isaac Tossio (Joshua Sargent 75), Pawel Biegajlo, Kyron Rose-Green, Thomas Jones (James King 84), Joseph Martin, Theo Huey-Walker (Ben Bauchop 64), Lucas Mingle (Joseph Wornham 89), Jacob Sewell, Charlie Moore (Simon Fraser 89), Chike Ejezie.

Goal: Charlie Moore 27 (penalty)

Booked: Theo Huey-Walker 57, Isaac Tossio 66, Joseph Martin 72

Attendance: 150
Referee: Mr Patrick Joliffe
Assistants: Mr Kirk Ritchie & Mr Nathan Jones

Match Duration:
First Half: 48:22
Second Half: 50:12