Stansfeld 1-2 Rusthall - I'm sure my chairman would've liked me to win a little bit more comfortably and not have the nerves at the end of the game, says Rusthall boss Jimmy Anderson

Stansfeld 1 – 2 Rusthall
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	24/08/2025 13:00

STANSFELD  1-2  RUSTHALL
The Isuzu FA Vase First Qualifying Round
Sunday 24 August 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

RUSTHALL manager Jimmy Anderson says their FA Vase win over Stansfeld was too open after 34 goalscoring chances were created during a breathless tie between the two attack-minded league rivals.

Anderson was on holiday and missed THAT 6-6 Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division classic between the two sides here last October but both sides played out a similar game of basketball during this First Qualifying Round tie in Eltham today.

Stansfeld goalkeeper Cemal Osman made nine saves during the game, and Gambian born Rusthall goalkeeper Serine Sanneh, 22, also made nine saves to entertain the sun-kissed crowd of 128 inside Middle Park Avenue.

Stansfeld – eleventh-place in the table, having picked up three points from as many games – should have gone into the break with the lead against a Rusthall side in the bottom four with two draws from their opening two league outings.

But Rustics’ grabbed the lead – following the game’s 20^th chance – in the 62^nd minute through central midfielder Jack Kirby’s third goal of the season, following a three-man corner routine.

However, Stansfeld deservedly restored parity with the next chance, following a defensive mix-up, emphatically finished off from Stansfeld’s central midfielder Adam Wallis, scoring his second goal of the season.

Rusthall booked their place in the Second Qualifying Round and a home tie against Sussex outfit Seaford Town on Saturday 20 September, courtesy of a clinical strike from striker Charlie Clover, notching his third goal of the season, on the counter-attack, as chance number 22 was taken.

Stansfeld can expect a fine from The Football Association as referee David Lofgren handed out five yellows and a red, with striker Christopher Alhassan picking up a second yellow card for dissent deep into stoppage time.  Rusthall, meanwhile, received four yellow cards.

“It’s a great win. It’s our first win of the season, so it’s an important win and you hopefully can kick on from it,” said Anderson during the post-match press conference.

“It was a pretty open game. Maybe both teams look at the pitch, the pitch is by the way fine but the slope plays advantage but saying that we scored both of our goals playing up the slope.

“Even though it felt Serine (Sanneh) pulls off some great saves towards the end, I feel like we had enough chances to kill the game off.”

Stansfeld manager Billy Shinners, who lost midfielder Robert Hughes to a hamstring injury towards the end of the first half, added: “I think you said it, crazy. I think we were the better team but unfortunately football is all about results and we’ve lost, so I’m disappointed about that.

“I’ve got to be honest, both of us just like to think we’re playing football the right way. We’re both attacking and trying to win the game. Credit to them for trying to win the game and credit to us because we kept going, trying to win the game.  Every sub we made it was to go on and win the game.  No one wants penalties.

“I think they’re both young teams and are quite similar set-ups.  We’re both young teams, young managers and our game is about high energy, high press and creating attacking football, so I came on the wrong end of it today. I repeat, it is a results business and we’ve lost and I’m very disappointed about that but again you could argue it was good attacking football and maybe quite enjoyable to watch but results game and we lost.”

The tone was set after only 34 seconds when Stansfeld were denied the opening goal, thanks to a flying save from Sanneh.

Left-back Harrison English split open Rusthall centre-half Daniel Blunn with a sublime through ball along the deck to put in winger Jack Calvert, whose left-footed rasping drive while unmarked forced the keeper to dive to his right and beat the ball away with both of his hands.

“We’ve had a few chances so I may not remember all of them,” admitted Shinners.

“The keeper has made quite a few good saves today. I just said to the boys there’s positives from the chances we’ve created.”

Anderson added: “It was an open game, set the tone. Serine’s made a save and we’ve attacked after that.”

Both sides played at a high-tempo pace and kept the ball on the deck and Rusthall’s first opening arrived with four minutes and 22 seconds on the clock.

Right-back Kareem Rahman intercepted a pass on the half-way line before releasing winger Jaevon Dyer down the right and he stabbed the ball on the outside of English before drilling his low right-footed angled drive across he keeper and flashing harmlessly wide of the far post while in the penalty box.

Rusthall right-back Rahman and Stansfeld left-back English were the weak links in defence as most first half raids came down their sides of the pitch and both manager’s were asked about that.

Shinners said: “I always say to the boys, we just need our 11 players, you need six or seven of you on it and we were more on it on that side of the pitch today.

“I didn’t think anyone played particularly bad, it just seemed we gravitated to that side and we played better and we had more chances down that side.”

Anderson added: “It might’ve been their game plan with Harvey Mead. I don’t know but I’m backing Jeavon (Dyer) and Josh Reid to beat their men most games.”

Calvert slipped a 20-yard diagonal on the floor to split open Rahman to feed Harvey Mead and the winger found Alhassan inside the box but too many touches ensured his right-footed shot was comfortably held by Sanneh, low to his left, beside the right upright in the 16^th minute.

Stansfeld kept knocking on the door and the sixth chance of the game arrived in the 20^th minute.

Centre-half Teddy Green launched a long ball out of defence and released Alhassan on the corner of the penalty area.  A mix-up involving Rusthall centre-back Blunn and Sanneh saw Alhassan sweep a first-time left-footed shot over the advancing goalkeeper, the ball dropping agonisingly past the far post.

The ninth chance fell Rusthall’s way in the 28^th minute when Kirby clipped a long ball from within the centre circle to release impressive right-winger Dyer, who cut inside English but he lacked composure inside the box and his left-footed shot rolled into the gloves of an untroubled Osman at his near-post.

Osman dropped down to his knees to comfortably save Kirby’s right-footed free-kick from 28-yards on the half-hour mark, as the crowd witnessed the game’s 11^th goalscoring chance.

Stansfeld should have broken the stalemate with the game’s next chance in the 34^th minute.

Green’s left-footed dink out of defence saw a poor touch from poor Rahman at right-back and this let in Mead down the left.  He ran at the Rusthall defence before reversing the ball to Wallis, who skipped past the onrushing Sanneh.

The angle was just too tight for the midfielder, who held his nerve and cut the ball back to Mead, who went to pieces, lashing his first-time left-footed drive high over the crossbar from eight-yards.

“Another chance, good build-up play again. On another day they go in and it’s a different game, especially getting a goal in that first half, going uphill, it could’ve been a different game,” admitted Shinners, who has some good attacking players in the final third behind central striker Alhassan.

Anderson added: “Louie (Anderson) got a toe to it. To be fair in the first half they broke through the middle really well on two occasions and in all honesty they probably should’ve scored. They’ll be disappointed with that.”

Anderson played his brother Louis Anderson at centre-back today and he received the ball from Sanneh’s pass before travelling across the halfway line down the middle before splitting English with a sublime floor pass.

Dyer cut into the box down the right and cut the ball back for Jack Low, who swept a first-time right-footed drive towards the roof of the net, which was pushed over the bar by Osman two handed in the 38^th minute.

When asked about his brother’s role, the Rusthall manager explained, “Lou can play centre-back, that’s where he used to play and he played there against Hythe and got man-of-the-match and I thought he did alright today.

“Rob Bissett is missing today – he’s just away this weekend and Thompsom Adeyemi’s missing today due to an injury, so we’re missing those two.  It’s not long-term, he’s fine and he should be back really soon, probably be back on Saturday.

“Lou played centre-half and he drives out of defence really well.”

Sanneh pulled off a world-class save to frustrate Stansfeld just before half-time with the 13^th chance of the game.

Calvert delivered a free-kick from within the right-channel into a crowd of players at the near-post and Mead’s first-time shot was destined to nestle inside the bottom right-hand corner – but Sanneh showed why he was on West Ham United’s books earlier in his career – diving low to his left to pull off a brilliant reaction save.

“As a manager, you want to go into games and you want to try to win the games so creating chances, on another day a little bit like Punjab in the second half, every time we shot, it kinda went in and today, it was opposite. It just weren’t going in,” said Shinners.

Somehow, it remained goal-less at half-time!  Not all 34 chances are noted within this match report, however.

Shinners said: “It was a good, typical cup game really, both two young teams both going out there to win the game.

“Maybe from our flaws I should be a bit more solid but I suppose I was a forward myself. I want to see goals, so I do tell the boys it’s all about winning and scoring goals, so unfortunately it hasn’t worked today.

“Like I keep saying, we can score three or four or five goals and we would’ve won.

“I obviously looked at the positives. I said we were playing well. I felt like we were the better team in the first half. We did have some chances and we just needed someone to have that ruthlessness or even how we actually got our goal, just that little bit of luck and then we can really crack on.

“Unfortunately, they got their goal first and we want to one-all and we didn’t really kick on.  We didn’t have that luck or that ruthlessness after that goal.”

Anderson said: “I said at half-time, my actual words was ‘that was,’ to put it nicely on this, ‘that was a load of rubbish, I thought’.

“It was just too open for me. I don’t think we controlled the game enough. I felt like when teams have their moments in games and when we had our moment, we didn’t take the lead.  They would’ve felt the same. They had moments and in that moment, you have to take the lead, otherwise the game becomes long and then you’re relying on goalkeepers and your defenders to defend at the end.

“This game could’ve been six-all again. There were so many chances. I don’t think it was purely because of poor defending or anything like that. I think it’s just you’ve got two teams that have gone at it and try to give us all they can.”

Anderson added: “We needed a reaction. We needed a response. I just felt like we were just going through the motions a little bit at the start of the season but we got there in the end.”

Stansfeld were kicking down the slope during the second half and chance number 16 arrived inside the opening nine minutes.

Louis Anderson played the ball into Griffin on the deck but the ball was won by a hungry Alhassan in midfield before he released Calvert down the right but after cutting inside his left-footed weak shot rolled into Sanneh’s gloves for a comfortable save.

Osman made a comfortable save in the 56^th minute after Dyer cut inside Stansfeld’s holding midfielder Ollie Andrews before drilling a rasping right-footed drive from 35-yards, which flew straight down the keeper’s throat, comfortably using two hands to push the ball over his crossbar whilst in the middle of his goal.

“Jeavon was good today, he needs a goal, same as Josh Reid and Ayodeji (Owoeye).  The wingers need goals just for confidence, just to get off the mark.  Their three new boys to the club. We’ve brought them in to obviously to replace boys who done really well for the club, so we move on,” added Anderson, who likes to play with wingers.

“All these three boys and the boys that left, they all have the right attitude. They all want to learn. They’re all aggressive and they all want to beat their men.

“They all want to try to get to the next levels, not necessarily Step Four but higher up the pyramid and I want to help them in that way.

“They all need an arm around them, none of them like to be shouted at. Every single winger I’ve had, you might think they like that but they don’t. They just go in a shell.  They all want to be encouraged when it doesn’t work out. They didn’t score today but they still came off and I feel like they’ve done their job really well.”

Shinners added: “A good save, yes, you expect your keeper to save them but I said to Joe Minter (my assistant), we’re very happy. We’ve got enough confidence in our goalkeeper and he shown that today.”

Kirby’s flicked pass released Rusthall winger Joshua Reid, who cut into the box but he steered his left-footed angled shot just past the foot of the near post from 12-yards, as Stansfeld centre-half Jamie Thuillier slid in.

Rusthall took the lead, with 16 minutes and 31 seconds on the clock, as chance number 20 was finally taken following the away side’s third of five corners.

Reid delivered a deep over-hit corner from the right, the ball was retrieved by Griffin within the other channel and he cut the ball back to Kirby, who cut into the box, weaving his way past three men before placing a right-footed shot from 12-yards underneath the goalkeeper (who dived to his left) to slot low into the centre of the goal.

“Jack Kirby’s started the season off really well. He’s a great player for us to be fair,” said Anderson.

“I think he’s really enjoying his football, that’s probably the second goal he’s scored where he’s driven into the box and he’s just passed it into the net, so a great goal for him.”

Shinners admitted: “The game needed a goal and it came.  Personally, I thought we’ve had more chances, played the better football but essentially you concede by the way they’ve scored and we’ve scored minutes later, so the game needed a goal.”

While Sanneh pulled off a string of saves, the reason he’s still playing in the ninth-tier of English football is because he has a mistake or two in him a game.  Managers at a higher level cannot afford their goalkeeper to cost him points as chances don’t come so often the higher up the food chain you go.

“He was good but then obviously he lets himself down with the lack of communication. He’s unbelievable. Like a lot of the players I have can be very good this season,” said Anderson.

“We haven’t seen the best of Josh Reid or Jaevon Dyer yet, even though he showed glimpses today.”

An example of this sloppy goalkeeping came when Stansfeld were gifted their deserved equaliser with 18 minutes and 49 seconds on the clock.

Low played a back pass back to Sanneh, who inexplicably smashed his clearance against Griffin, the ball rolled kindly for an unmarked Wallis, who clinically rifled his left-footed drive into the roof of an empty net from inside the box.

Shinners admitted: “Even our goal was a bit of luck really. I think the keeper’s come out and made a bit of a mistake and we rebounded in.  We’ve created chances today, which is a positive and another day they’ll go in but today they haven’t.

“Sometimes you’re not going to score the perfect goal.  Every single time, you’ve got to create your own luck and I think Adam’s done that. I’m not going to comment on their keeper but essentially Adam’s created that goal, doing needless running and he’s got a goal out of nothing. A bit of luck and I thought we could kick on then.”

Anderson added: “Madness really because we were trying to manage the game. We wanted to bring them out to press us and we were doing that and then Jack Low’s passed it back to Serine. 

“Serine needs to just tell Grif to head it home, there’s a lack of communication. Serine then kicks it out, hits Grif and falls to their man and he pops it into the goal, so it’s just carnage but it happens.

“You’ve worked so hard to get the breakthrough in the game and then you’re back level and it’s just annoying.  I felt like we had more goals in us anyway.

“Their equaliser is a pure mistake and no communication and we’ve allowed them back into the game.  Whereas on another day I feel like we could probably won comfortably after we scored the first goal.”

Anderson brought on Tommy Lawrence to sit beside Griffin and just 54 seconds after coming on, he was part of a three-man move that won Rusthall this crazy game, with 22 minutes and 16 seconds on the clock.

Lawrence’s right-footed pass released Dyer – who beat the offside trap down the right – before cutting in and putting it on a plate for Clover in the middle, tapping in a first-time right-footed shot to the keeper’s left from the edge of the six-yard box.

Anderson said: “Tom’s got that about him.  He missed the last game and I felt like we needed someone in there to sit next to Griffin and try to dictate how we play – it worked!”

Shinners added: “I think we were probably a bit too high. I don’t think there were many complaints about the offside, if I’m being honest.

“It’s a very, very hot game and I don’t want to make excuses, our back four potentially switched off a bit there and allowed us to be so high to make it quite easily for them to run through.”

Alhassan got away with a second yellow when he blocked Sanneh’s clearance from outside his penalty area with his hand (24:46) but he was sent off in the sixth minute of stoppage time for dissent.

Both manager’s were asked about the number of cards handed out by referee David Lofgren, who got an earful of Rusthall frustration both in the technical area and on the terraces - although the players' on the pitch made more mistakes than the officials, hence the 34 goalscoring chances.

Shinners said: “I’m going to be careful what I say here but I think there was a lot of influence around the whole pitch because anyone who was watching that game of football would never ever say there was five yellow cards and a red card, in my opinion.

“I think there’s too many people screaming, shouting and the ref not having enough character to kind of let the game flow. I want to be careful what I say but it’s not how I want football to be played.”

Anderson said: “In all honesty, I don’t think there was a bad challenge in the game. I feel like their boy didn’t need to push Josh Reid over the railing to receive his yellow card but I don’t think that’s a red card anyway.

“But I felt like because the referee and officials were so poor, that it was kind of one of them whoever shouted the most would get the other player booked or whatever.  They kept on saying ‘how many, how many?’ so then we started joining in and it became one of them games, so yes, it is what it is.”

Rusthall were in control of the game after the three goals and Dyer played in substitute striker Louie Clarke, whose left-footed angled drive from 12-yards was pushed away by Osman, diving to his left in the 80^th minute.

“Louie Clarke probably could’ve had three on another day,” admitted Anderson, who revealed some bad news for his striker.

“Louie Clarke has done himself in again, out with a knee injury.  I don’t know the extent of that, so we’ll have to see.”

When asked who will his first-choice central striker (Clover or Clarke), Anderson replied: “Sometimes I change formation quite a lot. Both of them, both of them, they’re both as important as each other, they know that and it’s a squad game. It’s not a team game.

“We’ve played four games now and we’ve played three different formations and we change it up during the game today.  You have to adapt.  You ask why does my brother play centre-back today? Because he can offer us and drive us out from the back. It’s the way that I want to play.”

Shinners added: “Cemal did make a few good saves and that was one of them, so fair play to him.”

With both Andrews and Green walking on a tightrope of being on yellow cards, Shinners hooked both and changed formation and went to three men at the back and then threw the kitchen sink at Rusthall.

Thullier hit a long ball over the top and substitute winger Marcus Fanson fed fellow sub Samuel Plant and his right-footed drive was pushed over the bar by the right hand of a diving Sanneh to prevent the ball hitting the roof of the net.

“Serine had made three or four good saves in the end that wins us the game and rightly so,” said Anderson.

“We brought it up in the huddle after but you laugh and joke about it now but on another day that costs you and it’s not acceptable – we need to build off that.

“I don’t do 1-0 wins, unfortunately. I wish I could but I don’t, so the way I want to play, it’s always going to be an open game. I think everyone knows that. Everyone knows how Rusthall’s going to play, so cool, let’s have a go at it.

Weak link Rahman gave the ball away with a sloppy clearance and Stansfeld sub Billy Marsh drove forward before releasing Fanson in behind Rusthall left-back Jesse Hammond but he lacked composure inside the box, dragging his right-footed angled drive across the keeper and harmlessly wide of the goal.

Osman made his ninth save of the game in the 89^th minute when Lawrence’s right-footed dinked pass released substitute left-winger Ayodeji Owoeye down the left and his left-footed shot from a tight angle was somehow kept out by Osman’s strong hand, the ball flashing across the goalline before rolling behind the other post for a corner.

Stansfeld continued to go for it during stoppage time and had chances to take the game to a penalty shoot-out.  This was a game that no team deserved to lose because they both put so much in to it.

Marsh played a deck pass to Fanson, who cut in and stroked his low drive towards the bottom near corner, only for Sanneh to get down low to his left to hold beside the foot of the post (46:43).

Wallis cracked a right-footed drive which was beaten away by the Rusthall goalkeeper, who made his ninth save with the last kick of the game (52:46), as Stansfeld’s 10 men had one last chance.

Hammond brought down Wallis on the edge of the penalty area and Sanneh lined up a four-man wall for Wallis’ right-footed free-kick from 25-yards, but the Rusthall goalkeeper dived to his right to beat chance number 34 away.

“We just kept going, we kept going, never gave in,” said Shinners.

“I’ve just said to the boys in there like, in certain times it was a bit like Punjab where you kept going and kept going and kept going and you win and it’s brilliant but everyone’s very disappointed but I did say to them we kept going and had a real togetherness and we could’ve nicked something really.

“We’re a young side and we do have to compete with certain things out of our control. I keep saying it, every year it gets better and better and better and I feel that’s no different.

“It’s a results business and essentially we’ve played four games now and we’ve lost three out of the four but every single game the performances have been great and we are a good young side and building a good togetherness.

“I’m very, very disappointed but I think everyone here, including yourself, can see how well we played, how many chances we created. 

“It’s The FA Vase, money involved (Rusthall pick up £550, Stansfeld £160), a cup and a very difficult one but a cup you can potentially get quite far in but unfortunately we haven’t done that today.”

Anderson added: “The win and what pleased me, the win and obviously what didn’t please me was the goal we conceded and we didn’t kill the game off quicker but a win’s a win. We move on and we’re in the next round and we go again on Saturday in the League.

"I'm sure my chairman would've liked me to win a litlte bit more comfortably and not have the nerves at the end of the game - but it is what it is."

“We have Seaford at home (in the next round) – tough game but we’re at home, so let’s give it a go. I don’t really know much about them. We’ll try to get some information on them,” added Anderson, after Seaford Town won 2-1 at Lingfield yesterday.

Neither side are in Bank Holiday League action tomorrow but Shinners takes his side to Bromley to take on Holmesdale on Saturday 30 August.

“Generally, the League is our focus and it will always be our focus and there’s a lot of positives to build on from today,” said the former Stansfeld talisman striker.

“We’ll go there with the right attitude. My mindset is we’ll going to go there to win the game.  I think we’ve got enough to go there and win the game. We just need to work on a couple of bits and bobs, especially in the final third.  You need a bit of luck and essentially me being a forward, I know you create your own luck so that’s something that we’ll work on in training this week.

“My players are very disappointed but I think they also know on another day we would’ve won today, so I think they’ll dust themselves off and go again next week.”

Sixth-placed finishers Rusthall, meanwhile, welcome Erith & Belvedere to Jockey Farm Stadium in their next outing.

“Really tough, really tough. They obviously beat Hythe. We drew with Hythe but I felt like we probably could’ve won on the day,” said Anderson.

“Hythe are a good team and I’ve seen the players Erith & Belvedere have signed. I know what they’re about. We’ve got them on Saturday and then we host Snodland on the Tuesday (2 September), so games come thick and fast because we’re playing catch up now because other teams are playing twice this weekend (FA Vase and League).”

When asked about his aspirations for the season, Anderson who doesn’t sit in midtable, replied: “Let’s try to win a League game first and we’ll go from there. It’s too early to say. We’ve played two league games, we’re unbeaten but that might change on Saturday.  Hopefully we can get a win and then we’ve got to take game-by-game.

“Everyone’s beating everyone. No one in the league has got a 100 per cent record.

“Not because Sutton are a poor side, Sutton’s result yesterday will probably shock a lot of people that Whitstable have gone there and got beat 4-1. Whitstable are the favourites with the squad they’ve built.  They have every right to have that title to be favourites but it’s whoever turns up on the day, that’s the thing.

“Who knows, who knows, we’ll have to wait and see. It’s a long old season. I’m sure I’m going to speak to you before the end of the season, so who knows. I’m not going to give nothing away.

“The main aim is that we want to try to do better than what we did last season, so read what you want into that.”

Stansfeld: Cemal Osman, Muhammad Buhari, Harrison English, Ollie Andrews (Jimmy Shepherd 77), Jamie Thuillier, Teddy Green (Samuel Plant 77), Jack Calvert (Marcus Fanson 76), Adam Wallis, Christopher Alhassan, Robert Hughes (Billy Marsh 41), Harvey Mead.
Sub: Kai Jeffrey

Goal: Adam Wallis 64

Booked: Ollie Andrews 45, Christopher Alhassan 56, Jamie Thuillier 72, Teddy Green 77, Marcus Fanson 90

Sent Off: Christopher Alhassan 90

Rusthall: Serine Sanneh, Kareem Rahman, Jesse Hammond, Frank Griffin, Daniel Blunn, Louis Anderson, Joshua Reid (Ayodeji Owoeye 73), Jack Kirby, Charlie Clover (Louie Clarke 73), Jack Low (Tommy Lawrence 67), Jaevon Dyer (Oscar Opolot-Oguli 85).
Sub: Steadman Callender

Goals: Jack Kirby 62, Charlie Clover 68

Booked: Joshua Reid 66, Louis Anderson 84, Tommy Lawrence 90, Ayodeji Owoeye 90

Attendance: 128
Referee: Mr David Lofgren
Assistants: Mr Cesar Juvencio Bisoko Sibita & Mr Damian Jaskiewicz