Southern Counties East League Cup 1st Round
Community Stadium, Crowborough
Admission: £8.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 173
Having had today off from work, I took advantage of going for a long walk on Ashdown Forest and visiting family, before heading to the Crowborough Community Stadium this evening, to revisit a venue which used to be my local ground when I lived in the area before moving away, for this local derby in a cup competition.
This cup tie was originally scheduled for last Tuesday, but had to be postponed a couple of hours ahead of kick-off after a deluge of rain from Storm Barra rendered the pitch unplayable. On paper, Crowborough would have been hot favourites to progress this evening, as they are having a very decent season in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division, in seventh place, following nine wins and four draws from their 20 league games. And they came into this game in great form too, winning their last five league games, unbeaten in their last eight league games, and in their two games, against the bottom two clubs in the division, they defeated Tower Hamlets 5-0 at home and most recently Lordswood 0-6 away. Rusthall were down in 18th place in the 20 club division, following winning three and drawing two of their 18 league games, and having picked just a point from their last three league gaames, losing their last two. This game would already be the third time that the two clubs have met this season, with Crowborough winning both previous encounters 0-2 at Jockey Farm, first in the league in late August, and then in the FA Vase in mid September.
On a mild evening with intermittent misty drizzle, Crowborough certainly took the game by the scruff of the neck, playing with good intensity and a fast moving approach, and they took the lead with 6 minutes on the clock, Elliott Duncan drilling the ball low across the goal and Harry Osborne tapped the ball home. The game was then quite even, although the hosts always looked much more likely to score, and on 25 minutes, a jinking run from deep by Jacob Lambert ended with a powerful shot, which was well parried by the keeper Jack Turnbull. On 28 minutes, Crowborough's Elliott Duncan was brought down with a lunging tackle by the right edge of the penalty area, and after the referee walked over to see where the offence occurred, a penalty was awarded, which Duncan himself duly converted into the bottom left corner, despite the keeper going the right way. And on 36 minutes, the tie was as good as settled when Crowborough scored their third when, following a corner, Duncan crossed the ball and Ollie Hyland headed home. And they came close to adding a fourth in added on time, Lambert seeing his curling shot from just outside the area hit the bar and go over.
After an excellent first half performance from the hosts, perhaps inevitably they eased off somewhat in the second half, allowing Rusthall to have more of the play and create some reasonable chances to get on the score sheet. But they couldn't find a way through to get back in the game, and as the game drew towards its conclusion, they had a couple of good chances to add some gloss to the scoreline, first on 78 minutes, one of their forward players sprung the offside trap and ran clear and through for a one on one with the keeper, who blocked the eventual shot, and then as the game entered added on time, Hyland saw his shot from outside the area hit the bar. And so it was Crowborough who progressed to the second round, where they will travel to face Division One outfit Greenways. And electing to drive home through the back roads, I was surprising to be faced with a deer standing in the middle road, who calmly just wandered down the road and into a driveway.
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