Kings Hill 0 v 1 Rusthall

Saturday 15th October 2022, Kick-off 14.15
Kent Senior Trophy 1st Round
Kings Hill Sports Park Pitch One, Kings Hill

Admission by Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 243

After thoroughly enjoying the Southern Counties East League groundhop event last weekend, I made a quick return to the Maidstone area today, and my third consecutive Saturday visiting my neighbouring county of Kent, for an interesting looking cup tie which would be one of the biggest games in the home club’s history, hosting a competitive fixture against a club from Step 5, two steps above where Kings Hill play, and so offering the possibility of a real giant killing. I was additionally seduced by the promise of a printed programme, by a club who, to the best of my knowledge, do not usually issue programmes.

Deciding to revert to travelling by train today after two Saturdays of rail strikes, I chose to alight at Wateringbury station (even though East Malling, on a different line, is slightly closer) for a pleasant two mile walk across countryside and through woodland to reach the Kings Hill Sports Park, taking about half an hour. The complex consists of four full-size grass pitches and one 3G cage, with Pitch 1, where Kings Hill play their games, located closest to the entrance, with a lane skirting around the outside of the pitch leading to the main car park, located between Pitch One and the pavilion building. A "Sports Bar", which has more the feel of a coffee shop but does have Sky Sports showing on several wall-mounted screens, is located on the first floor of the pavilion, with views overlooking the surrounding complex, with a good view available of any games being played on the 3G pitch. Access to Pitch One from the Pavilion's main entrance and through the car park, and for today’s game, a small gazebo was erected at the entrance of the pitch, with admission taken in exchange for a programme at a table, and a decent range of club merchandise was also available for sale. The pitch is fully railed, with plenty of advertising boards, and permanent dugouts are in place adorned with the club's name and logo, but there are no other spectator facilities present nor hand standing. Although Kings Hill currently play outside of the National League System (at Step 7 “in old money”), the club does have ambitions to progress up to the Southern Counties East League, and although extensive works will certainly be required for that, its location would appear to be conducive and the local authorities appear to be amenable. As it stands today, it is a very neat and pleasant place to watch football at, with a low hedge lining three sides, tall trees mostly behind one end and around one corner, and a short grass bank behind the other end, the top of which there is a hedge dividing this from another football pitch. The 16 page “commemorative” programme produced for this match was excellent, professionally printed in full colour and on good quality paper, containing plenty of information about the club and today’s fixture.

The Kent Senior Trophy is mostly open to clubs in the Southern Counties East League, plus Southern Amateur League outfit West Wickham, and also the winners of the previous season's Kent Intermediate Shield, which is how Kings Hill qualified for this season's Kent Senior Trophy competition, for the first time in their 20 year history. They have had a fairly slow start to their league season though, currently in 11th place in the 16 club Kent County League Premier Division, following three wins and six defeats from their opening nine league games. Today's game would present a big but exciting challenge for them, with the visitors plying their trade two steps higher in the pyramid, in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division. And Rusthall are having a great season so far, up in fifth place in the table, following five wins and two draws from their opening 11 league games.

On a mostly cloudy, occasionally sunny afternoon, and with a mightily impressive crowd in attendance, Kings Hill made a good start and forced a good save in the second minute. And although Rusthall looked to play the more football, Kings Hill were holding their own, organised and disciplined while occasionally looking a threat going forward, but their final ball let them down. The visitors had a goal ruled out for offside on 32 minutes, but the game remained level at the break - and all credit to the home side for that.

The game followed a similar pattern in the second half, until Rusthall were awarded what looked like a fairly soft penalty for an alleged shove in the box. Tommy Lawrence converted, shooting powerfully into the top right corner, out of the keeper's reach. Kings Hill's biggest threat seemed to be long range swirling free kicks, a couple of which drifted only just wide of the far post, while Rusthall had some good chances to increase their lead, but continued to be denied by a mixture of good fortune for the home side as well as some excellent goalkeeping. And in the end, the home side couldn't force an equaliser, but they could certainly be proud of their performance on their big day, and with a little more fortune could easily have at least forced extra time. But there was still much for Kings Hill to be pleased and proud about today, not just with the team’s performance on the pitch, but also the way they successfully hosted a bumper crowd on their big day, ensuring some no doubt much needed income, kindly augmented by a generous donation by the "Rusthall Supporters Group".