Southern Counties East League Premier Division
Jockey Farm, Tunbridge Wells
Admission: £8.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 344
For the final day of the GroundhopUK event in the Southern Counties East League, whilst most fellow groundhoppers were looking forward to visiting new grounds, I was looking forward to visiting a couple of clubs that I am very familiar with, them having been my local clubs when I lived in the area for many years.
Once again throughout this hopping event, there was ample parking available outside the ground, and once inside, there were no major upgrades to the ground since my most recent visit in May 2021 , although quite a few tables selling merchandise of Rusthall, old programmes, as well as that from the groundhopping roadshow, were placed under the cover overhang in front of the clubhouse. Again, the home club prepared well for their big day well, with ample parking organised efficiently immediately outside of the ground, and bacon rolls for £1 were available from what was already a well stocked food outlet. There are two stands straddling the half way line closest to the entrance, with a modern metallic all-seater stand next to quite a long stand covered by corrugated sheets and wooden bench seating along the rear. The area behind the goal furthest from the clubhouse has been raised, and so now offers a decent elevated view of the action from behind the goal and stretching round to the half way along the far side, as far as some individual brick built dug outs which have been erected since my last visit. Between the two dugouts, a large "Rusthall" sign is placed on the back of a stand which provides cover for the adjacent full size football pitch. There is hard standing around the rest of the pitch, and the setting is pleasantly green and rural, with some horse stables behind one of the goals.
The league table suggested that this would be a game between two evenly matched clubs, with just a point separating them. Going into the weekend's games, Rusthall were in sixth place, following four wins and two draws from their opening ten league games, while K Sports were in ninth place, following four wins and a draw from their ten league games.
This groundhopping weekend event was certainly blessed with fine weather, with the sun shining and mild temperatures prevailing into this morning. Rusthall took the lead on 9 minutes, when the ball was crossed in low from the left Louie Clark, his team mate couldn't gain control of the ball under pressure from a defender in the centre of the box, with the ball rolling onto Louis Anderson, who then passed the it low back into a central position for Yassin Fares to guide the ball home. And the home side doubled their lead on 16 minutes when Fares clipped a lovely ball over his shoulder into the area for Louis Clarke to run onto and despite being under pressure, managed to hook the ball past the keeper. It looked like game over when they found the back of the net for the third time just a minute later, but this one was ruled out for offside. And on 26 minutes, K Sports halved the deficit when Adrian Browne sent in a cross from the left wing, and Michael Holliday tapped the ball home at the far post.
2-1 was how it remained at half time, but 3 minutes after the restart, the game was all-square when Dean Grant struck the ball powerfully at goal from a tight angle, but the ball was blocked by a defender's leg, a follow up shot by Grant was well parried by the keeper, but the ball spilled to Billy Lewens, who bundled the ball goalwards and although the keeper reached down to grab the ball, it had clearly crossed the goal line. Suddenly there was everything to play for, but Rusthall looked the more threatening, and eventually they retook the lead on 65 minutes when a free kick by Ruele Powell-Downey was arrowed towards the top left corner, the keeper did well to parry the ball onto the bar, but the keeper's luck was out as the ball dropped into the danger area for Calvin Gitiba to tap the ball home. Rusthall made sure of the three points on 85 minutes, when Tariq Ibraham's shot was blocked, but the ball spilt to team mate and subsitute Daniel Blunn struck it low across the keeper and inside the far post. That won the home side the game, as K Sports, who only had one substitute at their disposal for this game, did not threaten another comeback in the closing minutes. Rusthall rose to fifth in the table, whilst dropped down to 14th,
Video footage of the goals can be viewed by clicking here
Extended video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
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