Erith & Belvedere 2-0 Rusthall - It wasn't a nice chat, we dug a few boys out and we need a reaction, it's either going to be a good reaction or a bad reaction, says under-pressure Rusthall boss Jimmy Anderson

Erith & Belvedere 2 – 0 Rusthall
Location	Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY
Kickoff	16/02/2022 19:45

ERITH & BELVEDERE  2-0  RUSTHALL
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Wednesday 16 February 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Park View Road

RUSTHALL manager Jimmy Anderson says he is under pressure to maintain the clubs Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division status in their last 11 games of the season.

 

Since beating Lordswood 2-0 on Saturday 8 January in Richard Dimmock’s first game in charge, Rusthall have now lost their last seven league games and remain in the bottom three with 17 points from 27 games.

Rusthall are five points clear of Tower Hamlets, who now have a game in hand, while Dimmock has lost all four of his league games in charge (five, including the Challenge Cup) and remain at the foot of the table with nine points from 24 games.

Managerless Erith & Belvedere leapfrogged over Erith Town into fifth-place in the table with 49 points from 27 games after winning an awful game of football on a very windy Wednesday night.

Danny Murphy is still serving a suspension while fellow manager Marlon Patterson has been given compassionate leave by the club for personal matters so Luke Rooney was in the dug-out and didn’t make himself available for post-match media duties.

Kick-off was delayed until eight o’clock after the two clubs and match referee Benjamin McDonald agreed to delay the start to allow Rusthall’s Wembley-based goalkeeper Charlie Wealands to arrive after being held up in traffic.

Erith & Belvedere substitute Nathan Palmer clinically gave the home side the lead early in the second half before Wealands scored an own-goal to hand the home side the points in the first league fixture between the two clubs.

The referee pulled out three red-cards during the dying embers of the game, with Rusthall centre-half Ryan Styles being sent off, as was Erith & Belvedere centre-half Rob Curtis, who picked up a second yellow card, while Rusthall’s nine-goal striker Luke Adams was also sent-off for violent conduct in a separate incident.

“Very disappointing.  First 45 minutes I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves, probably should’ve maybe gone up two-nil up and come out and just conceded so early on after half-time and just fell apart after that,” admitted Anderson.

Erith & Belvedere made EIGHT changes to the side that threw away a 3-0 lead at Welling Town at the weekend, before having to settle for a point and as a result they put in a very disjointed and lacklustre performance, especially during the first-half which Rusthall had chances to change the outcome of the game.

Rusthall missed a glorious chance to take the lead after only 227 seconds.

Winger Armondo Luis Myro Pires Costa was in a central position and he slipped a through ball to put striker Louie Clarke in between the two centre-halves but after cutting the ball onto his left-foot his 15-yeard shot was parried by goalkeeper Ted McDonald, diving to his right.

“We were disappointed that we didn’t take the lead,” said Anderson.

“We’ve brought Louie in, he looks lively, probably should’ve scored one or two tonight and he’ll be disappointed with himself.”

Erith & Belvedere lost central midfielder Drew Allasani and on-loan from Lewes centre-half Kenneth Yao during the early stages of the game through injury.

Rusthall created their second chance halfway through the half when central midfielder Tommy Lawrence played the ball down the right wing. A sliced clearance from Yeo’s replacement, Curtis, opened the door for Costa, who tried to score with a left-footed chip from 30-yards, which sailed past the far post.

“There were other players to play in. He had Taylor Robinson alongside him and he had Louie Clark. He’s prepared to take on a shot, that’s fair enough. He’s missed and that has got to go in,” said Anderson.

Erith & Belvedere, who have used 54 players this season, offered very little in attack during a poor first half, the best that they created came in the 39^th minute when right-back Josh Leach hit a long diagonal into the box towards the far post and wideman Neil Spencer hooked his shot harmlessly past the near post while under pressure.

Anderson said: “The first-half, I can’t argue with anything but I thought we were aggressive.  We know what Danny Lear’s all about. He was with us. We signed him from Greenways and he then performed with us and he got his move to Ramsgate and he’s now ended up down here for one reason or another. He won’t be here long, that’s guaranteed. He’ll play higher. We kept him quiet and I thought we kept their wingers quiet.”

Rusthall created their final chance when Costa cut in from the right and flashed a left-footed drive past the foot of the right-hand post from a central position some 22-yards from goal but the first half was poor and the crowd of 110 hoped for much better after the interval.

“We didn’t really say too much (to them at half-time).  We just said just find that little bit extra to put those chances away.  We felt that we should’ve gone in one or two-nil up definitely,” added Anderson.

Allasani’s 22^nd minute replacement, Palmer, sparked the game into life with a clinical finish to grab Erith & Belvedere the lead with three minutes and 18 seconds into the half.

Lee Lewis’ first-time sublime pass was played in behind Rusthall’s holding midfielder Lewis Unwin and split open centre-half James White to put Palmer through on goal and as goalkeeper Wealands rushed off his line towards the edge of his box the former Holmesdale man kept composed to place his right-footed shot into the bottom right-hand corner from 16-yards.

“When you’re down at the bottom, the first goal is crucial,” said Anderson, who was alarmed in the manner how his team capitulated inside the opening eight minutes.

“Teams will probably play against us and say ‘get a goal in early because their confidence will go,’

“Rory Salter gives is away to them, they punish and your confidence is knocked. We’re down there and it’s very hard to get out.

“Nathan Palmer went a little bit deeper, he was a pivot in their midfield and got on the ball, we didn’t deal with it and we kind of went shy a little bit in the first 10 minutes of the second half.”

Clinical Erith & Belvedere doubled their lead with seven minutes and 44 seconds on the clock.

Left-back Reece Barrett played the ball down the line to winger Stefan Cox, who sent former Rusthall striker Danny Lear charging down the left.  He cut into the box and from the by-line, his shot took a slight nick off Unwin and was palmed into his own goal by Wealands, giving his side a mountain to climb.

“It came off Lewis Unwin and after we conceded the first, we kind of fell apart.  They were running a bit riot and we didn’t have anyone who grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and took control of the game and it’s just really disappointing,” admitted Anderson.

“The dominance or the actual stamp that we put in the first half and then came out in the second half and just let it all fell apart was really disappointing.”

Rusthall responded in a positive fashion, however, and missed a glorious chance to pull a goal back five minutes later.

Adams threaded the ball in behind the Erith & Belvedere defence to put Clarke through on goal and as keeper McDonald came off his line, he rolled his left-footed shot past him and also past the foot of the right-hand post from 15-yards.

Anderson said: “He should score.  We brought him in (from Corinthian) for those reasons.  Like I said, he’ll be disappointed. We thought he could’ve got one or two tonight but he didn’t and we move on.”

A throw-in from Rusthall’s right-back Louis Anderson was met by Clarke with a shot on the turn from just outside the corner of the box, which stung McDonald’s fingers at the near post as Rusthall looked the side capable of scoring the next goal.

Rusthall kept plugging away, however, and were to be denied by a smart near-post save from McDonald in the 66^th minute.

Curtis was booked for a challenge on Taylor Robinson down the left and Styles’ right-footed free-kick from 30-yards dipped towards the bottom near corner, only for McDonald to dive low to his right to push the ball behind for the away side’s second corner of the game.

“He made the keeper work, that’s all you can ask,” added the Rusthall manager.

Erith & Belvedere almost scored a flattering third inside the final nine minutes when a long ball out of defence caught the Rusthall defence cold and played in diminutive reserve team striker Tommy Brown, but Wealands parried the shot to his left when faced with a one-v-one situation.

“I’m not being disrespectful, they’re a great side but it felt like they had two chances and took those two chances. We had about seven or eight and didn’t take one and that is why we lost the game so that’s why it’s disappointing,” said Anderson.

“Fair play to them, they had two chances and been clinical enough to put them in the back of the net and that’s why they are where they are in the league and that’s why we are where we are.”

The three match officials huddled together and then came the three red-cards.  The flashpoint between Styles and Curtis happened in midfield while Adams lost his head close to the by-line down the left-hand side of the pitch and after being sent off jumped over the perimeter fencing behind the goal to make his way towards the tunnel.

Nothing of note happened during the six minutes and 43 seconds of stoppage time as an awful game came to an end.

Anderson claimed: “The Ryan Styles one, in fairness to him their number seven (Harry Maher) has held onto the ball. The seven’s been pushed over, who I’m lead to believe Lewis Unwin at the time, then there’s obviously been a coming together and Lennie (Styles) told us that their defender (Curtis) has grabbed him by the throat so he’s pushed his hand away from him. The referee has given a red-card because they thought Lennie punched him in the face.

“We’ll look at it on the video and if it shows that Lennie deserves to be sent-off then fair play but if it doesn’t then it’s just another one of them.

“In fairness you’re asking about both red-cards, either of them doesn’t make any particular difference to the scoreline, we were 2-0 down at the time. We let ourselves down before that.”

Rusthall’s task of survival doesn’t come any easier as Anderson takes his side to leaders Chatham Town on Saturday, before hosting third-placed Glebe at Jockey Farm Stadium the following weekend.

Thirty points is the magical target for clubs to maintain their league status in this division – and Anderson revealed that he is keeping faith with his current crop of players to achieve that goal.

“We’ve got another game on Saturday, what couldn’t have been any harder. We need to perform a lot better than what we did tonight. It’s going to be hard, they’re title favourites,” said Anderson.

“They ain’t won it, like we ain’t relegated so there’s loads to play for and let’s hope we can go there and do a job.

“We have to turn up, we have to look at the squad and we’ve got to pick a team that’s going to turn up and fight against a very good Chatham side.”

Anderson locked his troops inside the dressing room after the game and demands a reaction from them against the big-spenders and three points clear of Sheppey United, who have a game in hand.

“I’m sure you can imagine it wasn’t a nice chat. We dug a few boys out, it had to be done. Every team does it,” revealed the manager.

“We need a reaction. It’s either going to be a good reaction or a bad reaction but ultimately it could be a good reaction and we could still go down to Chatham and get beat, they’re that good.

“We’re asking the question but will we get the answers on Saturday? I don’t know.

“We’ve got to play Chatham twice, we’ve got to play Erith & Belvedere again, we’ve got to play Glebe, we’ve got to play Sheppey still but make no mistake, no game is easy. Even if we were playing Lordswood on Saturday, it won’t be an easy game.

“You’ve got to make your own luck as well.  You need a little bit of luck. We haven’t had much luck this season and that’s not me feeling sorry for myself, that’s part and parcel of football.

“There’s always pressure, there’s pressure on everything. We just have to embrace the pressure and hope we get a result.

“It (keeping Rusthall in the Premier Division) has to happen. We can’t go down, so it has to happen one way or another, we will manage to do that.”

Having lost Jack Smith to a controversial red-card during their 1-0 home defeat to Erith Town at the weekend, and with Styles and Adams to serve bans too, Anderson will live or die by his decisions on team selection during the vital run-in.

“Hopefully these boys, they’re here, they’re with me for a reason, for one reason or another. They’re here and I believe in them. They just need to start believing in themselves and just working a lot harder as a collective group.

“The disappointing thing is the last three games prior to today we lost by the odd goal, today is just extremely disappointing. You can’t be so on top in a game and just let it slip.

“I can bring new players in, that’s the thing, that’s the difficulty. You bring new players in and then they have to gel.  It’s a toss up, do you keep faith with the current group? A lot of these boys we brought in this season, so it’s too early to talk about bringing players in at the moment.  We’ve got another game in three days’ time, a real test.”

Erith & Belvedere: Ted McDonald, Josh Leach, Reece Barrett, Harry Maher, Calum McGeehan, Kenneth Yao (Rob Curtis 22), Neil Spencer (Tommy Brown 73), Lee Lewis, Danny Lear, Drew Allasani (Nathan Palmer 22), Stefan Cox.
Subs: Daniel Peppell, Luke Rooney

Goals: Nathan Palmer 49, Charlie Wealands 53 (own goal)

Booked: Rob Curtis 65, Tommy Brown 79

Sent Off: Rob Curtis 89

Rusthall: Charlie Wealands, Louis Anderson, Rory Salter (Charlie Clover 75), Lewis Unwin, Ryan Styles, James White, Taylor Robinson (Josh Biddlecombe 71), Tommy Lawrence (Joe Newman 55), Luke Adams, Louie Clarke, Armondo Luis Myro Pires Costa.
Subs: Stephen Harper, Jake Hampson

Booked: Joe Newman 80

Sent Off: Ryan Styles 87, Luke Adams 90

Attendance: 110
Referee: Mr Benjamin McDonald
Assistants: Mr Daniel Payton & Mr Samuel Hall