Jimmy Anderson led Rusthall to an impressive 4-2 victory in his 300th game to take his side through to the 3rd Round of The FA Vase. Ahead of the game, Haywards Heath’s lofty position in the SCFL Premier Division gave slight cause for concern, but Jimmy Anderson’s players were clearly in the mood to ensure this would be a day for the manager to enjoy with a dominant display which perhaps indicated the gulf in quality between two geographically close Step 5 leagues.

With Rahman Kareem suspended after a red card last week, Jeffrey Njuguna filled in at right back with Frank Griffin in midfield alongside Thompson Adeyemi and Christian Lawal. Charlie Clover was cup tied once again meaning Lekan Osideko played up front and would go on to have a hand in all four goals in a Man-of-the-Match performance to which the Haywards Heath backline had no answer. Yassin Fares and Josh Reid took up the wings and it was clear from the off that the Haywards Heath players don’t often come up against players of such ability- both were dangerous every time they got on the ball and come the latter part of the game, the monotonous chants of ‘yellow, yellow’ from the away fans could easily have been for the cards shown to their desperate defenders who had given up trying to stop Rusthall’s biggest threats in legal fashion.

Despite the dominance from Rusthall in the first half, it was actually the away side who had the first presentable chance- a corner delivered from the right was met with a free header for top-scorer Lukas Franzen-Jones but he could only steer his header wide of the post. Louis Anderson asked the fans for more noise and they responded brilliantly, immediately drowning out the handful of vocal Haywards Heath fans. The support from the halfway line had an instant impact as Rusthall took the lead with just 12 minutes on the clock. With combined tenacity from Lawal and Njuguna the ball was won and shifted out to Frank Griffin on the right-hand side- he played a clever pass forward to Osideko who flicked the ball into the path of Thompson Adeyemi who found himself bearing down on goal. With Yassin Fares up alongside him, the smart money may have been on a cross to the Italian magician, but Adeyemi only had eyes for goal, his low, powerful effort was past Nathan Stroomberg-Clarke in goal before he knew it and burst through the back of the net for good measure.

Griffin would repeat his good work for the second goal which followed shortly after the first. With Haywards Heath rocking and having lost Sam Remfry to injury, Rusthall were looking to turn the screw and when Griffin played another superb pass through for Josh Reid to latch on to, he was able to look up and find the perfectly-positioned Lekan Osideko who tucked in a simple finish at the back post. Rusthall were well on top, Claudio Boakye in goal a virtual spectator and he would have enjoyed the quality on show in front of him.
Within the half hour, Rusthall were 3-0 ahead. Pinned back by relentless work from Fares and Ronnie McClean on the left, Haywards Heath were forced into a mistake with the ball being played infield to a player under pressure from Thompson Adeyemi. In the face of such pressure, there was only one winner and the ball was won for Lekan Osideko to pounce- a few touches out of his feet and then a low, driven shot followed which beat the keeper low down to his right.

Haywards Heath attempted to get back into the game but appeared to have little idea how to break down a well-organised Rusthall side. When half chances did materialise, they did not make the most of them and in fact, it could have been worse as Yassin Fares missed a good chance to make it 4-0 when he elected to attempt a scooped lob over the advancing keeper when through on goal which to be fair, the keeper saved well. Yassin Fares has more than enough credit in the bank to be forgiven such missed opportunities however, and at the break, 3-0 seemed a fair reflection of a half in which Rusthall outplayed their opponents entirely.

Haywards Heath were sent out early for the second half and they responded to what must have been an interesting half time talk. Having shown much more quality in the first seven minutes of the second half, the away side pulled a goal back and what a goal it was- a cross came in from the left towards the penalty spot where Ryan Warwick was waiting to dispatch a spectacular volley which flew beyond the reach of Boakye in goal. Not long after, it was 3-2 and while Haywards Heath’s first goal was of the highest quality, their second was not. A stumbling run from a Heath attacker led to the ball being played through to a player in a clear offside position- this was ignored and he was able to get a shot away which Claudio Boakye was able to parry. He also saved the follow up but the next one he was unable to get to, meaning Haywards Heath were back in the game with over half an hour to play.

Despite a few nervy moments, including one chance which would have been taken were it not for an excellent save from Claudio Boakye, Rusthall were able to contain any further pressure from Haywards Heath and on 82 minutes, the game was put to bed by Rajan Sahni who had earlier replaced the excellent Thompson Adeyemi. The move was begun by Louis Anderson, once again fantastic alongside Robbie Bissett who was able to excel despite being injured in the first half. Anderson’s ball out from defence was controlled expertly by Josh Reid who waited for the overlapping run of Christian Lawal down the right. Lawal looked up and played the ball past the two defenders who had both decided to try and stop him, and the ball ended up at the feet of the lethal Osideko. This time, he showed his poise and sense to lay the ball into the path of Sahni, who stroked home a finish which left Stroomberg-Clarke rooted to spot. Haywards Heath rather gave up at this point, both on and off the pitch, with the away fans singing about how they would rather win the league than the FA Vase. Whether they manage to win their league remains to be seen, but there was only one team in the hat for the 3rd round at the end of this one and Rusthall were thoroughly deserved winners on a special day for the club.

Jimmy Anderson will have enjoyed his 300th game in charge but will no doubt already be looking forward to the next one on Tuesday evening, a trip back to his former club, Corinthian, where the Rustics will begin the defence of their SCEFL Challenge Cup crown.

Simon Howe

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