Rusthall ran out 3-1 winners over promotion hopefuls Whitstable Town on a hot, sunny afternoon on the Kent coast. Building on a superb performance in midweek which saw the Rustics safely through to the next round of the FA Cup, Rusthall were deserved victors over a Whitstable team who are much fancied this season.

It was a nervy opening 15 minutes for the away side as Whitstable grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and offered the greater threat. Jeffrey Njuguna, playing at right back this week, took a while to get to grips with the threat down his side, and Rusthall passes from the back were quickly snuffed out by the men in red. When Rusthall were able to get their foot on the ball, it was clear that Whitstable were going to struggle to contain the brilliance of Tarik Ibrahim and Jack Kirby in particular. Ben Branch was the solid foundation in the middle alongside Jack Lyons who worked incredibly hard all game. Serine Sanneh was relieved to see the ball crash against his crossbar following an in-swinging delivery, and was on hand to make an excellent block not long after that.

On 17 minutes, the game turned in Rusthall’s favour- a deft flick and clever turn from Charlie Clover took him away from his man and he drove forward. Just as the chance seemed to disappear, he slid the ball to Steadman Callender who found the overlapping Tarik Ibrahim with a perfect pass. Ibrahim’s shot was low and unerring- he wheeled away to celebrate giving the Rustics a lead which, while perhaps against the run of play, was just reward for an excellent move.

By now, Njuguna was winning the battle on his flank and Whitstable seemed to run out of ideas. Dan Blunn and Robbie Bissett enjoyed a comfortable afternoon and the impressive Mustafa Hashemi worked tirelessly from his left-back position. Steadman Callender was on the end of some resolute defending from the Whitstable backline who were nervous of his clever movement and inexplicable ability to leap so high from a rather low starting point. He was not on the end of much from the referee however, who ignored every foul against him all game. Callender will be sore tomorrow but can console himself with an assist and another impressive performance to follow up his midweek FA Cup hattrick.

Rusthall would go into the break two goals to the good thanks to Dan Blunn- he picked up the ball on the edge of his box and strode forward to see what was on. Whitstable defenders went every which way but towards the imposing number 4 so he simply marched on through the middle, exchanged a pass with the excellent Jack Kirby and then rolled the ball across the keeper to double the away side’s advantage. By this point, Rusthall were well on top and very comfortable going in for the halftime break.

Whitstable attempted to bring themselves back into the game and probably had more of the ball in the second half, but a mixture of their insistence on lumping the ball down their right-hand side for Bissett or Hashemi to sweep up, Serine Sanneh’s excellence in goal, and the way the Rusthall players followed the game plan to perfection, saw Rusthall deal comfortably with everything which came their way. Ibrahim, Kirby, Lyons, Branch and later, Kalani Barton, had to put a shift in and my goodness, they all did and then some. It was from such industry that the third goal came- Kalani Barton won the ball and kept it away from prying defenders while he waited for the run of Tarik Ibrahim whose magic feet then produced a perfect through ball for Charlie Clover who held off the defender before striking the ball high into the top corner from just inside the box. How good it is to see Charlie Clover scoring goals for Rusthall once again.

Whitstable claimed a consolation goal in added time through Josh Oliver who finished powerfully when he found himself one-on-one with Serine Sanneh. It wasn’t enough, however, to spoil a grand day out at the seaside for the travelling Rustics who were witness to a top-drawer performance from all in green and white.

Next up, a home tie in the FA Cup on Saturday against Punjab United, who won late on against Tunbridge Wells this afternoon.

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