16 February 2022

 

Erith and Belvedere          2          Palmer 49, Wealands og 53

Rusthall                                0

 

NEW BOYS SHINE AS THE WIND WINS

 

WRITTEN BY MARK DOIG
 

Two goals early in the second half settled the game in Erith and Belvedere’s favour as they defeated Rusthall.  It was the first time that the two clubs had ever met in a league game and the two teams contested a close encounter despite the league standings. 

 

The Deres had something of a personnel crisis with several players injured or unavailable, so fielded four debutants: goalkeeper Ted McDonald signed from Holmesdale, Josh Leach from Gillingham, Kenneth Yao from Lewes and Harry Maher from Ramsgate.  All of them put in a good shift, although Yao was injured midway through the first half, when Deres had to make two injury substitutions.  McDonald in particular impressed on a debut in the teeth of the southern end of Storm Dudley, with rain and a strong wind making things difficult.

 

There were few chances in the first half in which the visitors enjoyed more of the possession. Louie Clarke hit an early shot that McDonald beat out in his first piece of Deres action and one of the defenders in front of him hooked it away.

 

Clarke was again in the midst of the action when he found space and attempted to lob McDonald, but it floated wide. Arnando Pires Costa had the last chance of the half when he cut in but shot wide of the near post.

 

After the interval the hosts came out with more purpose and Danny Lear pulled it back from the bye-line but Charlie Wealands held it well.

 

Four minutes into the second period, the Deres went ahead. Nathan Palmer beat the offside line and strode forward before slotting it beautifully past Wealands and into the bottom corner. 

 

A further four minutes passed before Erith scored again. Once more, Lear got to the bye-line and this time he managed to squeeze it past Wealands and into the net although the unfortunate Rusthall keeper appeared to get the final touch.

 

Stefan Cox shot wide of the near post, but it was not all one way traffic and Luke Adams threaded Clarke through, but McDonald came out and made himself big so that Clarke shot wide. Clarke had another effort with a shot that swerved but McDonald watched it all the way and made the save.

 

Rob Curtis was cautioned for a foul and Ryan Styles struck a good free kick that McDonald did well to turn around the post. At the other end Lee Lewis’ long diagonal ball picked out Callum McGeehan but he could not guide his header on target. Lewis then sent a fierce drive over the bar.

 

As the clock ran down, the game descended into pandemonium. A flare up in the centre of the pitch resulted in a bit of pushing and shoving but nothing too aggressive. However, after the referee consulted his assistants, he called Styles over and showed him a red card before summoning Curtis and brandishing a second yellow and a red.

 

During the five minutes of stoppage time, Adams lost his cool and scythed down a Deres’ player and, once again, the referee’s red card was held aloft.  Victory for Erith lifts them to fifth in the table while defeat for Rusthall leaves them looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation trap door.

 

Erith and Belvedere: Ted McDonald; Josh Leach, Lee Lewis, Kenneth Yao (Rob Curtis 22), Calum McGeehan, Reece Barrett, Harry Maher, Drew Allassani (Nathan Palmer 21), Danny Lear, Stefan Cox, Neil Spencer (Tommy Brown 73).  Subs not used: Daniel Pepple, Luke Rooney.

Yellow cards: Curtis x 2, Brown

 

Rusthall: Charlie Wealands, Louis Anderson, Rory Salter (Charlie Clover 75), James White, Ryan Styles, Louie Clarke, Lewis Unwin, Tommy Lawrence (Joe Newman 55), Luke Adams, Taylor Robinson (Josh Biddlecombe 70), Armando Pires Costa.

Subs not used: Jake Hampson, Stephen Harper. 

Yellow cards: Clover

Red cards: Styles, Adams

 

Referee: Ben McDonald

Assistants: Dan Payton and Sam Hall

Attendance: 110