Rusthall 2 AFC Croydon Athletic 2

Match 35/17/1485 - Wednesday, 27th September 2017 - SCEFL Premier

Rusthall (0) 2 Sinclair 57, Harper 63
AFC Croydon Athletic (1) 2Rayner 10, Oloyede 68
Attendance: 134

Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 37/1,962

I’ve become a Premier League cynic. Footballers, full of their own importance, who cheat; clubs with no respect for their supporters and call them customers and pander to the television companies that finance the ridiculous money that swashes around the major clubs. For years I’ve said that the bubble has to burst, but the bubble continues to grow.

On Tuesday, at Jockey Farm, the Premier League Show was in evidence to film a piece, to be shown on 7 October, that shows that some of that money does, indeed, filter down to grassroots and clubs like Rusthall can be the beneficiaries.

This was my first visit to the club since the ground improvements have taken place. The stadium is now floodlit, the cow patch on a slope that used to resemble a football pitch is now a level, beautiful surface and on a night in which rain lashed down, the new 100-seat Atcost stand is a very welcome addition. Without the grants from the Premier League through the Football Stadium Improvement Fund, much of this would not have been possible.

Rusthall have made a steady start to life in the SCEFL Premier League and in this game against AFC Croydon, who for the second midweek running, went top of the table by virtue of the result, they came from a goal down at the break to lead 2-1 but were pegged back to share the points.

On a dreadful night, an attendance of 134 was admirable.

AFC Croydon went ahead on 10 minutes when a disputed free kick was superbly bent around the wall and into the net by Ben Rayner.

Both sides gave as good as they got in a competitive first half that saw, a couple of minutes before the break, a header from Rusthall’s Dan Mitchell come back off a post.

Rusthall continued to take the game to their visitors and were deservedly level when a volley from John Sinclair found the net after a header from Joe Fuller had been partially cleared by the goalkeeper.

After 63 minutes, the Rustics took the lead with a fine, curling shot from Steph Harper into the top corner.

The lead was only to last five minutes as a through ball found Emmanuel Oloyede who finished well past Steve Lawrence.

Both sides had a great chance to win the game in the dying minutes with Lawrence saving well at his near post and Andy Constable probably hasn’t missed an easier chance in his long career.

The game ended with a spate of yellow cards which was a bit disappointing after a good game played in quite difficult conditions.

No doubt I’ll return to my cynicism in the very near future, but at least for now, I have witnessed the good side of the Premier League.