Season 2019-20 – Rusthall FC
The season may have come to an sudden end and all results expunged but games did take place and plenty of teams had a year to remember. Here we look back at some of the sides that had an impressive First Division campaign.
Rusthall
Rusthall may have been relegated from the Premier Division last season but they recovered quickly and were 2nd in the league, with a game in hand, by the time the shortened season had finished. With 4 promotion places on offer they would surely have made a return to Step 5 and with 7 games to go were well placed to make a strong challenge for the First Division title.
Rusthall had 7 games to play and averaged 2.16 Points Per Game, which had it continued to the end would have seen them finish on around 69 points. That could have seen them win the league and would most definitely have earned them promotion.
Unplayed games
Lydd Town(A), Stansfeld(H), FC Elmstead(H), Snodland Town(A), Holmesdale(A), FC Elmstead(A), Meridian VP(A).
7 games were left – 4 against promotion rivals
Selected wins
6-0 Lydd Town
6-1 SC Thamesmead
5-0 Greenways
5-0 Kent Football Utd
4-1 Sutton Athletic
2-1 Kennington
League Defeats
3-2 Rochester Utd (A)
4-3 Bridon Ropes (H)
2-1 Rochester Utd (H)
4-1 SC Thamesmead (A)
1-0 Stansfeld (A)
The game at Stansfeld was the only time in the league that Rusthall failed to score. They netted 72 goals in their 25 games and had a few players towards the top of the goalscoring leaderboard.
Rusthall’s Top League Scorers
Luke Adams – 19
Reuel Powell-Downey – 18
Charlie Clover – 8
Tom Lawrence – 6
James Miles – 6
Cup Competitions
Rusthall made it through two rounds of the FA Vase before losing at home to Lancing. Their Kent Senior Trophy and FA Cup adventures finished at the first hurdle but in the Challenge Cup they pulled off the scalp of Beckenham Town before narrowly losing to Glebe.
Summary
It was a huge shame that the enforced early end to the season denied us of a thrilling promotion race in the First Division. Rusthall were right in the mix for the honours and Jimmy Anderson and his team should be extremely proud of their efforts throughout the year.
Follow Rusthall on Twitter here, Instagram here, Facebook here or via their website here
Main photo: Brendan Kemp