THERE is no disguising the fact that this was one of the worst weeks in Rusthall’s very long history, and after the match one of the joint managers, Mike Cramp, resigned.
Cray Valley are an exceptional team for this level of football, featuring several ex-professionals including Kevin Lisbie, the former Charlton striker.
Whilst they were superb on the night, Rusthall were well below their best and that combination produced a very one-sided match.
Cray were two goals up after a quarter of an hour and soon followed up with a third.
Rusthall thought they had an opportunity to get back into the contest when John Phillips scored their only goal.
However, Cray replied with three further goals in the first half, making it 6-1 at half-time.
Rusthall came out after the interval with renewed determination and matched Cray for the first 30 minutes of the half.
But then Cray showed their class again by scoring three more in the last 15 minutes.
Rusthall never gave up even though they were outclassed on the night. Andrew McKechnie will now take sole charge of the team.
Alan Murray will continue as head coach, but the club is looking for a new assistant manager.
The club, who are sitting second from bottom of the Southern Counties East League above pointless Croydon, feel like they have bottomed out and there is some renewed optimism that the only way is up.
Rusthall now play host to Fisher at Jockey Farm stadium on Saturday [November 17, kick-off 3pm].
