THE Rustics are learning a hard lesson, that if they switch off against any team in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division you will be punished, and Chatham Town certainly did that last weekend.
The home side made a dream start when, straight from the kick-off, they attacked down the left and Ryan Waterman was brought down in the area.
Leading scorer Steph Harper made no mistake from the penalty spot despite a great effort from Chatham keeper Ryan Nicholls.
Thereafter Rusthall struggled to string passes together on the slippery surface and on 30 minutes Harper was forced off with what looked like a hamstring problem. He was replaced by young Bailey Colbran, who was signed in midweek from Tunbridge Wells.
Chatham Town equalised when the home defence failed to clear a corner and Kieran Lightfoot scored with a crisp right-foot shot.
The visitors scored again from the penalty spot in the 73rd minute when their lively striker Jesse Parks was brought down and then converted the spot kick.
Rusthall were then caught on the break on 87 minutes and gave away another penalty, this time Michael Hagan smashing the ball home.
Two minutes into added time Parks scored his second to give a slightly misleading look to the scoreline.
The Rustics will need to learn from this and pick themselves up quickly.
They welcome Bearsted to the Jockey Farm Stadium on Saturday [November 25, kick-off 3pm].Â
