Rustington lose in last four to Rye

Division 1 Rye, who won the tie 2-1, had looked second best in the first half – no mean feat for a Rustington side looking to cause a massive upset.

Blues began brightest and went close through Simon Clayton, who shot wide, and Steve Kirkham, who fired his effort straight at Rye keeper Jack Winchester.

Rye also carved out a number of early sighters, too, notably through Jack Dixon, whose looping effort was tipped onto the bar by rookie Blues keeper Jack Bonetti.

It was Rustington who soon took the lead. Sam Cole brought down Kirkham 20 yards from goal, and the impressive Chris Darwin curled the resultant free kick over the wall into the bottom corner.

This led to a spell of prolonged Rye pressure, but Blues soaked this up and went close to doubling their lead.

Jason Wimbleton played in Matt Huckett, who took a touch and fired goalwards, but his low shot was tipped onto the post by Winchester.

Blues continued to create the better chances, and went close three times in quick succession. Huckett flashed a shot just wide from a Wimbleton pass, Andy Boxall saw his low drive saved and Darwin spurned a golden opportunity on 40 minutes. He was put through one-on-one but overcooked his effort and struck the crossbar, a miss which manager Brett Torode said “came back to haunt Blues”.

Rye drew level with the first attack of the second half. Upton received the ball 20 yards out, shimmied past two defenders, and swerved his shot into the bottom corner.

Rye then took a firm grip on the contest. Scott Ramsay had an effort saved and Duncan McArthur’s firmly-struck drive was pushed away.

Danny Leach then fired a free-kick wide before Rye took the lead with 20 minutes left. Upton skipped past two tired challenges and skimmed his shot goalwards, with the late bounce deceiving Bonetti and nestling into the net.

From then on, fitness came to the fore with Blues struggling to make an impact and Rye took the sting out of the game with their continued attacks. In one last attack, Rustington pushed forward and Darwin almost made himself a hero when he latched on to Huckett’s pass, but he drove his shot across goal.

RUSTINGTON: Bonetti; Boxall, Green, Neal, Sayers; Kirkham, Wimbleton, Jones, Clayton, Huckett; Darwin. Subs: Matthews (Jones 72), Adams (Wimbleton 80), Butt (Clayton 90), Bennett.