After a good pre season Rye Town started life in the East Sussex Football League Division One as they travelled away to face Northiam in a match sponsored by D Cruttenden Rye Heating.
Many locals made the short trip including Les Britton, Terry and Dave Barrow, the Di Cesare brothers, Bob Wall, Mick Hovenden and the lovely Beryl Pope to name a few who were spotted around the pitch, Rye kicked off the game and started nervy with each player not wanting to misplace a pass or lose a tackle.
Rye Town finally settled and the passing became more fluent. Skipper Sam “Tekkers” Henham winning possession guided the ball forward to Sammy Foulkes who drove forward with itl into Northiam’s half before slotting the ball through to Charlie Stevens who smashed home Rye’s first competitive goal; 1-0 inside 12 minutes. The wingers of Ben Heffernan and George Ball worked tirelessly up and down the wings which contributed to Rye’s second. Great work from Heffernan allowed midfield model Adam Hurley to beat two Northiam defenders before calmly placing the ball into the far corner of the net. Rye were 2 up with 32 minutes on the clock and looking comfortable.
Hurley soon went from hero to zero after being shown a straight red card for a leg busting tackle, Rye were down to ten with nearly an hour left to play. The next ten minutes the home side pressed on trying to make the numerical advantage count yet Rye weathered the storm until half time. 2-0 to Rye at the break.
During the half time team talk, match day Manager, Kelvin Wall, made a few slight changes to the formation, Wall takes on the managers role from Shane Ridgers, allowing him to concentrate on playing. Along with Chris Gould the trio at present are working well together.
Despite being a man light Rye took the game to Northiam who were looking threatening and a vital moment in the game was a great save from Ridgers holding onto a driven low ball and so keeping the score 2-0. Wall made a tactical substitution introducing Richard “Alfie” Weller and Rob Levett replacing Andy Wallbank and Kevin Earl which allowed Henham to move into central defence from central midfield.
Following a well run pre season training from Anthony and Marc, Rye’s tremendous fitness levels kept them on top, Stevens looked very sharp and he kept winning free kicks from the opponents sluggish tackles although unfortunately a retaliation ended up with the Rye man being cautioned.
A really well worked goal from front to back almost cemented Rye a win, 33 year old Luke Willis gaining possession and finding the Rye utility man Levett. He switched play to the super fit Heffernan who, after beating the right back by applying what they call a “rabona” straight onto the diving head of Foulkes, resulting in a great goal; 3-0 after 70 minutes. Ball left the field being replaced by 17 yr old Joe Fraser for the last 10 minutes, Weller got some game time but still looked short of match fitness. Rob Wilson didn’t put a foot wrong winning the Pikes Cleaning Man of the Match.
A solid display by a fit team who can play great football but can also mix it up in a battle. Hopefully a successful season ahead. This Saturday, September 10, Rye Town travel away to face Icklesham Casuals at the Icklesham Recreation Ground with kick off at 2pm.
Final score: Northiam 0 vs Rye Town FC 3
Goalscorers – Charlie Stevens, Adam Hurley and Sammy Foulkes
Rye team: Ridgers, Wilson, Willis, Earl, (Levett) Hurley, Henham, Foulkes, Ball, (Fraser) Heffernan, Wallbank, (Weller) Stevens subs not used Walker and Hanny.
Photos: Charmaine Ridgers