Prime made the short trip to long-time rivals Rusthall III without captain Abu who was left stranded on 99 appearances. He was replaced in midfield by Westcott, alongside Ellis who retained the captaincy.

At the back, Williams and Fitzgerald were absent and Cary and Flamank stepped in. Davis and Harris joined Nowak on the bench.

Ellis won the toss and Prime kicked downhill first-half with the low winter sun at their backs. The home side started brightly but Turvey in particular was in commanding form and Prime held firm.

The visitors started to come into the game with Westcott beginning to dictate play and Henshall and Sykes starting to get at their respective full-backs.

Prime took the lead from a corner won by good work by Sykes. Excell trotted across and curled a superb ball in the danger area which the keeper could only flap at and the ball dropped kindly for Flamank to place a left-footed effort into the net.

The lead was nearly short-lived as Rusthall won a corner soon after and the inswinging delivery hit the far post with Goldsmith setting up a steward's enquiry to find out where Sander had disappeared to! Ellis scrambled the ball clear though and Prime survived.

A fired-up Henshall was causing Rusthall problems and after he wriggled along the by-line and cut the ball back for Excell, 2-0 seemed a formality but the striker dwelt on the ball and eventually Rusthall blocked his shot.

Fortunately for Prime he made amends in style a few minutes later. Sykes burst down the left and his floated cross to the far post found Excell peeling away and from a seemingly unlikely angle he volleyed the ball goalwards and beat the keeper at his near post to register his first goal since 5th March 2011.

Ferguson showed some excellent touches to get away from his marker soon after, but his shot flew narrowly over the bar as Prime pressed for more goals.

But Rusthall were still dangerous on the break and after a long ball was flicked on, green shirts seemed to be clean through, but Turvey appeared from nowhere to get the ball to safety.

At the break the talk was very positive after what was a much improved performance but with the slope and the sunshine to contend with, the second half was likely to be more difficult.

Prime started the half well though with Henshall immediately forcing a corner down the right. Westcott found a yard of space at the back post but the keeper did well to keep his header out.

Rusthall's wingers had looked dangerous in the first half but Sander and Flamank were getting tighter to their men after the break and the home side were unable to test Kerton.

With captain Ellis throwing himself into tackles and headers, Westcott was finding room to pull the strings and after he burst through 3 or 4 tackles, it seemed as if a wonder-goal might follow, but in reality he skewed his shot horribly wide from the edge of the box - nearly going out for a throw-in! The shot was greeted with the sound of laughter from the bench!

Nowak replaced the hard-working Excell with half an hour to go and soon after Ferguson was denied by a good save from the Rustics keeper. It was largely one-way traffic and Sykes this time dribbled through several attempted tackles before his shot was well saved again by the keeper.

Sykes then had a golden opportunity to get his goal when referee Delves pointed to the spot after a Rusthall defender had handled a right-wing cross whilst sliding in to block.

Unfortunately the winger's penalty lacked any power whatsoever and was also straight down the middle. The keeper made a bit of a meal of saving it which made the penalty look better than it was!

Davis replaced Sander and Harris came on for Ferguson for the closing stages and Prime added a third when Henshall burst through and, after rounding the keeper, he barged Flamank out of the way and tapped home a deserved goal.

Harris came close to his first Prime goal as he fired goalwards but the defender blocked it.

The full-time whistle sounded minutes later and Prime celebrated their first win over Rusthall for 5 1/2 years.