RDFC 1 (Howe '64) AFC Dons 0

[Three of Diamonds]

It was a great, hard working team performance that fully deserved a win. Green looked very dangerous, but (like Andy said), he always tried to go outside just one more time (too many). Huke did well but his distribution under difficult conditions was a little bit poor. Johnson worked his socks off in an uncomfortable position last night and I thought he should have been subbed around the 70 minute mark, just to freshen it up on the right wing and rest him. He has some great potential though. Howe did work hard from what I saw, he chased back on many occasions and we defended with all 11 players from corners. Power was picking out some delightful passes, and Charles closed down very quickly.

MoM = Howe 9

all others players get an 8 for effort.

[StaceyH]

I thought it was a great performance, a massive improvement on the Fleetwood game. We showed fantastic team work right from the start and thoroughly deserved the win. Well done lads

[mac]

I thought Green looked usefull but needs a better end result,Johnson did well 2nd half (what is his true position as he looked more like a centre foward) I think Howe is destined to frustrate fans as he can obviously do a good job for us if he wants.Power was very good 1st half ran out of steam a bit ,and although I prefer Osano at RB purely for the attacking option he gives he played very well last night.Charles put the effort in but was guilty of a couple of bad misses .Good football played enjoyable to watch which is why we go

[Mat.H]

Dons view on last night.

Wednesday 25 August 2010
first team news
Terry on Rushden


Earier today, Terry Brown reflected on last night's defeat at Rushden and Diamonds that nonetheless leaves the Dons in second place after the first four games of the season.

"Having had the chance to look at the DVD of last night's game we looked leggy and a little weak. The margins between playing your football and not playing your football are very small and they can be little things like the full backs working on getting their angles right and the midfield rotating a little more. We will be looking to tweak those areas during training this week.

"The players' schedule over the first week has been a very high workload with four games in eleven days, which certainly took its toll last night. Injuries to Ricky Wellard from Saturday and Sam Hatton early in the game gave an opportunity for both Rashid Yussuf and Ryan Jackson to have longer game time.

"At no time in the match did we get our passing game going and chances were few and far between at both ends. From their point of view their goal was a cracker but from our point of view I felt we stood off the striker and allowed him too much room to get a shot away. However, an overall reflection of the start of the season sees us with nine points out of a possible twelve, one goal conceded and six goals scored.

"Last night's game highlighted the fact that there is still a great deal of work to be done on the training ground with what is a very young group of players who are still getting to know each other. Full credit to Rushden who not only stopped us playing but also played well themselves and although neither side created many chances I thought they edged it over the ninety minutes.

"We need to get our passing game going, especially away from home where we have struggled. We go to Eastbourne on Saturday with second playing third, so we will need to improve on last night's performance if we are to bring something back from Priory Lane.

"I look forward to seeing you over the bank holiday weekend where hopefully we can get back on a winning track."

[therushden]

fair play to the man. he could have spouted off a lot of rubbish (like a lot of managers last seaon when they went home from nene park with nothing) but he said it how it was. we were the better side. in all departments.

[Three of Diamonds]

On the negative side looking at the stats, there were 259 fans less at NP this season for the visit of AFCW compared to last.

197 were stayaway Diamonds fans
62 were stayaway AFCW fans

[Formic]

On the negative side looking at the stats, there were 259 fans less at NP this season for the visit of AFCW compared to last.

197 were stayaway Diamonds fans
62 were stayaway AFCW fans

You aren't comparing "like with like" though, as the Dons game last year wasn't in the holiday season. The difference in the number of Diamonds fans compared to the corresponding midweek game last season was well under 100.

Similarly the turnout of Dons fans would be affected by it being the holiday season - as well as the fact that last season's game was the first between the clubs.

[Biggles]

If you use stats then we are doing better crowd wise than last season.

1st 2 home games last season 2,331, this season 2,613.

So based on this the price hike is not putting people off but stats are stats and misleading at times since we have not played the same teams.

Mind you the ten quid price up the road still hasn't made traffic jams from Rushden to Kettrin yet on match days unless the Satnavs are screwball and that jam in China is the Northants floating fans queing for Rockinghorse Road :lol: .

[therushden]

they're hardly doing a chelsea and winning 6-0 every week lol

[Three of Diamonds]

Er, well actually I wasn't attempting to compare "like with like" only on the fact it was the same team. Just thought it was a shame that's all.

:lol: