The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

We need six points to prevent Hartley going above us and they have a comparatively easy run in, although away to Kempston won't be easy. A win on Saturday v Cambridge could mean promotion next Tuesday. As for being champions we need Beaconsfield to drop four points, they have home games v Hayes and Dunstable and away at Aylesbury, Egham and Marlow. All in all an interesting 11 days coming up.

Massive 3 points tonight!! It cracks me up yet again when fans start criticising players especially with 3 games to go!! Yes you pay yr money & entitled to yr say but seriously!!! What decent bit of service did SWD get tonight then...... ?? Yes it wasnt a very good game tonight however this stage of the season its all about 3 points surely!! Very very windy with two teams got a fair bit to lose but I'll happily take 3 more performances like that if means 9 points!!! Lets back the boys & staff in 3 more cup finals!!

Excellent result massive 3 points, puts the pressure on the other teams.

Thought Ben Farrell dinged the penalty in the centre after seeing the keeper dive to his right.

Possibly as stated one of the most important games the Club has played, presume everyone was a bit nervous given the lack of pre match posts, not exactly sure what was expected from 2 teams who could not afford to lose and playing on a pitch that for most of the past 2 months has been under water and has now gone hard with little time for it to be prepared or recover given it was played on the day before, oh and blowing a gale, the only thing that did matter was to win so for me it's job done.
Personally I was very disappointed with Dunstable, they have plenty of well known players within their squad and are more than capable of playing decent football, I didn't see the game early in the season when we beat them but by all accounts they were good, think before last night they were the only side I hadn't seen, I don't appear to have missed much and it's no surprise they only get watched by 50 some weeks. 2nd dirtiest team in the league behind Moneybags and helped greatly by a very lenient bordering on inept Referee given 2 and 8 both could have had early use of the showers for their endless poor tackles. The team plan appeared to be little more than kick very hard in equal proportions either the ball or the opponents, given what we were up against I would congratulate all the lads on the levels of restraint shown, picking up just the single yellow card and delivering the 3 points and as for the free flowing Man City style of football, save that for Saturday 28th when hopefully we all have something to celebrate. But before that grind out 2 wins and 6 points in whatever fashion is required.

I don't think you can understate the importance of that victory last night. We had to win at least one of the games against Dunstable and Cambridge, so to get that win under our belts at the first hurdle takes some of the pressure off on Saturday. So often we fail to deliver in these big games and it was by no means a vintage performance, but performances don't matter at the moment, results do. We saw the game out very professionally and quite comfortably in the end.

Although Ben Farrell was comically voted MOM, I thought Ben Heath made one or two outstanding saves and Joe Curtis also had a particularly good game.

Are there any remaining games for Beaconsfield that look like banana skins? If I've done my maths right they need to lose and draw once, and for us to win every game, to go up as champions.

James Beil wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:46 am Are there any remaining games for Beaconsfield that look like banana skins? If I've done my maths right they need to lose and draw once, and for us to win every game, to go up as champions.

Yes they have got to face both Hayes & Yeading and Dunstable in their remaining 5 games. Both games are at home. They also have to face Egham away which may/may not be tricky depending on which Egham decides to turn up.

As far as I'm concerned though winning the league is secondary to us getting promoted.

Beaconsfield have a home record which is very poor for a side in their position, having lost 5 league games. I expect the total lack of interest in the club from their community and consequent poor atmosphere at the ground is a factor. If they do slip up it is most likely to be at home.

BartonRaz wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:56 am

James Beil wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:46 am Are there any remaining games for Beaconsfield that look like banana skins? If I've done my maths right they need to lose and draw once, and for us to win every game, to go up as champions.

Yes they have got to face both Hayes & Yeading and Dunstable in their remaining 5 games. Both games are at home. They also have to face Egham away which may/may not be tricky depending on which Egham decides to turn up.

As far as I'm concerned though winning the league is secondary to us getting promoted.

100% agree, the title would just be the cherry on top if we were to win it, promotion is everything right now and I certainly don't remember anyone at Northampton Spencer caring that we only came 2nd! Personally I'd probably be just as delighted with 2nd as 1st, promotion in itself feels like silverware to me.

Wouldn't have said it was a dull game last night, it certainly was tense and not particularly pretty to watch, but it was a good competitive battle between two strong teams and undoubtedly one of the toughest, if not the toughest defences we've faced this season. I couldn't give a monkeys about the games being good to watch at this point of the season tbh, a scrappy 1-0 with a penalty was an absolutely fantastic result as far as I was concerned and it's funny how we've done another complete turnaround in the space of a few days, from being almost resigned to a playoff spot to promotion favourites again and if anything the pressure may be on our hosts on Saturday if they have any automatic promotion aspirations, we could lose and it would still be in our hands because of our GD, such a vital win last night

After their last 3 results, I thought Beaconsfield were obvious title winners, however they've got quite a gruelling schedule left to play, 5 games in 9 days and they're not easy games will be a real test of character and I'd be surprised if they don't drop points somewhere, so who knows...