[ Sat 5th Jan ] v Hitchin Town, KO 3pm ESCP AWAY

[Dazzler]

Official Match Preview

http://www.afcdiamonds.com/hitchin-town ... th-january

[Dazzler]

OK, time to switch to Saturday's game.

Jon Dunham's preview is here via his Twitter as normal.

https://twitter.com/JonDunhamNT/status/ ... 7372977153



Andy Peaks is keen to see AFC Rushden & Diamonds bounce back when they head to Hitchin Town this weekend.
Picture by Peter Short

[Rushdenjim]

Hard to read Hitchin, found themselves in the bottom three for much of the first few months, more because of their fantastic run to the First Round of the FA Cup (and thus falling behind on league games) rather than the results themselves. Following that they went on a five game unbeaten run which put them on the tails of the play-off contenders, but following the 5-0 defeat to K*ttering they lost the next four and now find themselves just a point above the drop zone.

[therushden]

exciting end. 2-0 up, then 3-2 down, then two late goals to win it. it's all happening at the end of our matches lately.

[TheIncognitoKid]

Unbelievable finish. Haven't celebrated like that since the equaliser against wisbech. After going 2 nil up, it looked certain that we'd go on to victory but it seemed to wake hitchen up. Thought they were excellent second half and if it hadn't of been for ben heath then they may well have been out of site. Some credit has to go to peaksy for making a triple chance with 15 to go and it paid off. Jack Bowen definitely added a presence up top and did really well to squeeze his header under the bar, diamonds fans were all still celebrating when the winner was bagged. Berry-hargreaves did superbly to drive into the box and Sam Johnson stooped in the 4th. Nobody knew who scored as the away end went nuts, not even the Twitter feed

[sussexdiamond]

According to all the results websites we won 2-1. Back into top five tonight.

[Formic]

I can't really give an opinion on that game without risking the wrath of those who don't like remotely negative views, especially after a win, but I will say we are certainly getting drama and excitement this season, and I'm very happy with that as a whole - even with the frustrations at times.

I will have one little moan at an otherwise decent referee - the yellow card he showed after the celebration of the winning goal was unnecessary - on a par with the booking that Nabil Shariff received when completing an FA Cup hatrick.

[Pigman]

Negative comments Formic?

We were dreadful second half and should have been beaten out of sight - but these boys of ours know how to play to the final whistle and deserved the win for tenacity alone !!

We mugged Hitchin and I don’t care - 3 massive points and we are very serious play off contenders now !!

Well done Peaksy, a triple substitution is a bold move - but with 2 subs scoring, credit where it is due!!

[BartonRaz]

I can't really give an opinion on that game without risking the wrath of those who don't like remotely negative views

I'll do it for you if you like Formic?

Difficult to know where to start after that, and the roller coaster of emotions that came with it.

We did an absolutely terrible job of nullifying their clear dangerman Galliford who's probably one of the best players in the league, despite having 3 men in central midfield. He was taking the piss at times quite frankly.

The substitutions worked fantastically well in the end but we were crying out for them 10-15 minutes before they were eventually made when the game was clearly only heading one way and we needed to shift the momentum.

BUT, they way the game ended will be remembered for a long time. Probably a once-in-a-decade scenario to score two goals in injury time like that to turn defeat in to victory. A brilliant way to respond after the way the game ended on Tuesday. It's been the kind of week supporting this football club that leaves you pitying those that don't like football and therefore don't experience emotions like we have in the past 5 days, good and bad!

There's still plenty of time to go yet this season but it's turning in to possibly Peaks' best season in charge of us IMO, in terms of what he's getting out of this group and the attitude and commitment of his players, not to mention where we are in the league in relation to where 95% of us expected to be at this point.

[TheIncognitoKid]

I can't really give an opinion on that game without risking the wrath of those who don't like remotely negative views

There's still plenty of time to go yet this season but it's turning in to possibly Peaks' best season in charge of us IMO, in terms of what he's getting out of this group and the attitude and commitment of his players, not to mention where we are in the league in relation to where 95% of us expected to be at this point.

Mainly down to the signings he's made. Hicks and Reynolds have been brilliant, Hopkins is developing well, Bowen has done well when available. Collard has done a faultless job covering our best player. Even though they've only really had cameo roles so far, berry-hargreaves and Johnson look good additions. Be even better if acquaye ends up being the best of the lot!