[ Sat 9th Mar ] v Stratford Town, KO 3pm ESCP AWAY

[Dazzler]

Official Match Preview

http://www.afcdiamonds.com/stratford-to ... -9th-march

[TheIncognitoKid]

Much parking at the ground?

[sussexdiamond]

Yet again another "big game" neither side will want to lose. Stratfords form has been patchy lately but I presume the two central defenders missing when we played them recently will be back in their team. As will our friend Nabil who will be desperate to score against us for the first time after two blanks already this season.
Their goals against record is very good, just 34 conceded (bettered only by Stourbridge and Kings Lynn) but their goals for is only better than the bottom five teams, plus St Ives. They have only scored 2 goals in past six games, both v Halesowen

With our defence being particularly mean lately (just 5 in last 8 games)and a drying up of goals scored (only 7 in 6 games) I predict a banker 0-0.

So will probably end up with goals galore!!


On a different note I see that the predictive final league table has us finishing sixth with our final ten games being 3 wins and 7 draws , with those 3 wins all being by a single goal.

[BartonRaz]

We have a season-ticket holder in our ranks from Stratford-upon-Avon who will no doubt enjoy the possibility of walking to a Diamonds game for the first time ever. Not sure whether he will actually walk though!

As a result of having family there I know a little bit about Stratford. Probably the nicest part of the country we'll visit for an away game this season and an opportunity for some of our supporters to spend some time in the town before / after the game. The ground however is in a village just outside of Stratford called Tiddington. If you are not interested in visiting Stratford before/after the game then i'd strongly suggest avoiding Stratford alltogether as there is often massive tailbacks 2 or 3 miles long on the Warwick Road in to the Town. Instead try and get down to Wellesbourne on the A429 and go across to Tiddington from there.

In terms of the ground, it's a new ground so it's nice enough and from memory there is ample car parking. It is a mostly one-sided ground though, with a good seated stand down one side and bugger all else. Stratford only won promotion from Step 5 for the first time in 2013 so as you can imagine it's fairly basic.

[Dazzler]

<BUMP> Not long to go til the weekend....

[Dazzler]

Jon Dunham's weekend preview...

https://twitter.com/JonDunhamNT/status/ ... 1099292673



Action from AFC Rushden & Diamonds' 1-1 draw with Alvechurch at Hayden Road last weekend.
Picture by Alison Bagley

[Formic]

Some comments on the match from the Stratford Manager - http://www.stratford-herald.com/96573-b ... -fear.html. I’m not sure how he worked out they had 60% of the game at Hayden RD.

[sussexdiamond]

Certainly not a disaster losing to Stratford, but yet another ineffective performance. Big performance and big result required on Monday.

[TheIncognitoKid]

Been saying it game after game, Ben diamond is wasted out of position. You can tell by his body language that he's not happy. Formation needs to change or he needs to be benched.

[Pigman]

Big game Monday now if we want to stay in contention for the playoffs, and with Rushall beating Kings Lynn we know it won’t be a walk in the park.

We didn’t deserve to lose that game - we did enough in the second half to get a draw - a tad shot shy at times, and that was a stonewall penalty not given !!

Disappointed with the defeat - but looking forward to the trip on Monday! An early opportunity to put today behind us!