The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

I have to say I was very impressed with us last night, since our reformation we have always struggled against our rivals at home, oadby, eynesbury, holbeach, Wisbech, Egham, Royston.
I always felt it was easy for teams to get themselves up for matches against us something we found difficult to deal with. However last night we were on it from the start, we matched their work rate and we had the quality to make a difference. Top stuff

BartonRaz wrote:

diamondgeezer1 wrote: I hate to moan about referees, but the clown we had tonight was possibly the worst ref we've ever had, saying that, have we had him before??::

The ref we had against Leigh RMI in 2001 was the worst I've ever seen. Mr S Coffey I think his name was. If a ref has a bad game you just think they're incompetent, but he was more than that, he was a cheat.

This season the ref away at Hanwell was the worst I've seen.

Anyway, great performance by all and Claudiu was outstanding. He finished the Fleet game in a similar fashion and long may it continue. A great time to find form again! We dominated from start to finish although I have to say, I thought their tactics let them down. They were painfully defensive.

Ahh yes, I remember those! Wasn't Graham Salisbury also one of the worst referees we had?

I even wrote to Brian Talbot after the Leigh RMI match complaining about the referees performance, and actually got a response! Saying he agreed, and hoped that it wouldn't put me off coming again!

Last nights referee was definitely the worst we've had since our reformation, didn't have a clue, was worried at on point that it would kick off again, because he had no control over the game!

diamondsteve wrote:Definitely I would take our position! Surely they will get a few injuries with all them sat tues games . They have a VERY hard April! Last game Royston away too which will be fighting for playoffs

Agree I`d go for where we are, and that`s one hell of a last month run in they have, thought last night was a very professional performance all round and St Ives were lucky to get away with a 2-0 defeat.
Having watched them twice before recently including last Saturday I was never in doubt we would beat them just concerned about a backlash from the dreadful performance they served up V Aylesbury Utd, from his post match interview Ricky M was looking for a reaction and some questions answered, well he got that but sadly for him the answer was, some of his players just ain`t good enough and worse than that haven`t got the stomach or willingness to put a shift in when effort and commitment are the order of the day, though they will without doubt come May be in the running for "leagues best team of moaners" and "most annoying dirty little s..t in midfield" awards.
Of the 8 teams I considered contenders for playoffs last December, Aylesbury have fallen so far behind on fixtures 17 to play in 10 weeks I`ve taken them out, Northwood after loosing main striker don`t look good enough though their run in only includes Us, Egham & St Ives from top 7, Chalfont having had a month without Mende don`t appear able to get back on track & now loose those big game they were winning, in fact since they beat us on 19th Dec they have lost 5 from 7 and the 2 wins were both 3-2 against Ware & Aylesbury Utd both times they went 2 down and needed 2 goals in 88 & 90 then 85 &94 to get home. If the remaining 5 were title contenders I would now take St Ives out of that given they have managed 1 decent performance in last 5 and don`t seem able to score anymore, so now down to 1 from 4 for automatic promotion which is a position any of us would have taken last August, wouldn`t want to pick who is in what order as Royston, Kings Langley and Egham are all good sides, but then so are we.
Points required to win the league 88 I reckon will do, though I`m like 91 to be sure.

Ricky M has accepted defeat gracefully - http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Ricky-M ... story.html . Was that the first time we've beaten one of his teams?

It was one of the most impressive performances I've seen by a Diamonds side, given the stage of the season and the quality of the opposition. Claudio certainly carried on from where he left off on Saturday, as did Jack Ashton at the back. Tom Lorraine really deserved his goal for the effort he put in during the last two games, and he and Stevo seem to have a better understanding with each game they play.

We had seen the ref before (the London Colney replay), but he wasn't as bad as the one at Hanwell. However, I can't recall a goal kick decision which seemed to be ignored by all 22 players in favour of a corner, so the ref and linesman were left with no alternative but to reverse their decision - credit must go to St Ives for their approach.

Saturday's ref is one we've only seen as a linesman before as far as I can tell, but that was the Graham St Prims game, so he must have progressed since then.

Attendance last evening of 482 beat all crowds in Southern League Premier Division.

448 Weymouth v Chesham United
425 K*ttering Town v Frome Town
298 St Neots Town v Hitchin Town

bozzer wrote:I have to say I was very impressed with us last night, since our reformation we have always struggled against our rivals at home, oadby, eynesbury, holbeach, Wisbech, Egham, Royston.
I always felt it was easy for teams to get themselves up for matches against us something we found difficult to deal with. However last night we were on it from the start, we matched their work rate and we had the quality to make a difference. Top stuff

This was the best we have played for a while, as well as being comfortable through to the final whistle. No late goals, no switching off. They were not much of a threat, but, that is because we didn't give them much time on the ball.
Top of the League.

COYD