The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Official Match Preview

http://www.afcdiamonds.com/afc-rushden- ... 0th-august



(Apologies for late thread - been so busy, forgot I hadn't posted this).

A chance to see how the team has responded to Tuesday's wake-up call. Hopefully the tactics will ensure we have sufficient width, both in an attacking sense and to cover Sileby's threat on the flanks.

Troy Johnson the only ex Diamond that played for Sileby on Tuesday v Cogenhoe. Sean McBride played for Cooks.
Sileby unbeaten 2nd in UCL so we could be in for a tough game.

A very important game, not only to progress in the FA Cup with all it's financial rewards and attendant publicity which are essential to us, but more importantly to arrest the run of four consecutive defeats. Sileby are going very well and are undefeated having won three of their last four matches, including an impressive away victory at Leicester Nirvana, and they sit second in the UCL Premier Division. We need to be on our game from the first minute and try to get an early goal to settle us down and I would like to see more composure in front of goal.

Peaksie's team selection and formation will be interesting so I will refrain from commenting for the time being.

Trek wrote:A very important game, not only to progress in the FA Cup with all it's financial rewards and attendant publicity which are essential to us, but more importantly to arrest the run of four consecutive defeats. Sileby are going very well and are undefeated having won three of their last four matches, including an impressive away victory at Leicester Nirvana, and they sit second in the UCL Premier Division. We need to be on our game from the first minute and try to get an early goal to settle us down and I would like to see more composure in front of goal.

Peaksie's team selection and formation will be interesting so I will refrain from commenting for the time being.

Most if not all of Nirvana's side from last year followed the manager to Gresley, so a victory against them is not really anything to crow about. Let's be honest, anything less than progression here will be a major shock.

Hornchurch await the winners of today's game by the way. They beat Aveley 1-0 last night.

BartonRaz wrote: Most if not all of Nirvana's side from last year followed the manager to Gresley, so a victory against them is not really anything to crow about. Let's be honest, anything less than progression here will be a major shock.

I was aware that Nirvana's management team joined Gresley in the close season and haven't researched how many of Nirvana's squad have joined them. However, my comments about Sileby's improvement remain since they've been one of the 'whipping boys' of the UCL Premier over the last 3 seasons and could count themselves fortunate not to have been relegated. Based on current form a victory for Sileby would not be a major shock in my opinion. We need to keep our nemesis, Michael Byrne, quiet who seems to love to play against us at the Dog & Duck.

Good old FA Cup battle. Credit to Sileby who put in a great performance. But in the Cup its winning that counts so its on to Hornchurch. Wembly still beckons.

Terrific to see Nabil get hat trick, that should do him some good. And good also to see Parsons contributing so much.

Not happy, not at all. I thought we were weak in many areas of the pitch and why can't we defend balls at head height into the box? That's 4 goals conceded in two games to crosses into the area. We need to get players back and quick.

Three of Diamonds wrote:Not happy, not at all. I thought we were weak in many areas of the pitch and why can't we defend balls at head height into the box? That's 4 goals conceded in two games to crosses into the area. We need to get players back and quick.

Glad i'm not the only one. That was a steaming pile of s**t from where I was standing. If it wasn't for Nabil Shariff, who must surely be wondering what on earth is going on around him, we'd be out of the FA Cup already.

Some of our more senior players are miles off the pace. I hope people don't think i'm being overly critical, particularly given that we've won the game, but we could so easily have lost today against a team with an absolute fraction of our resources.

BartonRaz wrote:

Three of Diamonds wrote:Not happy, not at all. I thought we were weak in many areas of the pitch and why can't we defend balls at head height into the box? That's 4 goals conceded in two games to crosses into the area. We need to get players back and quick.

Glad i'm not the only one. That was a steaming pile of s**t from where I was standing. If it wasn't for Nabil Shariff, who must surely be wondering what on earth is going on around him, we'd be out of the FA Cup already.

Some of our more senior players are miles off the pace. I hope people don't think i'm being overly critical, particularly given that we've won the game, but we could so easily have lost today against a team with an absolute fraction of our resources.

I quite agree - although quite a few of the Sileby players looked like they would be out of place in the UCL, so one wonders what their budget might be. They bossed the first third and last third of the game, although our first goal, making it 1-1 against the run of play, seemed to knock a fair bit of stuffing out of the Sileby threat. Its amazing how players who looked so solid last season are looking so shaky at the moment - perhaps there are reasons we aren't aware of.