[ Tue 1st Jan ] v K*ttering Town, KO 3pm ESCP AWAY

[therushden]

I'd take a 0-0

[Dazzler]

Jon Dunham's pre-match thoughts...

https://twitter.com/JonDunhamNT/status/ ... 5930169344


Picture - courtesy https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk - via Jon's Tweet.

[Olly]

No beer in the ground

Can't say I'm surprised, although if I'm not mistaken the only trouble at previous games since we reformed was on the player/staff side? Hopefully there's no trouble and anyone looking to start it stays away.

3 and a bit hours to go now, finally nearly here, still can't quite believe we're playing them in the league again, just hope we put in a performance and get something from the game.

[Rushdenjim]

0-0 at Half-time.

Attendance given as 2,147 (591 Diamonds)

[Olly]

Gutted is an understatement of course, they were all over us the last 20 minutes for sure, but I really thought we'd hold out for a highly respectable result and one our workrate deserved.

Got to take the positives though, to just be back in the position of playing them in the league in front of a huge 2000+ crowd (higher than 6 National League crowds) just 6 years after there was like 5 divisions separating the two clubs is a massive achievement and something to be proud of. Nearly 600 away fans as well, not many less than what we'd take as RDFC, it was a fantastic atmosphere in the away end, even it was difficult to get a decent view (even more difficult than at RR lol).

And I don't think you could say one of our lads didn't put in a shift today, they all worked very hard, matched them the first half, took the lead in a moment we won't forget in a hurry and they only managed to get the better of us in the dying seconds and needed to dig deep and make changes to do so, we can hold our heads up high even if the late goal was hard to take.

Need to pick ourselves up for Saturday to get our playoff push back on track, and we'll get our revenge at Easter!

[BartonRaz]

The lads were fantastic today. It was a performance that typified everything we’ve been about this season, hard work and determination and playing for the badge. With a weekly budget around 1/5th of theirs if we were to stand any chance we needed to want it more than them and I felt that was the case.

We were full value for the lead and until Aaron O’Connor came on it seemed like they were running out of ideas. That was the turning point in the game and when you can bring quality off the bench like that at this level it’s a game changer.

[Pressman]

Gutted! We gave 150% and I thought we deserved a draw. Some superb performances not least from the 2 full backs and Nathan Hicks in midfield.

The referee had an excellent first half and got the two Red Cards absolutely right but he also missed some questionable K*ttering tactics which could have handed us the advantage.

We cant do anything about the scoreline/outcome now - that's football - but can anyone tell me how Hoeness wasnt booked/sent off for 1. kicking out at Callard early on 2. A clear dive in the area and 3. a cynical foul on Reynolds?. How ironic that he popped up at the end for the winner - which some players afterwards suggested was offside.

Cunnington was always using his elbows - their cameraman confirmed same afterwards - while Holman's performance was more akin to the 10m diving board.

The other question relates to Ben Heath. How on earth did he get booked for time wasting when - so Peaksy told me afterwards - he was being hit by 20p coins for which the referee took no notice!

And what was their GK on afterwards? Biff Carlin had to intervene as Albie was being throttled while White celebrated as though they'd won the world cup.

Rant over!

[Pressman]

Now I've had a rant, let me say that our fans/support was fantastic today - almost 600 away fans which is virtually taking an R&D home crowd with us.

Our team did us proud and we are surely worthy play-off contenders on effort alone. There is no pressure on us to achieve anything this season but although we didn't get the result we were looking for, it was nice to hear some of the K*ttering fans praise our performance and talk about some of our players that they would like in their team!

Disappointing result but onwards and upwards!

[Dazzler]

Jon Dunham's Post Match Report - via his twitter as usual...

https://twitter.com/JonDunhamNT/status/ ... 9519746048


Picture by Peter Short (via Jon's Twitter/ET)

[therushden]

You put it better than I could have, pressman. Totally agree.