The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

sussexdiamond wrote:
I think Spalding will beat Huntingdon, but cant see Sileby taking a point off them.

I was at sileby verses afc kempston rovers game( ;) ;) ) this Saturday and to be fair ,if the right sileby turn up they are more than capable of at least a draw
they have Elliot dent,lance allen,freddie devreauxe and one other(sorry cant remember his name)all from the diamonds fold,they also have a quality young keeper(18) who has been luton, Peterborough,corby,daventry and currently under billy turleys supervision at brackley.
why theyre so low in the league god only knows :o

discodunk wrote:

sussexdiamond wrote:
I think Spalding will beat Huntingdon, but cant see Sileby taking a point off them.

I was at sileby verses afc kempston rovers game( ;) ;) ) this Saturday and to be fair ,if the right sileby turn up they are more than capable of at least a draw
they have Elliot dent,lance allen,freddie devreauxe and one other(sorry cant remember his name)all from the diamonds fold,they also have a quality young keeper(18) who has been luton, Peterborough,corby,daventry and currently under billy turleys supervision at brackley.
why theyre so low in the league god only knows :o

Well I assume it'll be because many of the players they have now weren't there at the start of the season where they were certainly struggling at times. Its funny down here what with players moving so freely between clubs, means clubs can finish the season with almost completely different teams to the one they started the season with.

Interestingly though, I notice Sileby managed a draw at home to Huntingdon earlier on in the season.

A question was asked at last night Forum about the player turn over, didn`t see who asked it but would assume they have not been a regular at this level prior to last couple of seasons, and that`s an assumption & in no was a derogatory comment. I would think with the odd exception most UCL Teams have on average 6/8 players in/out a season. When Brownie Junior was at Kempston they won the league and 2 seasons later not one of that squad was still there, and the Sileby / Buckby examples would held keep the average up. It`s step 5 footy an extra £10/20 a game talks and it`s mostly made up of young lads who want to be playing every week.

BartonRaz wrote: For those looking for a game on Saturday, Stamford are at home to FC United in what is looking like it'll be their penultimate competitive game in their current stadium. Should be a big crowd too with FC United battling it out with Chorley for promotion from Evo Stik North.

I've decided to take in this match and sample the real ale in the acclaimed 'Jolly Brewer' in town as they've not got proper beer in the Stamford clubhouse.

Brownie wrote:A question was asked at last night Forum about the player turn over, didn`t see who asked it but would assume they have not been a regular at this level prior to last couple of seasons, and that`s an assumption & in no was a derogatory comment.

That was me, and you are correct that up to 2 seasons ago I was not an avid follower of the UCL. You are of course correct about the turnover of players at this level, and to some degree I think that is inevitable.
I think that I maybe didn't phrase the question very well on the night as neither Ralph nor Andy seemed to grasp what I was getting at, which was more a case of how can we maintain a good quality squad, achieving consistency, without alienating a number of players who are not starting every week. We have seen this season a number of players ( we all know who they are) "throwing their toys out of the pram", and maybe those are not players we want at the club in the first place if their attitude is not right. However, I can understand from the players point of view that they want to be playing regularly. What we need is players that will get their heads down and grasp the opportunity when it is given to them. I think Brad Harris and Ben Morgan are excellent role models in this respect.
I have been very impressed with Andy's enthusiasm and straight talking, and he certainly has a more upbeat demeanour than Starms had, so hopefully this will rub off on the players.

Any players coming here will know that they are part of a larger and better squad than most others in this league.

If they are then too stupid to realise that they won't play every week and then don't give the manager a reason to pick them when they do play then I don't see there's much can be done about that

Competition for places is a healthy thing surely?, standards raised and consistency attained, team challenging for the top. Players should n`t think they are guaranteed a run out. Earn the shirt-keep the shirt.

dazSRJFC wrote:Competition for places is a healthy thing surely?, standards raised and consistency attained, team challenging for the top. Players should n`t think they are guaranteed a run out. Earn the shirt-keep the shirt.

Most decent, honest players will see competition for places as healthy and relish the challenge of fighting for a place in the squad, its just a shame that we've had a few that don't seem to have had that positive attitude and have instead taken the 'I'm too good not to play every week' attitude, which of course is not at all what we want at this club. If I was Peaksy, I'd make sure every player coming into next season's squad, no matter how good they are, is made fully aware and accepts that if they don't perform or put in 100% every week, then their place is by no means guaranteed and that they realise that its not too difficult at this level to draft in a replacement for them at short notice.

Very enjoyable game at Stamford this afternoon won 3-2 by FC United with a late winner after being 2-1 down at halftime. Shariff scored for the Daniels. Crowd of 1204 swelled by at least 7 Diamonds fans.
FC United are now only one point behind the leaders Chorley with two matches to play.

We went over to Thrapston to watch them against Whitworths.

It may not have been the worst game of football I've watched this season but it's in the top two.

Supporters will be pleased to know that Whitworths have taken the skills they possessed onto a whole new level. Lee Purser was correctly given a red card for pulling down the Thrapston forward, he then proceeded to offer to see said forward, the ref and anyone who fancied it afterwards.

Thrapston were cruising at 2-1 then Liam Fox, after a couple of sighters, managed to drop one at the feet of a Whitworths forward right on full-time.