The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

I too have always taken the Trophy, and will now take the Vase, very seriously because I'd love to walk Wembley Way as a Diamonds fan and not an England fan.

As for a top five grounds, not including NP or Millennia Stadium:

1. St James Park, Exeter - Cracking ground will big terrace and a properly awful away terrace that actually only added to its charm. Been many times, great people at the club as well.

2. Hillsborough and Bramwell Lane, Sheffield - Just tremendous to take our club to the city

3. Meadow Lane, Notts County - Great ground that always held something of an atmosphere. Just gutted we never played in Nottingham after I started University there!

4. The New Lawn, Forest Green - I remember a pleasant sunny day (and a bloody cold one) thinking how being in non-league wasn't all that bad.

5. Loftus Road, QPR - Just another proud away trip!

Honourable mentions for Edgeley Park, Stockport, Liberty Stadium and Vetch Field, Swansea (very different reasons!) and London Road, Peterborough.

Interesting that people have mentioned two grounds I always disliked an awful lot - Wrexham and Burton Albion and a ground I found utterly boring, Mansfield.

Ah, Meadow Lane. Will never forget that mid-week match. Had a chat with Lord Darbs before the match, signed my programme and then proceeded to give me two complimentary tickets to the match. He scored a couple of goals, was made MOTM, in a fine 3-1 victory but never scored another goal for Diamonds and within a couple of months OBN had off-loaded him to Shrewsbury. :o

Loftus Road, I was in the home end with my Dad (who supports QPR). In the second half Paul Hall hit the post with a great shot from about 30 yards IIRC. I completely forgot where I was and did a big jump up and "Oooooooh!". :lol:

Bamber Bridge was a tidy ground that done fantastic grub, and seeing Tommo score a couple and celebrate like it was a big game was good to see.

Sara Pascoe wrote:Loftus Road, I was in the home end with my Dad (who supports QPR). In the second half Paul Hall hit the post with a great shot from about 30 yards IIRC. I completely forgot where I was and did a big jump up and "Oooooooh!". :lol:

Remeber this game well, when Trevor Benjamin cleared Onandi lowe's shot off the line, Douche!

Not surprised that Saltergate Chesterfield hasn't been mentioned. A wet and cold afternoon against a side near the bottom who were up for it more than our boys who I guessed suspected OBN was about to depart to Oldham. I still have the splinters in my a**e from sitting on those wooden bench seats in that antiquated stand. :evil:

For me:
5 - AFC Wimbledon- Kingsmeadow. Went in 09/10 season to witness one of the best Diamonds away performances I've ever seen. Fantastic that day. Plus the atmosphere in the away end was rocking

4 - Lincoln- Sincil Bank. Went twice, 1st time in 02/03 when we won 2-1 and survived a last 15 minutes 'Alamo' from Lincoln. God knows how we held on. Second time was the 2-2 draw in our relegation season, fantastic performance on the day but ruined by the 96th minute equaliser :roll:

3 - Sheffield Wednesday- Hillsborough. Just to see us at a ground with a stature like that was fantastic. Got a deserved 0-0 draw if I remember rightly as well

2 - West Ham- Upton Park. Again, seeing us at a stadium like that and the performance that day was great. Matching a recently relegated PL team for the majority of the game, Lowey's bullet free kick and Burge going 'oh so close' for an equaliser

1 - Nene Park. What more can I say? The memories I have of that place still make me smile and I'll nver forget them, that's for sure.


Honourable mentions for Leyton Orient (02/03, packed away end and fantastic atmosphere), Grimsby Town (17 away fans, and running down the stairs going crazy at Nab's equaliser last season) and Scunthorpe United (technically my home town club, but Lowey blasting one in from the edge of the area in our play off push 01/02)

Trek wrote:Not surprised that Saltergate Chesterfield hasn't been mentioned. A wet and cold afternoon against a side near the bottom who were up for it more than our boys who I guessed suspected OBN was about to depart to Oldham. I still have the splinters in my a**e from sitting on those wooden bench seats in that antiquated stand. :evil:

I remember nothing about that game except we were appalling and a home fan did 'the worm' randomly during the game. :lol:

olio wrote:For me:
5 - AFC Wimbledon- Kingsmeadow. Went in 09/10 season to witness one of the best Diamonds away performances I've ever seen. Fantastic that day. Plus the atmosphere in the away end was rocking

4 - Lincoln- Sincil Bank. Went twice, 1st time in 02/03 when we won 2-1 and survived a last 15 minutes 'Alamo' from Lincoln. God knows how we held on. Second time was the 2-2 draw in our relegation season, fantastic performance on the day but ruined by the 96th minute equaliser :roll:

3 - Sheffield Wednesday- Hillsborough. Just to see us at a ground with a stature like that was fantastic. Got a deserved 0-0 draw if I remember rightly as well

2 - West Ham- Upton Park. Again, seeing us at a stadium like that and the performance that day was great. Matching a recently relegated PL team for the majority of the game, Lowey's bullet free kick and Burge going 'oh so close' for an equaliser

1 - Nene Park. What more can I say? The memories I have of that place still make me smile and I'll nver forget them, that's for sure.


Honourable mentions for Leyton Orient (02/03, packed away end and fantastic atmosphere), Grimsby Town (17 away fans, and running down the stairs going crazy at Nab's equaliser last season) and Scunthorpe United (technically my home town club, but Lowey blasting one in from the edge of the area in our play off push 01/02)

25 of us at the first Grimsby game that got called off because of the fog, what a f*cking joke that was!!! Alan power scored one of the nicest free kicks ever and Corcoran told us to
Just get smashed after it was called off :lol:

BartonRaz wrote:
I remember nothing about that game except we were appalling and a home fan did 'the worm' randomly during the game. :lol:

I agree that we were terrible that day and the bloke in your avatar was a shadow of his former self. Chesterfield were in the bottom three and they played the 'Great Escape ', before the match on the PA. They went on a decent run after beating us 2-0 and escaped relegation whereas we only picked up a few points.