The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Its worth pointing out that AFC Dunstable play all their midweek home games on a Wednesday, that is why they had a game scheduled for this week on Wednesday rather than Tuesday.
Also the club had to agree in advance with Welly what day a replay would be as they (Welly) could have also been involved in a replay.

I would have preferred us to win outright yesterday so that I could see the England game live.

As it is I/we can influence the outcome of AFC R & D v AFC Dunstable with my/our support but I don't have telepathic powers to influence events in Kiev.

Scarey wrote:What bunch of half wits scheduled the replay for Tuesday, when England will be playing in an important WCQ, being shown live on terrestrial TV?? When we could have attracted a decent crowd, I fear the attendance will now be seriously affected, impacting on revenue for both clubs. Incredible...

Well Scarey if the definition of "half wit" is "one who operates one`s mandible prior to engaging their cerebrum" it may well involve yourself. :roll:
Most answers have been given and i`m slightly shocked as to how polite they have been.
But in summery it`s the same half wits who, within 10 mins of the game ending on Sat would have been checking availability of players and coaches, with i`m sure due consideration for the fact we either play or train every Tuesday so highly likely all from our Club would be available. Possibly prior agreement may have been made with Welly regarding replays :?: Those same half wits would then prior to even leaving Dunstable have been contacting numerous people to cover turnstiles, stewarding, food outlet, bars, pitch preparation, programme content and printing etc etc etc. As Dunstable were down to play a league game on Wed, it may be Tue was not best for them, good enough reason to push for it. Our gate may possibly be affected tomorrow but maybe better to get into next round in front of 350, than go out in front of 400. So lets get down the D&D and support the team and stop criticizing our hard working volunteer club officials & other helpers, remember many of these half wits will be at the ground tonight for the Under 18s, will you be there helping out in any way :oops:

Very subtle :lol:

Starting XI tonight?

I'd go Cross, Merill, Deakins, Clarke, Brown, Harris, King, Liburd, Koriya, Dunkley and Taylor.

Trek wrote:Starting XI tonight?

I'd go Cross, Merill, Deakins, Clarke, Brown, Harris, King, Liburd, Koriya, Dunkley and Taylor.

So will I, Kingy about due a start, Nat justifies staying in, Matt rested & Faz in, think Sam is ok (well he looked ok when I left home this morning)
Looks a strong squad when everyone fit, as good as Wiz & Gearing have been if Starms goes with the above & it works they may have to wait a while to get a start, we need Parky back available though as little cover at the back.

Am I right in thinking that this'll be the first game that we've been able to choose the main XI? It's quite useful that the line-up of Cross, Merrill, Deakin, Clarke, Brown, Liburd, Harris, King, Koriya, Dunkley, Taylor can get a full run-out before the Cup game on Saturday.

I think it'll be another Colney-type performance, 4-0.

FA Vase or FA Cup?

FA Cup for me, more money and more exposure nationally. Although I wouldn't say no to run in both. Tonight will be tough, personally think it'll be 2-1 Diamonds.

UttoDiamond wrote:FA Vase or FA Cup?

FA Cup for me, more money and more exposure nationally. Although I wouldn't say no to run in both. Tonight will be tough, personally think it'll be 2-1 Diamonds.

I'd probably agree with that, would be fantastic to have a run in the FA Cup all the way to the First round and play a league team, whereas we're never going to play anyone higher than step 5 in the Vase. However, there's not much that would beat a trip to Wembley if we made it all the way to the Vase Cup final. It will be interesting to see what we do if we did have a run in both competitions, and the question is, would it even be realistic to aim for both success in the Vase and the league if we did make it far in the Vase, taking into consideration the inevitable backlog of weather postponements we'll have at the end of the season as well.

Guernsey weren't actually too far off achieving both last season, just missing out on Wembley, but with the insane backlog they had because of the Vase run and weather postponements that saw them having to play on consecutive days because of being off the mainland they just missed out on top spot and were perhaps slightly fortunate to go up with 2 in that league going up. Alright an exception with their geographical position, but its just an unfortunate problem of being at this level that a team's chances of success in their league can rest on how serious a backlog they have at the end of the season, would all the players even be able to make themselves available for several games in a week? The loss of Godmanchester and Woodford in the UCL could turn out to be a blessing at the end of the season.

We shouldn't underestimate what a fantastic achievement it would be to do either,
No UCL side has reached the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup or the Vase Final in about 30 years!

How many step 5 clubs have made the first round proper of the Cup I wonder? I can't remember one doing it recently, I remember a few like Haverhill Rovers a few years ago making the fourth qualifying round, but not the first round.