The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Trek wrote:

diamondgeezer1 wrote:
Surprised no one has moaned about the attendance.

No excuse with parking now that those kind developers have built a car park with near on 150 spaces close to the ground.

Wouldn't want to park there with the amount of stray shots we've seen go over there!

ParcelFace wrote:
Wouldn't want to park there with the amount of stray shots we've seen go over there!

Will be surprised if the ball goes that far. Club car park is the danger area as Parky will testify since he had a smashed windscreen a couple of years back.

It's been apparent for quite a while that we need another striker to take us to the next level, the 2 games against Barwell were proof of that. I would have loved to had Dunks back in this team. Unfortunately you can not keep missing so many chances every game, yes the defence have conceded some poor goals lately but if we took even a few of our many chances it wouldn't make a difference.

fentiger79 wrote:It's been apparent for quite a while that we need another striker to take us to the next level, the 2 games against Barwell were proof of that. I would have loved to had Dunks back in this team. Unfortunately you can not keep missing so many chances every game, yes the defence have conceded some poor goals lately but if we took even a few of our many chances it wouldn't make a difference.

From what I've seen from Liversedge so far, he doesn't seem to be the solution but that is a very rushed conclusion as he hasn't played much and I could be entirely wrong. We've got so much depth on the wings (Hoban, Hall, Spriggs, Berwick, Lamb-Johnson, Da Costa) but we really lack quality in the striker department in my opinion - I've shown my opinions on Herbert, Lorraine isn't clinical enough and I don't know what to think about Joseph - he always seemed to get goals last year but I've heard that he's not technically the greatest player in training.

ParcelFace wrote:

fentiger79 wrote:It's been apparent for quite a while that we need another striker to take us to the next level, the 2 games against Barwell were proof of that. I would have loved to had Dunks back in this team. Unfortunately you can not keep missing so many chances every game, yes the defence have conceded some poor goals lately but if we took even a few of our many chances it wouldn't make a difference.

From what I've seen from Liversedge so far, he doesn't seem to be the solution but that is a very rushed conclusion as he hasn't played much and I could be entirely wrong. We've got so much depth on the wings (Hoban, Hall, Spriggs, Berwick, Lamb-Johnson, Da Costa) but we really lack quality in the striker department in my opinion - I've shown my opinions on Herbert, Lorraine isn't clinical enough and I don't know what to think about Joseph - he always seemed to get goals last year but I've heard that he's not technically the greatest player in training.

Regardless of how he trains Scott Joseph has proved that he will score a shedload if he's totally on his game mentally. Two of our best attacking performances this season have been Bedford and Deeping and Joseph was heavily involved in those two games. For me he is the solution but only a select few know whether he's likely to be back with us imminently or whether he's out long term.

I've said previously that Tom Lorraine looks knackered but we can't afford to rest him because we don't have a like-for-like replacement. Liversedge may look like the natural replacement but Lorraine does a bit of everything and is deceptively quick, something that Liversedge definitely isn't.

I'd love us to make a marquee striking addition at this point like we did with the signing of Tommy Berwick last season but appreciate that top strikers don't grow on trees.

Highlights and Interviews
https://youtu.be/tfaXAqRrK7Y

Wasn't at the game as I am away but I have just watched the highlights. Correct me if I'm wrong but every chance they had was from a mistake from us. Very poor goal to concede, not sure why Brad was trying to control the ball, just kick it away. Way too many good chances missed, had to have scored at least 3. Bad day at the office.

BartonRaz wrote:Regardless of how he trains Scott Joseph has proved that he will score a shedload if he's totally on his game mentally. Two of our best attacking performances this season have been Bedford and Deeping and Joseph was heavily involved in those two games. For me he is the solution but only a select few know whether he's likely to be back with us imminently or whether he's out long term.

I've said previously that Tom Lorraine looks knackered but we can't afford to rest him because we don't have a like-for-like replacement. Liversedge may look like the natural replacement but Lorraine does a bit of everything and is deceptively quick, something that Liversedge definitely isn't.

I'd love us to make a marquee striking addition at this point like we did with the signing of Tommy Berwick last season but appreciate that top strikers don't grow on trees.

I'd agree with all of that. Joseph has a knack of getting goals at crucial times, although he does tend to blow hot or cold. Unfortunately though, I get the feeling that he's going to be out of action for quite a while.

Shanks is definitely looking tired at the moment. I'm a big fan of his and I think he often doesn't get the praise he deserves, but he's been struggling in front of goal for a few weeks now and needs a short break. To suggest he isn't good enough is nonsense - was he not good enough when he scored 7 goals in 6 games in September/October? I was hoping Liversedge would be the ideal replacement for him, but it hasn't clicked for him for whatever reason, and he looks like the slowest player I've ever seen. Hopefully that's just down to the injury he's currently struggling with; he certainly has a very good record at this level.

As for Herbert, the stick he's been getting for Saturday's performance is unfair, as he definitely brightened things up when he came on. At times he looks a really talented player, but I just think there's something missing - probably confidence. We saw something similar with Berwick when he first signed, but I was always confident that he would come good. Unfortunately though I don't have the same confidence with Herbert.

If Joseph is going to be out long term then I think we definitely need to bring in another striker (shame it didn't work out with Lawless, as I was really excited about us signing him pre-season). Listening to Peaksy's post match comments after Beaconsfield I think that is a strong possibility. Looking back at previous strikers who've come and gone is not the answer though (some people have very short memories).

The only striker I would want back would be Dunks, he would be immense in this team with Hoban and Hall on the wings. That's never going to happen so hopefully we can sign someone to freshen it up. But as already mentioned decent strikers are hard to come across especially at this time of the season.