The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

BartonRaz wrote:Last night was unfortunate but once 4 drunken individuals decide they're going to invade the pitch after a goal what is the average fan supposed to do? It's all very well saying 'it's got to stop' but you're preaching to the wrong people.

You could have 100 stewards but as long as you've got 700+ fans 1 metre from the pitch something is always going to happen, that's the reality of it i'm afraid. I think it's great credit to the Diamonds fans that turn up week in week out that we haven't had more of these sort of incidents.

What he said. And SouthRushden - I travel 100+ miles to every game from Staffordshire, and I help out when I can, unfortunately being a board member from where I live would be extremely difficult. So please don't patronise me.

Anyone onto your point - what I was saying is that why let four idiots ruin the season. They know they have done wrong, and anyway it was just a celebration that went over the top. Did they do any damage, hurt anybody, act in a violent or aggressive manner? No, so why make such a big deal out of it. One small incident should not be made to sound like the Kenilworth Road riot.

It's in hand - we move on. The stewards did very well IMHO to sort it out as quickly as they did.

Well that was entertaining wasn't it?! :lol:

Still not entirely sure how I feel about the point. Like others, if you offered the draw at half time I would have taken it! It's more the manner of it that is frustrating.

I also think people are being a bit disrespectful to Eynesbury on here. They were clearly the best side we have faced in the league all season. Strong all over the pitch, with a good balance of technical ability and physical strength which is the key to lower non-league football IMO. A side with a big striker like that who can out muscle the defenders is always going to do well, and I think that out of the four of us at the top Eynesbury would probably fare best if you put them in the UCL Prem with what they have now.

People are saying we played poorly for the first 70 mins or so. Eynesbury stopped us playing while implementing their ability on the game. I think they backed off a bit after half time, and I am very glad they did, if they didn't I doubt we would have been talking about a controversial draw...

They stopped the wingers from getting forwards very well, hassled Sean and dropped an extra man back when out of possession to deal with King. They had a trio of forward players that really stood out to me that I would love us to speak to. I hold no illusions of if they would want to come or not, but I'd love us to have a word over the summer. They weren't bad at the back either. I would be curious to know where these players have come from, how long they have been there, and (not that anyone knows or would say) what they get paid. I noticed they had no shirt sponsor to even offset the cost of the kit, so I'd also be curious as to where their money comes from.

They forced us in to long balls, which was a tactic we fell in to happily given we have had some recent success with it, and had some at the start of the game. The difference was after their goal they seemed to become wise to it and read them a lot better.

While I don't believe a free kick was the right decision that one was one of the best goals we have conceded all season, a huge amount of curl on it. You can take nothing away from the finish. I'm sure the Eynesbury team would have been dismayed if you told them that wasn't even going to be the best goal in the game!

They controlled matters well, and if they had continued to play as in the first half, I think they would have probably gained another. I am not sure if it was tiredness that caused a need for change - if so then we have done well to harry them in to that. If not it was poor tactical play by them.

I'm not sure what we changed at half time, but we started to play a considerable period of the game in the forward half of the pitch, though without creating chances. As such a fresh pair of legs, especially someone as fast as Lance, was always going to cause Eynesbury problems. Full credit also to Ben Morgan for the run when we scored, if he hadn't been there busting a gut to get to the far post I am sure the full back could have come across and made Lance's job a lot harder. Credit to Alfie too, he wasn't having the best of games for whatever reason, and the penalty miss seemed to have him fired up rather than head down, and I think this is what helped to make up Starms' mind that Jake went off instead of Alfie.

To be honest I'm not sure if the penalty we did get was right or not. I do think however that Newman was taken out minutes before, on the edge of the box (I honestly couldn't tell if that was in or out), so maybe it is two not-great decisions evening themselves out?

Sam Brown's goal barely needs describing, except for the moment of fear I had that the ball was going to roll across the line and out. I've said this before, but out goal of the season reel is going to be amazing. Gilly's overhead, King's "ballistic missile", Alfie's flick and volley against Bourne, Sam's last night. Potentially more I have missed or forgotten.

As for their penalty, I was fairly sure it wasn't from the other end of the pitch, but I'd like to see the highlights to make sure. As others have said it seemed like a fairly innocuous challenge that the ref couldn't wait to give.

For the off the field incidents - I don't want to speak about them directly, but I would like to congratulate the stewards for their handling of them. I don't know how many we had on duty, if there were some more who weren't close enough to get over to the incident where people ran on the pitch, but they got themselves there and got the idiots off the pitch. As for the object throwing - it's one of those things that once it is done is over and the stewards can only do something about if the specific individual is identified to them, and done so correctly. I hope it was caught on camera so the perpetrators can be dealt with appropriately. As for the accusation of someone having to be held back from the ref at the end of the game - well if that was the case then it was obviously well policed by the guys in yellow jackets.

I'm with David above - it's unacceptable. If fans continue to act in an unacceptable manner I can see the league/opposition clubs or even the board having to push for police presence at our games - which we will have to pay for. Beer throwing in the past has been provoked, and while I don't approve of it, it was understandable. Last night however the closest thing to provocation was a standard goal celebration. If police have to be present then that will be a significant chunk of gate receipts for each game down the drain.

The other thing I will add is this - some people from other UCL clubs want to accuse us of things. They want to paint us as the bad guys dropping down here and ruining their nicey-nicey club football, painting the image that they all behave like perfect gentlemen and shake hands etc and only we break this, when we have seen evidence that this isn't the case. Don't give them the excuses to paint us as bad guys, to push all incidents on us. We've had at least one false accusation this season that officials and players had to step in to point out the facts.

We've never had a nasty element or a reputation for bad behaviour. Don't give us one.

Biggles wrote:Yes we should support SouthRushdens post but to expect everybody to behave and be upright citizens is frankly impossible.

You ban the current drunken adolescents and with a few months a new lot of adolescents appear, it called life and as yet in the history of humankind a trouble free society has yet to exist, booze, drugs and just being young makes for potential pitfalls.

As an official old fart approaching my golden years i stiil blush at times when my memory reminds me of embarassing episodes of my youth worse for wear and the tut tuts from the adults still clearly audible.

Those memories stop me from condemming clearly drunken youths and silly antics unless they cross the line into physical violence and there is know way you will stop the youth from doing stupid things as its a part of life when consequences of actions are far from the minds in a misty haze of booze fumes.

Yes and no.

I think the point being gotten at is that a far better approach is to teach the immature adolescents to have fun without crossing the line. We need all the fans we can get, but we don't need people acting like idiots. Thankfully there are two ways to solve the problem.

The point is that it isn't up to the board/officials/stewards to be the only ones pointing out if something is wrong. It's up to everyone. There is nothing wrong with young lads having a few drinks and enjoying the game, and indeed putting money behind our bar in the process, but we need to point out to them when what they do is wrong, or they won't notice and stop.

We've got a decent set of lads in the terrace, and while I wouldn't say anyone should look up to them (no offence lads!), they can learn a thing or two from them. A few of them have made mistakes in the past, and still cross the line every now and then, but they have learnt and are mature enough that if you pull them aside and tell them not to do something (and give a fair reason), then they generally won't do what they shouldn't.

You might not completely stop them from mistakes, but you can help them to learn faster.

Biggles wrote:Yes we should support SouthRushdens post but to expect everybody to behave and be upright citizens is frankly impossible.

You ban the current drunken adolescents and with a few months a new lot of adolescents appear, it called life and as yet in the history of humankind a trouble free society has yet to exist, booze, drugs and just being young makes for potential pitfalls.

As an official old fart approaching my golden years i stiil blush at times when my memory reminds me of embarassing episodes of my youth worse for wear and the tut tuts from the adults still clearly audible.

Those memories stop me from condemming clearly drunken youths and silly antics unless they cross the line into physical violence and there is know way you will stop the youth from doing stupid things as its a part of life when consequences of actions are far from the minds in a misty haze of booze fumes.

NAIL on the HEAD

rushdenshireelite wrote:

Rushdenjim wrote:The lads that ran on had been boozing all day (st george's day) and went to the game aiming to cause trouble. Plastic bottles and loo roll were thrown at the lino during the game and i'm sure we will heard from the league about this.

I don't think that their main aim was to go and cause trouble! They just got a bit excited in the heat of the moment, were a bit fuled up and did something silly!

I disagree, i was stood quite close to them at the game, and they had 1 leg over the railings when Alfie missed hes pen. I think i'm right in saying that they are the same group of lads that were banned from the Supporters coach away days because they were forever causing trouble and under-age drinking. These lads are NOT Diamonds fans and we should not compare their actions to previous events involving the real diamonds fans.

Biggles wrote:Yes we should support SouthRushdens post but to expect everybody to behave and be upright citizens is frankly impossible.

Really? You make it sound like its really difficult not to act like a dickhead. If you disagreed with someone in the street would you lean into their personal space and call them a '****ing wanker' etc? Because that's what happened with the ref coming off last night.

I'm not saying we should all be goody-goody at all times, we all swear and get wound up at matches - I was livid once the penalty was given - its just that there's a rather clear line/barrier that shouldn't be crossed and I'm sorry but I don't think it's that difficult to stay behind it.

Biggles wrote:Yes we should support SouthRushdens post but to expect everybody to behave and be upright citizens is frankly impossible.

You ban the current drunken adolescents and with a few months a new lot of adolescents appear, it called life and as yet in the history of humankind a trouble free society has yet to exist, booze, drugs and just being young makes for potential pitfalls.

As an official old fart approaching my golden years i stiil blush at times when my memory reminds me of embarassing episodes of my youth worse for wear and the tut tuts from the adults still clearly audible.

Those memories stop me from condemming clearly drunken youths and silly antics unless they cross the line into physical violence and there is know way you will stop the youth from doing stupid things as its a part of life when consequences of actions are far from the minds in a misty haze of booze fumes.

That's all fine, but, we are expected to be squeaky clear. We have all sorts thrown at us by other clubs and their officials, people are jealous of what we have achieved in a short space of time, and want toe see us fail. We (the board) are all enthusiastic amateurs, and we devote a lot of our own time to making things happen.
Personally I take it as a slight when some idiot does something that reflects badly on our club. Out of 759 people there last night, they nearly all stood by adn let us deal with the situations............It's your club people, take some responsibility for it. 8-)

Rushdenjim wrote:

rushdenshireelite wrote:

Rushdenjim wrote:The lads that ran on had been boozing all day (st george's day) and went to the game aiming to cause trouble. Plastic bottles and loo roll were thrown at the lino during the game and i'm sure we will heard from the league about this.

I don't think that their main aim was to go and cause trouble! They just got a bit excited in the heat of the moment, were a bit fuled up and did something silly!

I disagree, i was stood quite close to them at the game, and they had 1 leg over the railings when Alfie missed hes pen. I think i'm right in saying that they are the same group of lads that were banned from the Supporters coach away days because they were forever causing trouble and under-age drinking. These lads are NOT Diamonds fans and we should not compare their actions to previous events involving the real diamonds fans.

I have no idea about their previous actions but I'm guessing your right, and I didn't see the premeditated action during Alfie's pen as I couldn't watch :?
The point is again like all other silly little things this season we shouldn't let it ruin the fact that promotion is in our hands and we have had an amazing season so far.

This is probably best aimed at Formic:

On the match report, the only yellow card mentioned is for Freshwater, presumably for his shirtless celebration of the penalty.

However, there was certainly a yellow card after the award of our penalty (I remember it being given), with some suggestion it was Aaron King?

Jemfy wrote:Well that was entertaining wasn't it?! :lol:

Still not entirely sure how I feel about the point. Like others, if you offered the draw at half time I would have taken it! It's more the manner of it that is frustrating.

I also think people are being a bit disrespectful to Eynesbury on here. They were clearly the best side we have faced in the league all season. Strong all over the pitch, with a good balance of technical ability and physical strength which is the key to lower non-league football IMO. A side with a big striker like that who can out muscle the defenders is always going to do well, and I think that out of the four of us at the top Eynesbury would probably fare best if you put them in the UCL Prem with what they have now.

People are saying we played poorly for the first 70 mins or so. Eynesbury stopped us playing while implementing their ability on the game. I think they backed off a bit after half time, and I am very glad they did, if they didn't I doubt we would have been talking about a controversial draw...

They stopped the wingers from getting forwards very well, hassled Sean and dropped an extra man back when out of possession to deal with King. They had a trio of forward players that really stood out to me that I would love us to speak to. I hold no illusions of if they would want to come or not, but I'd love us to have a word over the summer. They weren't bad at the back either. I would be curious to know where these players have come from, how long they have been there, and (not that anyone knows or would say) what they get paid. I noticed they had no shirt sponsor to even offset the cost of the kit, so I'd also be curious as to where their money comes from.

They forced us in to long balls, which was a tactic we fell in to happily given we have had some recent success with it, and had some at the start of the game. The difference was after their goal they seemed to become wise to it and read them a lot better.

While I don't believe a free kick was the right decision that one was one of the best goals we have conceded all season, a huge amount of curl on it. You can take nothing away from the finish. I'm sure the Eynesbury team would have been dismayed if you told them that wasn't even going to be the best goal in the game!

They controlled matters well, and if they had continued to play as in the first half, I think they would have probably gained another. I am not sure if it was tiredness that caused a need for change - if so then we have done well to harry them in to that. If not it was poor tactical play by them.

I'm not sure what we changed at half time, but we started to play a considerable period of the game in the forward half of the pitch, though without creating chances. As such a fresh pair of legs, especially someone as fast as Lance, was always going to cause Eynesbury problems. Full credit also to Ben Morgan for the run when we scored, if he hadn't been there busting a gut to get to the far post I am sure the full back could have come across and made Lance's job a lot harder. Credit to Alfie too, he wasn't having the best of games for whatever reason, and the penalty miss seemed to have him fired up rather than head down, and I think this is what helped to make up Starms' mind that Jake went off instead of Alfie.

To be honest I'm not sure if the penalty we did get was right or not. I do think however that Newman was taken out minutes before, on the edge of the box (I honestly couldn't tell if that was in or out), so maybe it is two not-great decisions evening themselves out?

Sam Brown's goal barely needs describing, except for the moment of fear I had that the ball was going to roll across the line and out. I've said this before, but out goal of the season reel is going to be amazing. Gilly's overhead, King's "ballistic missile", Alfie's flick and volley against Bourne, Sam's last night. Potentially more I have missed or forgotten.

As for their penalty, I was fairly sure it wasn't from the other end of the pitch, but I'd like to see the highlights to make sure. As others have said it seemed like a fairly innocuous challenge that the ref couldn't wait to give.

For the off the field incidents - I don't want to speak about them directly, but I would like to congratulate the stewards for their handling of them. I don't know how many we had on duty, if there were some more who weren't close enough to get over to the incident where people ran on the pitch, but they got themselves there and got the idiots off the pitch. As for the object throwing - it's one of those things that once it is done is over and the stewards can only do something about if the specific individual is identified to them, and done so correctly. I hope it was caught on camera so the perpetrators can be dealt with appropriately. As for the accusation of someone having to be held back from the ref at the end of the game - well if that was the case then it was obviously well policed by the guys in yellow jackets.

I'm with David above - it's unacceptable. If fans continue to act in an unacceptable manner I can see the league/opposition clubs or even the board having to push for police presence at our games - which we will have to pay for. Beer throwing in the past has been provoked, and while I don't approve of it, it was understandable. Last night however the closest thing to provocation was a standard goal celebration. If police have to be present then that will be a significant chunk of gate receipts for each game down the drain.

The other thing I will add is this - some people from other UCL clubs want to accuse us of things. They want to paint us as the bad guys dropping down here and ruining their nicey-nicey club football, painting the image that they all behave like perfect gentlemen and shake hands etc and only we break this, when we have seen evidence that this isn't the case. Don't give them the excuses to paint us as bad guys, to push all incidents on us. We've had at least one false accusation this season that officials and players had to step in to point out the facts.

We've never had a nasty element or a reputation for bad behaviour. Don't give us one.

Great post 8-)