DIAMONDS LORRAINE HELPS SECURE VICTORY BY ODD GOAL IN FIVE

AFC RUSHDEN AND DIAMONDS 3 V POTTERS BAR TOWN 2
EVOSTIK SOUTH 1 CENTRAL @ THE DOG AND DUCK GROUND
17 OCTOBER 2015---3PM

AFC RUSHDEN AND DIAMONDS V POTTERS BAR TOWN FC

A double strike from Tom Lorraine ably assisted by Rushden's new signing Andy Hall on both occasions gained all three points for the Northamptonshire club.  This was slightly harsh on the visitors from Potters Bar who along with AFC's opener had levelled at 1-1 with one of the two superb strikes in the game.
Having looked at covering AFC for the last two weeks and not made the trip this week the blog set off quite late from base at just after 1130 this unfortunately meant that the planned trip of a visit to the former clubs old ground, Nene Park, in Irthlingborough was put on hold.  I'm sure most readers will be aware of the former clubs rise to stardom through the merger of the Irthlingborough Diamonds and Rushden Town with the brand new ground built at Irthlingborough.  Sadly success did not last long before the club disappeared off the map before the club arrived at today's supporters led club who of course took up residency at Wellingborough Town's ground, locally known I'm led to believe as The Woof and Quack ground.

ENTRANCE TO THE DOG AND DUCK

Anyway the train down was comfortable to Leicester with a seat and nearly a whole carriage available, the opposite cannot be said of the change at Leicester were we spent half an hour on the journey through Market Harborough, Kettering to the ultimate destination of Wellingborough on our feet.
An uninspiring walk from the station, which is apparently a listed building [not too sure why] and upon arrival into the town centre I have to say the same impression was gained of the shopping streets.  There seemed to be many empty shops and even an announcement that the Big M's was closing next week, it was a disappointing town centre.

OVERVIEW OF THE DOG AND DUCK GROUND

The walk to the ground was soon to plonk us by the edge of the Dog and Duck and Premier Inn which very much resembled a building site, probably because it is.  The new Lidl and out of town M's is starting to form and the entrance to the ground is quite narrow now.  To the rear of The Dog and Duck is the home of The Flour Boys Wellingborough Whitworth FC which looks a steady little ground upon which a training game was taking place today.

THE RAFFLE LADIES WITH A CHOICE OF COLOURED TICKETS

Outside of our destination today is the AFC club shop sadly we arrived at just before 2 and after a little wait the cabin was not open so we elected to go in having paid the £8 entrance we purchased a £2.50 colour programme from the first table and then followed this up with a go on the raffle were you could select from three different coloured books.  To the right the membership table was well in action and taking bookings for subsidised coach tickets to next weeks FA Cup game at Barwell.  At this stall for £20 you could become a member of the club and have a say in the future of AFC Rushden and Diamonds.

COVERED SIDE TERRACING BY THE PREMIER INN

As with a lot of ground the main activities occur around the entrance turnstiles which are a nice new corrugated metal block.  As with any shared ground its always difficult to describe what belongs to who but there goes.
To the right is Wellingborough's club house which is a nice cosy affair with attached to it the changing rooms.  Walking over the entrance walkway is a toilet block and then a nice viewing gantry from behind the corner flag for the hospitality area which is behind this area.  Coming back to the front of the clubhouse is the main snack bar area of which Mick tried the chip cob after of course he had got the correct description for cob bearing in mind we were now close to the south I think they settled on bread!

SNACK BAR TERRACING

Passing back over the turnstile entrance and over the terraced area by the snack bar we arrive at the Peter De Banke terrace named after the former Rushden and Irthlingborough player and mirroring one of the same at Nene Park.

PETER DE BANKE TERRACE PLUS NEW BIG M's IN THE BACKGROUND

Coming around to the far side we see Dale's Bar named after and in honour of the former Rushden Number 1 Dale Roberts.  We popped in and had a little chat with the lady on duty and took a look at the pictures and shirts posted within and to the memory of Dale.
Before we took a look at the main stand we pass a further snack bar which serves drinks and confectionery snacks.
The main stand, which I believe is named after snooker player Peter Ebdon who helped Wellingborough re form, is a old fashioned affair with nice modern blue tip up seats.  Down to behind the far goal and its all hard standing with quite a bit of grassed training area available behind the goals.  coming back up towards the main entrance we have the dug outs and a covered standing area to the top side of these.

SAM BROWN EARLY INJURY TREATMENT

A steady little ground which today held AFC's gate of 572 with ease during the game we managed to catch up with a few AFC supporters who were more than friendly and at half time one of the stewards who I believe was called Mathew a pleasant and welcoming chap.  Indeed I enjoyed catching up with their fans when I covered the UCL Final at Yaxley at the end of last season and so to the game.  AFC are a well run club and operate an excellent media section including their twitter feed which it as been a pleasure to follow over the last few weeks.  Indeed it is sometimes annoying that when planning trips many clubs just don't seem able to advertise their future games not so here at AFC they publicise their club very well.

AFC MANAGER PEAKS AND ASSISTANT ARE ALERTED TO A LESSER SPOTTED WARBLER IN A NEARBY TREE BY THE ASSISTANT REFEREE

The first half saw us take up a pitch behind the AFC goal and it was very much the visitors in the ascendency as Diamonds seemed a bit sluggish but they were a bit wayward with their finishing and it was AFC who went into the break in the lead thanks to a wonderful goal.
With five minutes to go Diamonds were awarded a free kick 25 yards out and it was Claudio Hoban who curled it superbly into the top right hand corner of Connor Sansom's goal.

CELEBRATIONS FOR CLAUDIO HOBAN'S GOAL

The second half saw the home side start the stronger and they were only denied a further goal when on two occasions when Luke Warner-Eley cleared off the line.  He made his contribution even more effective when at the other end when he curled a superb effort into the Rushden goal from 25 yards out after 58 minutes.  The game had been a poor affair but had witnessed two superb strikes.

EVANDRO DELGARDO ON THE RUN FOR POTTERS BAR TOWN FC

 

ANDY PEAKS WATCHING CLOSELY

AFC took the lead on 72 minutes when substitute and new signing Andy Hall skipped past Sansom to cross for Lorraine to head home.  It was 3-1 two minutes later when the same provider put in a lovely hooked in cross for Dan Quigley to see his header crash back off the bar and it was that man Lorraine who headed home the lose ball.
Potter Bar were not finished and the game was at last coming to life the home side were twice grateful to Olly Wilkinson who cleared off the line in quick succession. 
But the five minutes of stoppage time were nervous times after Garry Jones placed an 89th minute penalty into the bottom right hand corner of the goal after Brad Harris had fouled Dave Lawrence in the box.

A PLEASANT GREETING AT AFC

The last 20 minutes certainly surpassed the previous minutes which had been somewhat of a challenging watch.  Afc Rushden and Diamonds have marched onto third place in the table and with games in hand are in a good position for a tilt at the top before next weeks historical chance of a first FA Cup first round appearance if they can win at Barwell. 
As for Potter Bar they will count themselves a little unlucky to have come away with nothing from this game it was also nice to have a chat with their Chairman during the first half and its a club that hopefully the blog can pop along to see during this season.
We managed to get ourselves by the exit for a quick dash out for the 1717 departure from Wellingborough something we made with about 2 minutes to spare, a comfortable change at Leicester saw us back at base at 1845.
An enjoyable day it was good to take a look at supporters led club AFC who seem to have a lot of helpers and a good amount of goodwill form their supporters who regularly turn out in high numbers, I look forward to seeing them again soon.

222 ARRIVES FOR OUR DEPARTURE FROM WELLINGBOROUGH