Dog and Duck Stadium, London Road, Wellingborough NN8 2DP
Kick-Off 3pm
The Emirates FA Cup Third Qualifying Round
Saturday 10th October 2015
AFC Rushden & Diamonds v Ashton United
AFC Rushden & Diamonds will be attempting to reach the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the first time when they face Ashton United in the Third Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday. The Robins are a Step 3 team with a long and proud history in the non-league game, and who now play in the Northern Premier League. This will be their first visit to the Dog and Duck.
If the game is drawn, the tie will go to a replay at the Hurst Cross Stadium on Tuesday 13th October. The winners of the tie will receive £7,500.
Details of the round dates, full draw and prize money are in the FA Bulletins here. At this stage of the competition there are 40 ties, and the 40 winning teams will be joined in the competition by the remaining non-league teams from the Football Conference in the Fourth Qualifying Round, which is due to be played on Saturday 24th October.
This is an all-pay game. Admission prices are £8 adults, £5 concessions. Note that there is no free entrance for under-8s for this game.
The arrangements for this match are as follows :-
- The Clubhouse will serve alcohol for consumption inside only until 2:45pm and again at full time.
- Alcohol will not be served at half time in the clubhouse.
- Dale’s Bar will serve soft drinks only throughout the game.
Fans are asked to co-operate fully with this rule, as it is closely monitored by the FA.
Please note that there has been extensive remodelling of both the pedestrian and vehicular access to the ground over the summer – please follow designated routes. There is also continuing work in London Road which will also result in some local parking restrictions and pedestrian access alterations.
There is a Diamonds Match Diary here, and the club twitter feed will provide the latest information before, during and after the match using the link https://twitter.com/AFCRD or by following @AFCRD.
See below for details of all the social media options for following the Diamonds, as well as details on Radio Diamonds.
Jack Ashton will miss this game as it will be regardless as the third match of his three game suspension, regardless of any findings regarding the abandoned game at Kings Langley.
Our Opponents
Ashton United FC is based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. The club was formed in 1878 as Hurst FC, and they have been playing at their current ground since around 1880, entering the FA Cup for the first time in 1883.
For most of their history they have played in local leagues in the North-West, but they reached the top step of the Northern Premier League in 2002, remaining there apart from one season in Conference North in 2004-5. In 2013-14 they reached the playoff final, losing on penalties, and they also reached the playoffs last season, losing on penalties in the semi-final.
Notable former players for the Robins include World Cup winner Alan Ball, as well as a couple of cameo appearances from Dixie Dean.
They are managed by Paul Phillips and Steve Halford. In their current squad they have Will Haining who played for two seasons in the Scottish Premier League as well as spells with Oldham United and Morecambe. He played in both games between RDFC and Oldham in Football League Division Two. Joint-manager Steve Halford played for Droylsden in the infamous match with RDFC at the Butcher’s Arms.
Their club colours are red and white halved shirts with red shorts. Their club website is here and twitter feed here.
The Dog and Duck
For directions to the Dog and Duck see here, where you will also find details of car parking options. You will find a range of bars and catering facilities, as well as a Club Shop. There is covered seating available, as well as two covered standing areas. You can see a stadium plan that maps out these facilities here, along with details of catering facilities (including a snack bar menu / prices with details of the famous Diamond Burger). For this game onwards there will be an additional tea bar near to Dale’s Bar.
There is always a need for additional volunteers to help with ongoing maintenance and matchday work, as detailed here.
Other Info
The fixture list is here, and latest fixture news is here. Details of the Diamonds playing squad and management team are here. Individual player profiles for the Diamonds squad are available here. Player and Match Stats are here, and previous seasons stats are here.
Player and Match Sponsorship options are detailed in the Commercial Section of this website as detailed here
There are a range of social media options available to help follow the Diamonds, with the well used and liked twitter feed to the fore, as well as a Facebook page and Club Instagram Page (follow afcrd). For this season we have also launched a Snapchat service, accessible on mobile platforms such as an iOS or Android Phone, so you can follow the live matchday story by finding afcrd on Snapchat.
Radio Diamonds will be broadcasting for this game – details here.
Don’t forget you can get a regular Diamonds news bulletin delivered to your inbox, including details of all the forthcoming fixtures by signing up to the Club Newsletter – you will see a sign-up box on the right-hand side of the site homepage – just under the Hevey Logo.
For details of the history of AFC Rushden & Diamonds see here.
There are details on how to become a member of AFC R&D here, as well as news on Season Tickets, Multiple Game Tickets and related prices here.
The club depends upon volunteer support from its fanbase. If you would like to join the group who help either on matchdays or behind the scenes see here.
People accessing the website via Tablet or Mobile who want to access some of the nested menus on the website may find the “Quick Links” tab useful – found just above the “Hevey” logo on the homepage.
