AFC Rushden & Diamonds v Barwell FC – Tuesday 27th October

 

Dog and Duck Stadium, London Road, Wellingborough NN8 2DP

Kick-Off 7:45pm

The Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round Replay

Tuesday 27th October 2015

AFC Rushden & Diamonds v Barwell FC

AFC Rushden & Diamonds will be attempting to reach the First Round of the FA Cup for the first time when they host Barwell FC in the Fourth Qualifying Round Replay of the Emirates FA Cup on Tuesday evening. The game on Saturday ended in dramatic fashion as a 2-2 draw – report here.

As a larger than normal crowd is expected for this game, all fans are encouraged to arrive as early as possible for this fixture, avoiding arriving at the last minute and expecting to gain rapid entry to the ground. With the potential of extra-time etc, it is important that the game can kick-off promptly. Efforts are being made to open the ground earlier than normal to accommodate early arrivals. The ongoing development work in the area is continuing, which will present additional limitations on parking, especially as there is a game at Victoria Mill next door, as well as an event at the adjacent retail park ahead of its opening later in the week.

The Canaries are a Step 3 team who play in the Northern Premier League. This will be their first visit to the Dog and Duck.

As a result, the planned fixture at home to Leighton Town will be postponed to a later date – details here.

If the game is level after 90 minutes then extra time will be played, with the game going to penalties if the scores are still level after 120 minutes. The winners of the tie will receive £12,500 and will face either Grays Athletic or Welling United in the First Round Proper on November 7th.

Details of the round dates, full draw and prize money are in the FA Bulletins here.

This is an all-pay game. Admission prices are £8 adults, £5 concessions, with 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 7:30pm and again at full time, subject to licensing rules.
  • 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..

Our Opponents

As stated on Wikipedia, Barwell FC was formed at the start of the 1992–93 season as the result of a merger between Hinckley FC of the Midland Football Combination and Barwell Athletic F.C., who had previously played in the Leicestershire Senior League. The new club initially played in the Midland Football Combination before becoming a founder member of the Midland Football Alliance in 1994. In the 2010 season under the management of Marcus Law they were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division One South as champions of the Midland Football Alliance. During this season they went undefeated, winning 36 and drawing 6 of their 42 league games. They eventually made it to 62 undefeated league games before a defeat. They followed this by winning the 2010–11 Division One South and gaining promotion to Step 3, where they have played in both the Southern and Northern Premier Leagues.

Some Diamonds fans will remember ex-R&DFC youth team player Dom Brennan who is now with the Canaries, as well as veteran striker Iyesden Christie who faced R&DFC several times whilst playing for Kidderminster Harriers. Another player that may be familiar to AFC R&D fans is Brady Hickey who faced the Diamonds whilst with St Andrews and also scored a hat-trick earlier in this season’s competition as detailed in this article.

In this season’s competition they have recorded three victories at Kirkby Road, knocking out Westfields (4-1), Cogenhoe United (5-0) and Step 3 Kings Lynn Town (1-0).

The Barwell club website is here and their twitter feed here. The Canaries are managed by Jimmy Ginnelly.

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). 

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.