When the Diamonds faced Alvechurch in the recent Evo-Stik Southern Premier Central game, Ben Farrell became the ninth Diamonds player to reach a notable landmark in both his career and in the history of AFC Rushden & Diamonds making 100 appearances for the club.
Ben follows in the footsteps of Sam Brown, the first Diamonds player to achieve this feat, Matt Gearing, Brad Harris, Matt Finlay, Tom Lorraine, Liam Dolman. Richard Bunting and Jack Ashton. He made his Diamonds debut at the end of 2016 in in Northern Premier Division One South game at Gresley, so it has only taken him 24 months to reach his century.
Now aged 32. the midfielder joined the club from Bedford Town in December 2016. Ben has had several spells with Bedford Town, and earlier in his career made the step up from the Eagles to play Conference football with Cambridge United. He then had spells with Weymouth, Cambridge City and St Neots Town along with Arlesey Town before rejoining the Eagles. He impressed in the Diamonds midfield in the 2016/17 season, appearing 30 times as well as scoring the club’s goal of the season. His successes with the club continued in the 2017/18 season, winning three Player of the Month awards as well as Supporters’ Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season award. He was the club’s top goalscorer in the 2017-18 season, scoring 19 goals. He had scored a further 7 league goals this season prior to the Alvechurch game.
Ben was presented with an award to mark this achievement prior to the home game against St Neots Town. The award was kindly sponsored by P.W. House Jewellers of Rushden.
You can see Ben’s player profile with details of these games here.
(Pictures courtesy of Malcolm Swinden Photography Copyright Mal Swinden ©2016-18)
