Raunds Town v AFC Rushden & Diamonds
Saturday 20th April 2013 – 3pm
ChromaSport & Trophies United Counties League Division One
Kiln Park, London Road, Raunds NN9 6EQ.
AFC Rushden & Diamonds travel to familiar surroundings on Saturday 20th April when they visit Kiln Park to face Raunds Town in the ChromaSport & Trophies United Counties League Division One (Kick Off 3pm). The Shopmates were hosts for AFC Rushden & Diamonds from their foundation, including their initial season of Northants Senior Youth League Football.
This game was originally scheduled for mid-January, and was called off due to bad weather. The two teams first met at the Dog & Duck in November, when the Diamonds recorded a 3-0 victory courtesy of a debut goal from Matt Gearing followed by a Jake Newman strike and a Chris Hope header during the first half of that midweek game – report here. Alex Deakin will be serving his one game ban at this game, following his dismissal in the game against Oadby Town.
With the season nearing conclusion, details of the forthcoming fixtures and recent results from the ChromaSport and Trophies United Counties League Division One can be found alongside the league table on the League website here.
Details of any issues with respect to the weather / pitch conditions etc will be here or on Twitter (@AFCRD).
Our Opponents
Raunds Town Football Club was formed in 1946, joining the UCL in 1950. The Shopmates play in red and black stripes and their website is here. Despite all of the problems the league has had with fixture rearrangements, the Shopmates only have this game between their 3-2 loss to Olney Town on 9th April and their fixture at Harrowby on 4th May. They have won 10 of their 33 league games to date, and their top scorer is Alex Wills with 15 goals to date. Their manager is Lee Howard.
Getting There
For directions for the 9 mile trip from the Dog and Duck to Kiln Park (NN9 6EQ) see here.
Kiln Park is handily placed near the A45 in London Road, Raunds NN9 6EQ. From Wellingborough or the Rushden area take the A45 towards Thrapston, Continue on the A45 past the Stanwick Lakes / Raunds roundabout where the road becomes a single-carriageway. At the next roundabout take the fourth exit towards Raunds (the third exit is the turning into the BP Garage / McDonalds). The ground is then a short distance on the left hand side, with a car park in front of the clubhouse.
The Shopmates plan to arrange the car parking so that players and officials are directed to the overflow parking, leaving as many spaces as possible for fans in the front carpark. They advise fans that there are roadworks on the major road outside the ground, and that this is likely to be strictly policed, so those not able to use the club car parks are advised to look for parking on the minor / business estate roads.
Those planning to use public transport can use the X46/X47 bus from Wellingborough / Irchester / Rushden / Higham Ferrers to Raunds, using the stops nearest the ground in Brick Kiln Road – bus map here and timetable here.
Other Info
Individual player profiles for the squad are available here, with a summary list of player and management profiles here. Summary stats for the season to date are here, including appearance, attendance and goalscoring details. The current league table is here.
There are details on how to become a member of AFC R&D here, as well as information on Multiple Game Tickets and related prices here.
A full directory of UCL clubs, including links to websites, ground details etc, along with club links including Twitter details and some general UCL links is here.
