Garden Walk, Royston, Herts SG8 7HP
Tuesday 26th April 2016
Kick-Off 7:45pm
Southern Football League Division One Central Play-off Semi-Final
Royston Town FC v AFC Rushden & Diamonds
AFC Rushden & Diamonds will head to the northern tip of Hertfordshire on Tuesday evening when they travel to face Royston Town FC in the SL1C Play-off Semi-Final. The tie will be decided on the night, with extra-time and penalties if required. The Crows finished in second place in the league, are the top scorers in the Division.
The Diamonds will be wearing their red strip for this game.
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
Royston Town FC was founded in 1875 and played in various local leagues until 1978 when they joined the South Midlands League, winning promotion to the Isthmian League shortly afterwards. After a period back in the SML they won promotion to the Southern League Division One Central in 2012 after winning the SML title. Last season they were runners up in the Southern Football League Division One Central, losing on penalties to Barton Rovers in the play-off semi-final.
They are known as the Crows and are managed by Steve Castle. Their website is here, and their Twitter feed here. Their club colours are white shirts and black shorts. The club nickname originates from the fact that the hooded crow was locally common and became known as the “Royston Crow” – and is now featured on the town crest.
At the start of December 2015 the Crows visited the Dog & Duck and recorded a 4-1 victory – report here. In the return game in March the Crows completed a League double with a 1-0 win – report here.
Getting There
AFC Rushden & Diamonds Travel will be running a coach for this fixture as detailed here.
For directions for the journey of around 50 miles to Garden Walk, Royston, Herts SG8 7HP see here. Local directions are as follows “From A505 (Town By-pass) take A10 towards town centre (signposted London). Go straight on at next roundabout. Garden Walk is on the left after the 3rd set of pedestrian lights (opposite Catholic Church). Entrance to ground is approx 75 metres on left.”
The ground is quite near the centre of town, as shown on this map, but the club advise they have very limited parking capacity, requesting fans to avoid parking in the neighbouring streets and use the main Town Hall / Civic Centre Car Park, which is around a 5 minute walk away – use the postcode SG8 7EF (off King James Way – near the junction with the A10). This car park can be used without charge after 3pm.
Getting there by public transport is possible as the ground is close to Royston Town centre – although Royston station is about a 15 minute walk from the ground – see traveline.info for door to door directions.
Other Info
The fixture list is here, and latest fixture news is here. You can find a directory of all of the Southern Football League Division One Central Clubs, with links to web pages, twitter feeds etc here, where you will also find a set of links to other useful resources.
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 are also going to launch 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.
