Diamonds enjoyed an excellent away day on Tuesday evening earning a 2-1 victory at Stratford Town.
Diamonds performed well throughout, comfortably soaking up early pressure and took the lead on 23 minutes in spectacular style. Ravi Shamsi whipped a superb 25 yard strike into the top right-hand corner from a free-kick. Further chances were at a premium at this stage of the game and it ended 1-0 at half-time.
Stratford struck back very early in the second half scrambling the ball over the line on 47 minutes from a corner not cleared. Diamonds regrouped and got back on the front foot straight away with Alex Collard coming close before Ryan Hughes headed in superbly on 55 minutes from another Ravi Shamsi free-kick. Diamonds then managed the game well against a tiring and frustrated Stratford side and spurned two good late chances to kill the game but the points were safe.
Full report to follow….
Man of the Match: Ryan Hughes
Attendance: 344
Match Summary: Paul Judd
Stratford Town
1. Liam O’Brien
2. Daniel Vann
3. Kynan Isaac
4. James Fry
5. Joseph Magunda
6. Jordan Williams
7. Daniel Lafferty
9. Jaanal Gordon
11. Ashley Sammons
17. Enoch Andoh
19. Lewis Wilson
Subs
8. Amer Awadh
12. Owen James (for Lafferty 46)
15. Harry Wakefield (for Andoh 80)
18. Jack Turner
20. William Dawes (for Wilson 40)
Goals – Magunda (47)
AFC Rushden & Diamonds
13. Dean Snedker
2. Patrick Casey
3. Sam Warburton
4. Jesse Akubuine
15. Ryan Hughes
6. Alex Collard
7. Nathan Tshikuna
8. Fernando Bell-Toxtle
9. Tom Lorraine
10. Ravi Shamsi
11. Connor Furlong
Subs
12. Matt Slinn (for Tshikuna)
14. Adriel George
5. Liam Dolman
16. Will Jones (for Lorraine 78)
17. Charlie Nixon
Goals – Ravi Shamsi (23), Ryan Hughes (55)
