Andy Peaks reflects on Tuesday's win in the NFA Hillier Cup | N'hampton ON Chenecks 0-3 AFC R&D



AFC Rushden & Diamonds booked their place in the next round of the NFA Hillier Cup with victory over Northampton ON Chenecks.

Andy Peaks tailored his team to suit returning players but felt the performance improved as the game went on in Diamonds' 3-0 win at The Old Northamptonians Sports Ground.

He made nine changes to the side which drew at Needham Market and saw his team take a 21st minute lead through Tom Lorraine's left-footed strike. The Diamonds boss was full of praise for his veteran striker who was back fit having recovered from a hamstring injury.

"It was the perfect game for him to come in and have an hour, that was always the plan and I thought he took his goal really really well", said Peaks.

"We know what Shanks [Lorraine] brings to the team so that was a massive plus to get him minutes. I thought he was quite bright especially in the first half".

Despite going in with the lead at the break, the Diamonds manager was not overly content with their first half display but with recent absentees returning to the side, he knew he had to manoeuvre his squad carefully.

"It was more about getting minutes into the boys who haven't played much recently", said Peaks, whose intentions were made clear in his selections.

"I thought we could have played better than we did in the first half. There wasn't enough tempo, there wasn't enough good play in the final third and equally we didn't win enough headers and tackles for me".

"We want to set standards and we didn't reach them in the first half".

Will Jones was introduced to the action as a substitute for the second half which also initiated a change in formation. The 4-2-3-1 was changed to a 4-4-2 to accommodate Jones partnering Lorraine up front.

The young striker wasted no time causing problems in behind and ultimately got his just reward by scoring his first two senior competitive goals. The first of which was a powerful header from a Lorraine cross and the second was tapped in late after Connor Furlong's free-kick was parried by the goalkeeper.

As a result of Jones' display, the manager was keen to highlight his performance as a positive aspect of the match.

"I think he's been excellent in the three or four games he has played", said a pleased Peaks.

"He has come through games a lot quicker than I thought because Shanks hasn't been able to start. The plan was always to give Jonesy half an hour and build him up gradually but he has proved he is ready for it - that is not a problem".

"Apart from the two goals, he had other chances [and] he make things happen. He runs into places where defenders don't really want to track him and I'm delighted for his first two senior goals. [He] scored a lot of goals in pre-season and I've said all along he will score goals".

Comments

  1. Unknown23 September 2021 at 11:10

    Very informative. Keep up the good work Joseph 💪

    ReplyDelete

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