Andy Peaks reflects on important win at Stratford | Stratford Town 1-2 AFC R&D

 

AFC Rushden & Diamonds returned to winning ways with an important victory at Stratford Town on Tuesday (26th).

 

Ravi Shamsi’s curling free-kick separated the sides in the first half with Joseph Magunda equalising for the hosts but Ryan Hughes scored with his second-half header to seal a Diamonds win.

 

“I fancied us if I’m being honest,” Peaks beamed.

 

“As much as they’re [Stratford] at home, the pressure is always on you at home against teams that you like to beat or expect to beat.”

 

“These are in a good vein of form themselves, they’ve done well in the FA Cup and I thought it was a good opportunity for us to come away from home and really express ourselves - I thought everybody in the squad was superb tonight”.

 

There was one one change made to the side which drew with Biggleswade Town at the weekend as Tom Lorraine replaced the injured Ben Diamond.

 

The Rushden manager revealed the extend of Diamond’s injury but insisted he wanted to maintain their style of play from the weekend.

 

“Ben broke his nose in literally the last second on Saturday so it’s quite a bad break. He’s having it reset on Friday which for me was a blow because for me he was excellent down the middle on Saturday”.

 

“Shanks [Lorraine] will win his headers but most teams have two big centre halves so that’s not the way I want us to play.”

 

“There’s times when you have to clear your lines and there’s times when you play down the sides of teams to clear or get in good areas but we don’t want to go long all of the time because even if Shanks wins it, we’re not gonna have loads of bodies around him all the time.”

 

Although the shares of possession were relatively equal, Diamonds settled into the game the better and looked in control when they had the ball without creating many clear chances.

 

The opening goal arrived when Ravi Shamsi curled a superb free-kick away from the goalkeeper and inside the near post.

 

The Iranian has now scored three goals since joining the club and the Diamonds manager was full of praise for his talisman forward.

 

“I thought we did start well without creating chances,” said Peaks.

 

“When the free-kick came along, we didn’t get many in the first half, but with that one I could see what he [Shamsi] was going to do.”

 

“It’s one thing to be able to see it, it’s another thing to be able to execute it and I thought he executed it superbly and that’s that bit of quality we needed from Ravi and which he gives us.”

 

The Bards made a strong start to the second half and found an equaliser that their early pressure had been threatening. 

 

A dangerous corner delivery found Joseph Magunda who bundled the ball home from close range in the midst of the chaos.

 

“They got the goal which obviously got their tails up,” admitted Peaks.

 

“The disappointing thing for me was that we wanted to not concede early to get a foothold and we have a couple of silly free kicks away right on the edge of the box which then lead to a corner which we didn’t manage to clear.”

 

“That’s what happens in football. They went out to follow instructions and teams are going to score goals against you”.

 

“What was important at that point was that we didn’t throw the towel in and go under which I know these never will do.”

 

Diamonds kept their shape well as they started to take control of possession once again and just as they did in the first half, they utilised a set-piece to take the lead again.

 

Ravi Shamsi’s whipped delivery over the defenders found Ryan Hughes, steaming in at the back post, to plant his header into the net.

 

The Diamonds manager was delighted with the character his side to stay in the game and give themselves the platform to score again.

 

“I thought we withstood it [pressure] well,” said Peaks.

 

“I thought we defended well. I thought the shape was excellent. I thought there were very few gaps for them [Stratford] to play through.”

 

“We then had a bit of pressure and a great delivery again and fantastic goal from Hughesy who was top drawer tonight - as were a few others”.

 

Rushden managed the game well after they retook the lead and limited their opponents to very few chances in the remaining minutes.

 

“I thought we were good all game,” said Peaks.

 

“We defended fantastically well and they [Stratford] didn’t get a sniff. Three points and all of the sudden the league table looks a lot better than it had done this time last week”.