The Mole the Official Matchday Programme £1.50 Issue 14

THE MOLE

THE OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME £1.50

ISSUE 14. TUESD A Y 1 6th JANUARY 2018

VS
AFC Rushden &
Diamonds

Evo-Stik South East
7.45PM KO

COME ON YOU MOLES

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NEW YEAR
NEW ARRIVALS

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Contents

WHAT’S INSIDE!...

AYLESBURY FC

The SRD Stadium Haywood Way, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP19 9WZ

Email: [email protected]

Welcome back to The SRD Stadium this evening as the Moles welcome AFC Rushden & Diamonds in this Evo-Stik South East clash. Here’s what’s inside your issue of The Mole...

Honourable Position

Club President - Bill Harrison

Club Ofﬁcials & Football Committee

Chairman - Alan Penman Vice Chairman - Steve MacDonald Treasurer - Rosanna Martone Secretary - April Benson Committee - Theresa Mccauley Committee - Tony Mccauley Committee - Maxine Ingram

U18s Fixtures Secretary & Club Welfare

Oﬃcer - Maxine Ingram

Club Physio - Kim Harris

Club Safety Oﬃcer - Steve MacDonald

Bar Manager/Events Co-ordinator -

Christine Martone

ISSUE 14:

AFC Rushden & Diamonds

08 The Diamonds

Write up on the Diamonds of the Phoenix club.

Groundsman - David Thorn Matchday Reporter - Jools Thomas Matchday Co-ordinator - Barry Goody Matchday Photographer - Marc Keinch

Matchday Programme

Editors: Marc Keinch & Mike Farquharson

Design: Marc Keinch Print: Fresh

www.freshdps.co.uk

Tel: 01296 489998

14 Dressing at the match!

Read the article written by FC fan Jools Thomas on his early football experiences.

24 Fans Focus!

08

See which FC fan is in the spotlight for today’s fan focus.

www.aylesburyfc.com

03

The Manager

Davis Haule

Good Afternoon and welcome to the SRD Stadium for this evenings league game against AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

as clinical as we should have

and supporters, GymFit4Less.

The squad have been training in the gym the last couple of weeks and we really appreciate being able to use the fantastic been in front of the goal, which allowed Chalfont to get their second and take all three points, so this evening we will
To Andy Peaks, his team,

oﬃcials and fans of AFC

Rushden & Diamonds, I hope you had a pleasant journey over to Aylesbury this evening. be looking for a much improved equipment on oﬀer. Charlie and

performance for the fans.

the team are brilliant and I can

highly recommend the gym to anyone reading my notes

looking to get ﬁt.

Today we face probably our toughest challenge of the season, Rushden are very much in form and at the time of writing this, they sit top of the league. Rushden will bring tremendous support and we will need to be at the top of our game and dig in on a challenging surface if we want to get all three points today.
We come into todays game on the back of two defeats, one where we played AFC Dunstable who are themselves chasing for promotion and on saturday where we lost out to Chalfont St Peter, on a day where we certainly weren't our best. Whereas the game was close for much of the afternoon, we weren't
As always I would like to thank the fans, volunteers and committee. All your support

and eﬀorts are appreciated by

players and management team alike, today we hope you enjoy the game.

Davis

I would like to give a special mention to one of our sponsors #COYM

Aylesbury FC vs AFC Rushden & Diamonds

04

The Chairman

Alan Penman

Today we welcome oﬃcials,

players and supporters of AFC Rushden & Diamonds, who

are currently ﬂying high in the

League. I know they have always had a good travelling away support so that should create a lively atmosphere today.
How times have changed

Alan Penman Chairman

though and it is a reminder that football clubs need a solid

ﬁnancial foundation and that

sudden injections of cash can normally not be maintained.

Recently there have been rumours circulating about a potential merger with Aylesbury
I can remember taking my sons United and a lot of speculation to watch Rushden & Diamonds on social media suggesting the in their previous incarnation when they played Carlisle in

same, I can conﬁrm this is not

on the agenda at this point, BUT
League 2 with an attendance of we must explore all options to more than 6,000 in that beautiful ensure we will continue to enjoy

new stadium. They have

football at Haywood Way and

that is something I will continue to do over the next few months.

suﬀered some hard time since

but now appear to be back on the up, moving back this year

to Rushden in a groundshare

Enjoy the game today and see

with Rushden & Higham United. you in the bar after the game.

www.aylesburyfc.com

05

The Diamonds

Introducing

AFC Rushden & Diamonds

After reaching the play-offs again last season in the Northern League Division One South, AFC Rushden and Diamonds are flying high in the league so far.

Diamonds are forever as the song goes. Well for FC Diamonds are forever causing us a headache!

After knocking us oﬀ of top spot

in the Cambridge City Chippy League, FC look for revenge today against an AFC Rushden &

Diamonds side in ﬁne form.

Albion 1-0.

Form Guide

Back in the Southern League for another season, AFC Rushden and Diamonds will be looking to take advantage of the 2nd automatic spot becoming available

to ﬁnally move up into Step 3 of the

Non League pyramid, and have certainly made a good start to the season.

Last five

HANWELL, A

WON 0-1

KEMPSTON ROVERS, H -

WON 3-1

2 victories from 2 meetings in the 2015/16 season when AFC Rushden won promotion to the Southern League, they couldn't quite push on for another promotion that year, losing out to

St Ives in the play-oﬀ ﬁnal. A move

to the Northern League Division One South the following season ended in similar fashion falling out

in the play-oﬀ semi ﬁnal to Witton

BEDFORD TOWN, A-

WON 0-1

Diamonds have been winning game after game, being clinical in front of goal and miserly in defence. Having conceded only the once to Kempston recently, which

was their ﬁrst goal conceded in the

league since November 11th.

MARLOW, H -

DREW 0-0

FLEET TOWN, A -

WON 0-4

08

The Diamonds

LAST TIME WE MET

A look back to two seasons ago when the Moles and

Diamonds faced oﬀ against each other in the league.

September 19th 2015

FC took time to settle and an early Diamonds corner bamboozled the whole FC defence before going to safety. Tom Lorraine forced James Weatherill into a smart save soon afterwards with the only goal of the game arriving a couple of minutes’ later. Diamonds’ Brad Harris had his shot blocked in the

box and Lorraine was the most alert man on the ﬁeld as he hit

the rebound past FC’s Weatherill.

FC’s ﬁnal chance fell to Brian Haule. As the powerful striker bore

down on goal, an outstretched defender’s boot blocked his route

and the chance went begging. FULL TIME 1-0 Diamonds

January 23rd 2016

The Diamonds did though take the lead on 23 minutes,Andy Hall's shot from the edge of the box appeared at ﬁrst glance to

be tipped around the post by the FC Keeper but the immediate reaction of the away side soon indicated to everyone that the ball had in fact gone through a hole in the net. After some

deliberation between the oﬃcials a goal was awarded. The away side who extended their lead on 35 minutes when Jon Stevenson picked the ball up on the edge of the box and ﬁred

past the right hand of Weatherill. Soon after the ball fell to Rudd 25 yards out after a clearance and he smashed it into the top corner to reduce the arrears.

Diamonds restored their two goal lead on 51 minutes when James Dobson failed to clear the ball and it fell Shawn Richards

8 yards out and he fired home with his left foot. On 89 minute the Aylesbury pressure paid off, A Rushden defender was robbed off the ball just outside the box by Lynton

Goss who crossed for Brian Haule to prod home. Diamonds nerves were settled though when into injury time a poor back pass by Jeanmal Prosper was intercepted by substitute Claudie Hoban who scored easily to restore the two goal advantage.

FULL TIME 4-2 Diamonds

THE MANAGER

Andy Peaks had joined Mark Starmer’s management team in May 2012, bringing a wealth of UCL experience as well as his notable career history with Rushden & Diamonds FC where he was eighth in their all-time appearance list, having played 205 times for R&D FC between 1992 and 1997.

He holds a UEFA B coaching license. He took over control of

ﬁrst-team aﬀairs in a caretaker role following Mark Starmer’s

resignation on 19th March 2014, and was installed on a

permanent basis a month later. In his ﬁrst full season at the

helm he took the club to a League and Cup Double in the United Counties League. He has since led them to the end of season

playoﬀs in the past two seasons.

www.aylesburyfc.com

09

Who’s who

WHO’S WHO

Who are the men from Rushden to watch out for this afternoon? We take a look here.

Scott Carlin
Paul Lamb

Scott joined the club in the summer of 2012, after leaving his post as Assistant Manager

at Northampton Spencer. Scott, or Biﬀ as

he’s more commonly known, brought a wealth of experience having worked with AFC R&D Manager Andy Peaks over the previous few seasons.
Paul joined the club in the summer of 2014 after performing a similar role at Cogenhoe United. He started his playing career at Northampton Town before making over 200 appearances for Wealdstone

Blaize Punter
Ben Heath

20-year-old Centre Back who joined the club in Summer 2017. He was a junior at

Mansﬁeld Town before joining Nuneaton

Town Under-21 setup. He then played at Barwell before joining Rugby Town. He has played international football with Antigua & Barbuda.
21-year-old goalkeeper who joined the club at the end of October 2016. The young stopper had been with Rugby Town most recently, having also played at Step 4 level for Daventry Town.

Joe Curtis

Liam Dolman

23-year-old midfielder who joined the club

before the start of the 2016-17 season. He graduated through the youth system at Southampton, having also been a junior with Leicester City before a serious injury saw his release.

30-year-old defender, who joined the club

from Daventry Town during June 2014. He is from Northamptonshire, and started his career with Northampton Town. making over 50 appearances in League and FA Cup games for the Cobblers in the next two seasons.

Joel Gyasi

Ben Farrell

23-year-old wide midfield / forward player

who first joined the club in October 2014. He started his career with the MK Dons

Academy, After playing 23 games for

Kettering Town he joined Bedford Town in

2013.
31-year-old midﬁelder who joined the club

from Bedford Town in December 2016. Ben has had several spells with Bedford Town, and earlier in his career made the step up from the Eagles to play Conference football with Cambridge United.

Richard Bunting

Tom Lorraine

36-year-old midfielder who joined the club from Kings Lynn Town in November 2013.

He had captained the Linnets to the Northern Premier League Division One South title in

the 2012-13 season. He missed the latter

part of the 2015/16 season due to injury. In 2016/17 he returned to captain the club in 45 games.
28-year-old striker who joined the club from Cogenhoe United at the end of March 2014, where he was registered with Daventry Town on a “dual-registration” basis. He became the club’s overall top scorer during the 2016/17 season, passing his half-century of goals during his Diamonds’ career.

10

Who’s who

Sam Brown

Ryan Robbins

25-year-old defender who was a junior at the Centre of Excellence at Rushden & Diamonds FC. He joined AFC Kempston Rovers in 2009, aged 16, and helped them to reach the UCL Premier in 2010. He returned for the 2016/17 season, when he appeared in 49 matches.
29-year-old striker when joined from Gresley FC in November 2017, having previously played for Barwell, Stamford and Coalville in recent seasons, following earlier spells with Boston United and Kings Lynn Town. He is also a St Kitts & Nevis international.

Luke Fairlamb
Callum Westwood

Initially signed for AFC Rushden & Diamonds in January 2015 but moved on to Bedford Town

without making a ﬁrst team appearance. Luke is a 25 year-old midﬁeld / forward player who was born

in Northants and was on junior books with several local clubs, playing in various positions including

left back and left midﬁeld.

19-year-old right back who signed for the club on dual registration terms with Kettering Town in January 2017. He was previously dual registered with the Poppies and Rugby Town. After an impressive debut was cut short by injury he was able to make 10 appearances for the club in 2016/17.

Ben Diamond
Cameron Gilchrist

Defender aged 20 who signed for the club in October 2017. He had played for the Diamonds in pre season, but then signed for Barwell, but moved to the Diamonds after

ﬁnding his ﬁrst team appearances were

limited there.
24-year-old attacking player who joined the club from Corby Town in November 2017, scoring on his debut for the club. Before joining the Steelmen he played at ON Chenecks, facing the Diamonds at both Youth and Senior level. In the 2016/17 season he scored 18 goals for Chenecks.

Ben Ford
Chief Boateng

22-year-old midﬁelder / utility player who

joined the club at the end of October 2016. He was part of the Rushden & Diamonds FC youth setup before transferring across to the Kettering Town system, prior to getting

ﬁrst team experience at UCL level with

Newport Pagnell.

23-year-old striker who joined the club in

August 2017 after a successful trial during pre-season. He had played in local Northampton leagues previously. He is also dual registered with Northampton ON Chenecks of the UCL Premier.

Jack Ashton
Kyle Swailes

26-year old defender, who joined the Diamonds on a dual registration basis with Stamford AFC in March 2014. After a promising start to the 2016/17 campaign a further knee injury ended his season in

November after just 13 appearances that

campaign.
24-year-old goalkeeper who joined the club to provide cover in August 2017. He is also currently UCL-registered with Rushden & Higham United. He was part of the academy system at Nene Park with Rushden & Diamonds FC before joining Raunds Town.

Claudiu Hoban
Adam North

25-year-old Romanian-born midﬁeld player

(also known as Claudio), who often plays wide-left, but he can also play centrally or on the right.
17-year-old goalkeeper who joined the club in November 2017 on a Work Experience Loan basis from Northampton Town.

John Dean

Darryl Smith

23-year-old striker who joined the club on

dual-registration terms with Desborough Town of the United Counties League in October 2017.
25-year-old winger who played at Newport Pagnell in recent seasons, taking part in

the Swans run to the quarter-ﬁnals of the

FA Vase during the 2016/17 campaign He joined the Swans in the 2014-15 season, and made 40 appearances for them last

season, scoring 13 times.

www.aylesburyfc.com

11

Dressing at the match

Words by JoolS Thomas

Written in 2009

Just how cool were those guys? It must have been 1982 and I was still a little 12 year old in East Manchester. The lads: Adi, Rick and Paul all dressed in their full Sergio Tacchini and Fila tracksuits wearing Adidas Rom, Adidas Jeans and Diadora Borg Elites. Their clothes seemed to dazzle and then I looked at myself. I was wearing a pair of drainpipe jeans, Slazenger sweater and black Gola pumps. anyone being too bothered. My team was, and still is, Mossley AFC, my hometown club.

Whilst the early eighties saw trouble at league grounds, non-league had the reputations as a 'bit of a one man and his dog' pasttime. And to an extent, that was and still is true. The only exceptions were cup matches, local derbies and games in

dodgy towns. An FA Trophy quarter ﬁnal at Bangor City in 1981

attended by some 2,500 saw running battles in the North Wales town, before and after the game. Also as the train pulled away

from the station after the game the bricks came ﬂying through

the windows. An easter derby against local rivals Hyde United

resulted in large scale ﬁsticuﬀs once too. The other place where

trouble was always guaranteed was South Liverpool FC, based in Garston, a tough old dockers area of Merseyside. Little wonder the club went out of business after vandals burnt down the clubhouse and trashed the rest of the place.
Shopping for me was Mossley Sports or Ron Hill in Stalybridge. Clothes were a birthday or a christmas treat. Fun trips to the swimming baths in Oldham would involve a diversion to Romida Sports to gaze along with the multitudes at the Fila, Ellesse and Lacoste gear all locked in glass cabinets like jewellery (I later learned this was to deter gangs of 'steamers'.) Legends arose of infamous lightning raids of Moss side and Hulme gangs on Hurley's Sports in Picadilly.

At school, kids would turn up with the additions of Pringle sweaters, Farah trousers, Kickers or Pods. School trips became mini fashion shows. I remember being about 14 and turning up for a trip to an old coal mine in Longton dressed in a Cerruti sweater, Lois jumbo cords and a pair of lovely tan Adidas slip-on golf shoes. Even though I looked the business, I wasn't going to league football regularly. My mum was scared because of the bad reputation of the game and I was always interested in the football rather than the bother. I preferred going to the NonLeague; it was cheaper, a lot of my friends - and my dad - went and I could always have a cheeky beer in the clubhouse without
The high - or low - point was the Northern Premier League Cup

ﬁnal in 1989. The game was played at Maine Road, just days

after the Hillsborough disaster and attracted a good non-league crowd of 2000. The plan was to split the main stand between Mossley and Fleetwood Town fans a couple of friendly bobbies

to oversee events. Those two oﬃcers were quickly on their radios calling for backup as gangs of opposing fans faced oﬀ

against each others and began rushing backwards and forwards throughout the game. ack up was called for from a United vs City reserves game. Those fans ejected continued the battles in the Moss Side streets. The result and goings on were front page

14

Dressing at the match

of the Manchester Evening News the next day, and Manchester

City were banned from holding Non-League ﬁnals at Maine Road.

A ban which has continued over to Eastlands, where the new stadium will never see a repeat of Mossleys 2-1 triumph that day. the football; althuogh an away game at FC Halifax Town or an FA Cup game at Curzon Ashton can have you looking over your shoulder.

Forward wind to 2009 when I moved to Aylesbury for work. I looked up FC on Google maps and eventually found myself to Haywood Way and knowing no one, took my spot in the stand. As it always the case, you get talking to folk. Mike, Mr Fish and Danny

of course made me feel welcome. 10-0 and 9-0 wins in those ﬁrst

few games certainly meant I had timed my initial visits to the club well as the club won the Spartan League and promotion to the Southern League.
My choice of clothes had changed by then. Favourite shops in Manchester were DeGuy and Voi in and around the royal exchange. Brands were C17, Radio, Ciao and Sonnetti. I also loved the