The joy of six finally back after long wait
It has been a long wait for six successive wins.
Rushden & Diamonds have not achieved a run like this since the start of the 1998-99 season.
Back then the club were at the same age as a primary school pupil just starting out.
Now they are getting set for 'the real world' – although in football terms it has already been a journey of ups and downs on and off the pitch.
Perhaps the glory days will return soon as everything is certainly very positive at the moment.
Admittedly the current spell has featured a couple of cup ties with Blue Square North sides.
Each time Diamonds had done a professional job and it was more of the same to earn a first-ever win against Histon.
It seems remarkable there have not been six victories in a row more recently – despite two promotion campaigns.
So we should enjoy these good times – particularly the supporters who don't even remember what happened in August 1998.
The entertainment factor was missing at Nene Park on Saturday but nobody will be complaining about maximum points.
It won't be pretty too often in the Conference – especially against the likes of Histon.
In fairness the villagers from Cambridgeshire are trying to ditch that long-ball tag.
Yet they created very little as Diamonds also found it difficult to really get going.
Loan signing Jefferson Louis lasted just 17 minutes and his ready-made replacement Cliff Akurang was in the right place at the right time to score twice.
The opener came at a cost because Lee Tomlin's challenge on keeper Danny Naisbitt led to a slight knock which will rule the Diamonds forward out of midweek international action.
The ball broke kindly and Akurang kept cool to roll it into an empty net.
That was the first shot on target and things could only get better after the break.
Akurang and Tomlin both forced saves from Naisbitt as Diamonds attacked towards the Peter De Banke Terrace where floodlight failure in the South Stand corner left that area getting darker.
Diamonds doubled the lead as Akurang swept home from close range and a consolation by former Nene Park trainee Andrew Tidswell came a bit
too late to make any difference.
The 1998-99 season started perfectly and ended with a fourth-place finish in the top flight of non-League football.
These days, of course, that would mean a play-off spot for a chance of promotion into the Football League.
Under Brian Talbot and Max Griggs, Diamonds also took one of the Premiership's big guns to an FA Cup third-round replay.
I'm sure Justin Edinburgh and Keith Cousins would take a repeat of those achievements without a big budget. Anything is possible right now.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
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