No grounds for concern to Peaks and his players

Diamonds last week announced they would, at the end of the 2016-17 season, be forced to leave the Dog & Duck ground they share with Wellingborough Town.

It is a huge blow to a club with aspirations of climbing the football ladder.

However, Peaks is confident the future is still bright and that his team can go into the season with no worries about the ground issues.

“It doesn’t affect me or the players at all,” the Diamonds manager said.

“I’ve spoken to the chairman and the vice-chairman and they have told me we will have somewhere to play next season.

“We don’t know where it will be yet but we will have a home.

“It’s a shame because this is where we want to be but there is lots of stuff we can take with us and by this time next year everything will be well sorted.

“We can’t use that as an excuse for what might happen on the pitch.

“I’ve told the players to concentrate on earning a place in the team – that is all they have to worry about.”

Peaks and his men take on Didcot Town this weekend in the latest game of pre-season schedule which the manager believes is progressing nicely.

He added: “We’ve done okay without setting the world alight so far.

“Do I think we’re the finished article? No. But we’ve still got a bit of time to get things right.

“One big plus for me is having had the chance to see some of our younger lads.

“Over the last couple of years we haven’t had a dead match I could put them in to.

“Pre-season has been good for that and none of them have done themselves any harm at all.”