Boss Nunn rues defensive inexperience as Diamonds are beaten again

Boss Chris Nunn was left to rue his team's defensive inexperience as AFC Rushden & Diamonds slumped to a 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Mickleover on Saturday.

Already without the injured Ryan Hughes, Diamonds' defensive strength was further hit 30 minutes into Saturday's clash when Luke Massingham was forced off.

By that time, Diamonds were already 1-0 down, and although Bogdan Marian scored to make it 1-1 at the interval, things fell away at the start of the second half.

Mickleover showed their ruthless streak as they scored three times in 12 minutes to go 4-1 ahead, wrap up the win and leave Diamonds rooted to the bottom of the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central table.

“It is disappointing,” said Nunn. “I don't think there was a lot in it first-half, and we came in at 1-1.

“I thought we probably just about deserved to be level, but we lost Luke our centre-half just before half-time, and we are already stretched in that area with no Hughesy as well.

“But I will say this, the boys have kept going and that was important.

“When it went to 4-1 I feared that, with the young boys that were out there, they could have collapsed, but they didn't.

“They kept going until the end and for that they deserve respect.

“There were some good individual performances as well. I thought Rod (Roddy McGlinchey) came in and was absolutely outstanding.

“For an 18-year-old to go into central midfield and play as he did I thought was a breath of fresh air.

“So we did keep going, but we just weren't quite good enough.”

Reflecting on that quickfire goal burst at the start of the second half, Nunn added: “That is down to inexperience really.

“You are playing against a team that is full of confidence, just outside the play-offs, have won their last four games and are used to winning, coming up against a team that is used to losing.

“Like I said earlier, with the centre-half situation the boys have done ever so well in there but it was just a 15-minute spell where they got a bit bullied if I am being honest.

“That cost us the game.”

Diamonds are now without a game until next Tuesday (March 14) when they host Rushall Olympic.

With 10 matches of the season remaining, Diamonds are now a whopping 19 points adrift of safety.