Boss Sandy hails 'huge win' as unbeaten Diamonds move into the top 10
Elliot Sandy hailed AFC Rushden & Diamonds' 2-1 victory at Belper Town on Saturday as being a 'huge win' for his in-form side.
Diamonds maintained their unbeaten start to the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division campaign, and moved up to ninth in the table in the process.
Goals from Jack Daldy and Matty Warburton in the 13th and 19th minutes respectively put Rushden in charge, and despite a 77th-minute reply from Jacob Gratton, they held on.
It was an excellent win for a Diamonds side that was missing the likes of Jordan O'Brien, Bruno Andrade and Sam Brown, and also saw key men John-Joe O'Toole and Matty Warburton not appearing in the second half.
The victory saw Diamonds climb to ninth and to within two points of the play-offs, with multiple games on hand on all of the sides above them, and if they can beat Loughborough Students on Tuesday (ko 7.45pm), they will go sixth.
"It was a huge win for us," said Sandy. "I go into every game with confidence and in the team and the squad we have.
"Belper were six unbeaten going into that game, they were at home and on a high, and we had Bruno and Jordan missing, who have something like 28 goal involvements between them this season.
"That is a huge chunk, and we were missing Sam Brown as well.
"John-Joe then had to go off after 40 minutes, Warbs had to go off at half-time, and in the end we were glad we did enough in the first half, because in the second it was about hanging on to what we've got, and we managed to do that.
"It was a great result."
With 11 games played, Diamonds remain unbeaten and the win at Belper was their third in their past four matches, which is key to their rise up the table.
"Being unbeaten at this stage of the season is unbelievable really," admitted Sandy.
"We have drawn too many games, and that was the only sort of worry, but we have started to turn those close games into wins, which is obviously great and keeps us at the top end where we want to be.
"We have a couple of really tough away games still to come, at Loughborough on Tuesday and then at Carlton on Saturday, and both of those teams are right in that play-off mix as well.
"It is important now to just try and get as many points on the board as we can before the FA Cup game at Burton."