Cancelling Cobblers friendly the right decision, says Diamonds boss Andy

Burgess and his players had been set for their latest pre-season test against a Cobblers team at Hayden Road but it was confirmed yesterday that both clubs had agreed to cancel the fixture due to the extreme weather conditions that have hit the county over the past couple of days.

Kick-off for the game was due to be at 7.45pm when temperatures are still expected to be well over 30 degrees.

And Diamonds boss Burgess said: “I think it’s the right decision.

“The most important thing is everyone’s health and well being.

“It’s extreme circumstances so it’s probably the most sensible thing to do.”

Burgess, meanwhile, admitted there were “positives” for him to reflect on after Diamonds bounced back from friendly defeats to Stamford and Loughborough Students at the weekend.

Jensen Cooper scored a second-half equaliser in their NFA Hillier Senior Cup first-round clash at Cogenhoe United before summer signing Courtney Lashley fired home the decisive penalty to give Diamonds a 6-5 success in the resulting shoot-out.

Burgess and his players are now building up to the start of the Southern League Premier Central season, which gets under way with a home clash against Needham Market on Saturday, August 6.

“It was a tough afternoon, Cogenhoe made it extremely difficult for us and it was obviously tough with the conditions and pitch for both teams,” Burgess added.

“We played a lot better, a lot more how I want us to play in the first half and we created chances in the second half but so did they.

“On the back of two poor performances, it was nice to get some positives in there and we got the job done with the penalty shoot-out.

“We learned more about lads we are looking at so it was a decent afternoon.”