Let us entertain you… Sandy wants to see his Diamonds team get on the attack

The school holidays may not have started yet, and it may only be July 17, but Diamonds entertain United Counties League outfit ON Chenecks in the first round of the NFA Hillier Senior Cup on Thursday night (ko 7.45pm).

After a string of away pre-season friendlies, with the latest a 1-0 defeat at Leverstock Green on Tuesday, the match is the first chance for the Hayden Road faithful to see their new-look side in action.

And Sandy is hoping to kick things off in a positive fashion against UCL Premier Division South opposition.

The new Diamonds boss has pledged to go on the attack as much as possible, but he insists his side won’t be ‘gung-ho’, and will also be solid in defence as they look to improve on last season's 14th-place finish in the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division.

Sandy has taken over the Rushden reins from Michael Harriman, and has been a busy man reshaping the squad ahead of his first season in charge.

Diamonds have made a string of new signings, with the latest being the capture of defender Curtis Hanley, who has put pen to paper after impressing as a trialist in pre-season.

He joins the likes of Jordan Graham, Gary Mulligan, Jake Duffy, Will Mellors-Blair, Lewis Elson, Joel Nketia, Olly Brown-Hill and Lewis Walker as new faces at Hayden Road.

It has been something of a revolution over the past month or so, but speaking to @AFCRD after his appointment, the new boss told the Diamonds supporters what they can expect to see from his team.

"You can expect attacking football," said Sandy. "Winning the league with Spalding (in 2023) we scored the most goals in the league.

"There is a way of losing, and if you are losing I would rather throw everything at it to try and get something out of it, and if you then end up losing 2-0 then so be it.

"I play attacking, exciting football, but am not gung-ho. We will be solid as well, but I want to see exciting football.

"You look at the Premier League now and I don't enjoy how that is all side to side, boring football, I want to get bums off seats, I want to get fans in the ground.

"I want them to be loud and to have something to really be proud of."

So what is the ambition for Sandy and Diamonds in the coming campaign?

"You need to improve every season, but on paper it looks like the league is going to be a lot stronger than it was last year," said Sandy.

"Realistically, we need to be pushing top 10 and hoping to be around the play-off mix.

"This isn't an instant fix, it's not going to be instant success where we are just going to go and win the league.

"But the plan is I want to build something special here, I want a real community feel. I want it to be a family-driven club, I want the players in the bar afterwards, talking to fans, engaging with fans.

"I want the young kids seeing their favourite players coming in and being around them, I think that engagement is extremely important.

"Where we are as a club, we are stable, ready to move on to the next level, and that is not necessarily going to happen in one year.

"The project is two years, or the next three years, trying to be right in that mix to get to Step 3."