Much more to come from Diamonds after 'very rusty' start to pre-season
AFC Rushden & Diamonds boss Elliot Sandy says his side will get much sharper after opening their pre-season campaign with a 'very rusty' 2-0 defeat to Newport Pagnell Town last Saturday.
Pagnell took the lead thanks to a penalty inside 10 minutes, and they rounded things off with another goal late on.
For Diamonds, it was a useful run-out and a chance to test plenty of new combinations.
Sandy said: "You could tell we were very rusty - a new team and a new squad that was put together.
"I felt we started slowly and fair play to Newport - you could tell they had a game under their belt already and they were at us from minute one.
"We just didn't quite make the right decisions and lads were trying to get used to their positions.
"Their lad has got in behind for the penalty and then at 1-0 we started to build into the game and had a great chance when we were on top.
"It was a battle really and there's a lot more to come from us.
"Having 20 players, two teams of 10, it makes it more difficult but it's all about me and Jim (Diamonds assistant boss Jim Le Masurier) looking at different connections of players and seeing what works.
"We learned more from that than we probably will for the rest of the season.
"Obviously you want to win every game, but pre-season is all about working each other out and working out how your team-mates play.
"We'd had four or five training sessions and there were some positives to take from it.
"It's about getting that rust out of the minds and the legs, and that match sharpness will creep up."