'No excuses' for Diamonds after such a frustrating spell

It’s been a frustrating few weeks for Andy Peaks’ team who were in a rich vein of form and on the brink of the BetVictor Southern League Premier Central play-off places when they beat Redditch United 3-0 at Hayden Road on February 1.

Since then, however, they have played just once when they were beaten 1-0 at fellow contenders Coalville Town while the remainder of their February fixtures - all due to be against teams at the top end of the table - were wiped out due to the stormy weather and waterlogged pitches.

The league table now looks a bit different with Diamonds four points off the play-off places. But they do have games in hand and a busy end to the campaign now looks on the cards.

Diamonds are hoping to be back on the pitch when they head to Banbury United tomorrow (Saturday) for the fourth meeting between the two clubs this season.

The Puritans have moved into play-off contention themselves and while Diamonds boss Andy Peaks feels his team have been hit hard by the recent postponements, he insists there will be no excuses made.

“We are looking forward to hopefully having a game,” Peaks said.

“It’s been very stop-start recently but we are eventually going to get a run of Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday because you have to think the weather will subside at some point.

“We fully expect to play at Banbury and we have to be ready for that one.

“We have played them three times already this season. We know we are very evenly matched and it will be a tough game but we go there with plenty of hope.

“I don’t think it has helped us with so many fixtures being off if I am being honest.

“It’s been frustrating because we were on a great run when we beat Redditch at home and we were looking forward to some massive games on the back of a good run of form.

“But we haven’t played much since. We had the game at Coalville where I thought we did okay and were unlucky not to get anything but now we have gone another two weeks without playing, which is frustrating.

“But a lot of teams are in the same boat. You can’t feel sorry for yourselves.

“We have to get on with it and start putting as many points on the board as we can.”

Diamonds are set to come up against a couple of familiar faces this weekend with Greg Kaziboni, who had a spell at Hayden Road earlier this year, now on loan at Banbury while former Diamonds man Luke Fairlamb is also there on loan from Brackley Town.