Peaks says AFC Rushden & Diamonds must learn from midweek loss

Andy Peaks wasn’t left completely downhearted after AFC Rushden & Diamonds were beaten on their return to action on Tuesday night.

Having been without a game at the weekend, Diamonds made the trip to Suffolk to take on fifth-placed Leiston in midweek.

They fell behind to a goal from Will Davies - one of the top scorers in the Southern League Premier Central this season - just past the half-hour.

However, Diamonds did find an equaliser through Nathan Tshikuna on 61 minutes, only for Ben Mills to restored the hosts’ advantage soon after.

And 2-1 was how it stayed as Diamonds slipped to a seventh league defeat of the campaign.

“I was quite pleased with large parts of the performance to be honest,” Peaks said.

“It’s obviously disappointing to have such a long trek on a Tuesday night and come back with nothing.

“But we have to take the positives and there are a few of them.

“The league doesn’t lie at this stage, it has taken shape and Leiston are up there for a reason.

“We knew they would be good at home but we knew they would do a lot of attacking and then leave gaps when it breaks down.

“We had a game plan and we executed it quite well for 30 minutes without being good enough when we got possession ourselves.

“We defended well but we switched off from a long throw and the lad has run through and scored.

“They had a good spell early in the second half but we weathered the storm and then we have got ourselves back into it with a goal.

“But then they have scored within a minute, which is obviously really frustrating.

“We have said all the way through the season that there are fine margins in these games and whereas at Stratford and Hednesford we have come out of it on the good side, this time we didn’t.

“We will learn from it and try to go again in the next couple of home games.”

Diamonds take on Redditch United at Hayden Road in their next outing on Saturday.