Sandy calls on leaky Diamonds to 'run through brick walls' to tighten up as they face crunch Boldmere clash

Sandy labelled his team's defensive record on the road as being 'embarrassing' following Tuesday night's 5-3 defeat at Sutton Coldfield Town, and he admits he and assistant Jim Le Masurier will be going 'back to the drawing board' to tighten things up.

But he has also called on his players 'to take a look at themselves' to improve on a record that has seen Diamonds conceded 19 goals in six away league matches this season, compared to conceding just five in seven games at home.

It is a big reason as to why Diamonds currently find themselves in the relegation zone.

Sandy's squad has been hit badly by injuries to key players in recent weeks, but the manager insists that can't be used as an excuse for their dismal defensive record on the road.

"Playing away from home in this league is very tough," Sandy admitted to @AFCRD. "It's one for me and Jim to go back to the drawing board, especially when we play away from home.

"We have a massive away game now on Saturday against Boldmere, hopefully we will have a few bodies back, and we need to prepare right and pick a team that is going to run through brick walls.

"I can't question the lads' work-rate and desire in terms of general play, it is just in our defensive box that it is worrying, and something I need to look at.

"It is a massive game on Saturday, and in terms of going forward we are doing well, it's just on the flip side we are conceding way too many goals.

"If I go back to the start of the season, we were defensively quite solid but we weren't really creating, but then we went through our good spell where found the right mixture.

"But I just think the injuries we have had have been to really key players, and we have had to move things around and it has unsettled us.

"We need to take a breath, it is the end of October, and although we are not in the position we want to be, the league is so tight that if you put a couple of wins together we have seen teams shoot up the league.

"So there is no panic stations, but there is certainly a lot of work that we need to do defensively."

Boldmere are currently second bottom in the Midlands Division table, but they know they will leapfrog Diamonds if they can secure what would only be a second home win the of campaign, with the Mikes having lost the other six!

And Sandy added: "If we can keep a clean sheet then I feel we will games because we have lads at the top of the pitch who can make things happen out of nowhere.

"It is my job to make sure we can do that, and those that are picked on Saturday need to show me they deserve to be playing, and they need to give everything to stop that ball going in our net.

"Saturday will be a tough game, because Boldmere will be looking at it and thinking 'we can get a result against Rushden because they are not the same team away as they are at home'.

"But I have said to the lads that they need to have a good look at themselves as there is only so much as a management team you can do.

"They need to ask themselves 'am I doing enough?' 'Am I putting my body on the line in the box to stop that ball going in the net?'."