Sandy's levels warning as St Neots loss sees Diamonds drop into bottom four
Boss Elliot Sandy felt his AFC Rushden & Diamonds team were taught a harsh lesson in Tuesday night's 3-2 defeat at St Neots Town - a result that saw them drop into the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division relegation zone.
Diamonds travelled to Cambridgeshire on the back of a five-match winning run, but were stunned to find themselves 3-0 down midway through the second half as the home side dominated.
Bruno Andrade scored twice as Rushden produced a spirited fightback, but they were unable to find a leveller.
The loss means they have now dropped into the bottom four, although they are just four points off 10th place with multiple games in hand on most of the teams above them.
And Sandy feels his players paid the price for not being at it from the word go.
"I am really disappointed, because St Neots did exactly what I told the lads they were going to do," Sandy told @AFCRDTV.
"They are direct, put it in good areas and they have a lot of pace out wide, and they caused us all sorts of problems.
"St Neots were better than us and thoroughly deserved their win, but I would say it took us an hour to really get going.
"A while ago we might have crumbled, but we kept going and in the end we got it back to 3-2 and put them under pressure, but we couldn't get that goal.
"This is a kick up the backside for us. Yes, we are a very good team, but if you go anywhere in this league and you are not at it then you will get beat, and that is what happened.
"Full credit to St Neots, to a man they were up for it, and for 60 minutes we weren't and we gave away some poor goals."
As well as the loss, Sandy also saw two of his key players in Joel Nketia and Olly Brown-Hill both go off injured in the first-half, with both now doubts for Saturday's home date with Racing Club Warwick (ko 3pm).
"If you had said to me six games ago you would win five and lose one, I would have taken that," admitted Sandy. "It is now about how we bounce back against a Racing Club team who are flying as well.
"We need to start another winning run now, and we will be doing everything we can to start that on Saturday."