Steelmen fight back to claim derby day honours at AFC Rushden & Diamonds

Corby Town's Tristan Thompson-Matthews celebrates firing his team into a 2-1 lead at AFC Rushden & Diamonds (Picture: Jim Darrah)

The Steelmen found themselves trailing 1-0 at half-time, but equalised immediately after the restart and then went on to claim the win in front of a crowd of more than 700.

Skipper Luke Massingham netted to put Diamonds ahead with his team’s first goal of the season, but Corby levelled through Drew Richardson and then won it thanks to strikes from Tristan Thompson-Matthews and Khristopher Oti.

The result sees the Steelmen, who were beaten 1-0 at home by Coleshill on Saturday, move up to fifth in the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division, while Diamonds remain rock-bottom.

Chris Nunn's side are still pointless after five games as they were also beaten on Saturday, 2-0 at Gresley Rovers.

Meanwhile, Kettering Town remain second from bottom of the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Division Central after another disappointing weekend.

Saturday saw the Poppies go down 2-0 at high-flying Redditch United, while on Monday they needed a late, late equaliser from Tyrone Lewthwaite to rescue a point in a 1-1 draw with St Ives at Latimer Park.

The visitors had taken a 71st-minute lead and then, after having a man sent off with three minutes remaining, missed a last-minute penalty to double their advantage, and the

Poppies took full advantage with Lewthwaite levelling with what was the last kick of the game.

See this week's Nortants Telegraph for reaction to the weekend's matches.