'Unfortunate errors' prove costly for Diamonds in defeat to Redditch

AFC Rushden & Diamonds were beaten by Redditch United at Hayden Road

Richard Maxwell admitted there was a sense of frustration for AFC Rushden & Diamonds after “unfortunate errors” saw them fall to a 2-0 defeat to Redditch United at Hayden Road.

After being confirmed as the club’s new manager on a permanent basis following last Tuesday’s fine 2-1 home win over Nuneaton Borough, Maxwell saw his team succumb to two goals in the final quarter of the contest against Redditch as Bernard Mensah Jnr and Danny King struck to keep them in the play-off places.

The loss sees Diamonds still in the bottom two of the Southern League Premier Central.

“We had a couple of unfortunate errors,” boss Maxwell told AFCRD TV.

“It happens, all over the park, it just so happened that they were in front of our goal.

“The guys put in a really good shift against the wind in the first half, we went in at 0-0 and that was the game plan.

“With the wind, we looked like we were going to do something but then we have made those errors. It was a little bit unfortunate but the performance, certainly to start with, was really good.

“It’s really frustrating but the guys will pick themselves up. That was our third game in a week and you could see it in both teams, the legs were tiring.”

Diamonds were able to welcome defenders Evangelos Empochontsif and Courtney Lashley back into the starting line-up following injuries.

And, with his appointment having been confirmed, Maxwell admitted he is now looking at the “medium term” as well as the short term when it comes to recruiting fresh faces to strengthen the squad.

“We brought them back in because of the legs,” he added.

“We haven’t had too many training sessions so they have had to come in cold, without doing much of the shape training we have done so it’s been a really tough ask of both of them.

“We are looking forward to two sessions this week because we can do some excellent work on the training ground and get everybody together.

“The previous training we’ve done, they’ve been injured so haven’t been involved.

“We want to grow these guys. We are now looking at the medium term as well as the short term of taking each game as it comes.

“We will want to strengthen but it’s not just about getting any players. It’s about selecting the right people who are going to help these guys improve.”