Rushden & Diamonds
After the roller coaster ride of Rushden & Diamonds first
season in the football league, the fans went into 2002/03
season wondering where the ride would end, the play offs again,
or could Rushden & Diamonds live up to the bookies tag as
second favourite and claim automatic promotion to Division
Two. Rushden & Diamonds kicked off the season in Swansea,
Paul Underwood's goal 5 minutes into injury time saw the ten
men of Rushden & Diamonds secure an opening point.
A disappointing draw at Shrewsbury was followed by a 2-0 win
over Scunthorpe. Rushden & Diamonds has started the season
flying but were brought down to earth by Cambridge. This was
Rushden & Diamonds first meeting with one of last seasons
relegated teams from Div2. The 4-1 scoreline actually flatted
Rushden & Diamonds, it could have been a cricket score.
By the end of September Rushden & Diamonds had slipped down
the table after a 0-0 draw with York City and another heavy
defeat at Bournemouth.
After a poor run in September Rushden & Diamonds started
to improve their form, as Christmas approached Rushden & Diamonds were looking good for automatic promotion sitting
just behind Hartlepool in the table, a 0-0 on Boxing day against
Scunthorpe United saw Rushden & Diamonds move to the top
of the table, pole position was surrendered 90 minutes against
Oxford United at Nene Park. The first game of 2003 saw the
Diamonds secure a 5-1 win of Shrewsbury Town, further victories
against Kidderminster and Cambridge meant Rushden & Diamonds
were just two points of the top of the table, despite not
winning in February Rushden & Diamonds knew that automatic
promotion was in their own hands, the Championship was starting
to look a distant thought. |
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