FA CUP FOURTH QUALIFYING ROUND. SATURDAY, 17th OCTOBER 2026.

Dire performance at Rushden as Morecambe crash out of the FA Cup with a whimper.

Before we go any further – if you are reading this anywhere on the Indian subcontinent now, please stop doing so immediately. A greater authority apparently even than God Himself has decided that the words I write are not suitable to be read by people like you:

Moving swiftly on, Morecambe made a 400-mile return journey today to play a supposedly regionalised `Northern’ FA Cup tie in the Fourth Qualifying Round in Northamptonshire, just seventy miles from London. They were about to face the latest incarnation of Rushden & Diamonds for the first time ever. But what do we know about this club?

I can remember – just over twenty years ago – driving near to Northampton on the M1 motorway in a big yellow recovery truck with a man who supported Luton Town. He seemed to know a lot about football and he told me that we were passing fairly close to Nene Park, home to what was at the time Rushden & Diamonds AFC.  He told me that it had been founded by the owner of the nearby Doc Martens’ Bovver Boot factory after his attempt to take over Northampton Town football club had been thwarted. He added that the novelty had worn off; this gentleman was in the process of sacking his entire English workforce; shutting down the shoe factory and transferring the entire enterprise to the Far East, where labour costs were far lower than they were in the UK. And his enthusiasm for the football club he had created was also at an end and it was facing a very uncertain future.

The Hatters’ fan was not sympathetic to the man he deemed to be responsible for all of this.

But was he right in what he told me?

More or less, yes he was.

Rushden is a small town just north of Northampton which once had a football club, Rushden Town (the `Russians’) that played at Hayden Road. In 1992, Rushden Town was bought by one William Maximillian Griggs, who was indeed the owner of Doc Martens. At the same time, Griggs also bought another small football club – Irthlingborough Diamonds AFC – which played at Nene Park in Irthlingborough, another small town (population: 9.000 people) on the River Nene just north of Rushden and to the east of Wellingborough. (If I was to set off on the A6 from Carnforth and simply keep going on this route southwards, I would arrive there after about 200 miles.)

Once Griggs got his mitts on them, the two clubs merged and began to play in the Midland Division of the Southern League at Nene Park, as Irthlingborough had done previously. Hayden Road was dilapidated and the home team – that’s Rushden Town, remember – had just been relegated into the bargain. With extraordinary improvements having been made to the Nene Park stadium and lots of money invested in the team – the original R&D were promoted to the Football Conference in 1996. Just five years later, they reached the Valhalla of the EFL. They rapidly progressed in their exalted position, being promoted to League One during 2003. But success didn’t last long. They came bottom of League Two in 2006 and were then expelled from the Football Conference during 2011 after being wound-up by HMRC mid-way into the 2010-11 season with debts of at least £750,000

By this time, Max Griggs was long-gone. The demise of his pet project started at a point when Dr Martens briefly lost its position in British culture as a style icon and was actually facing bankruptcy in 2003. Max Griggs’ solution to this problem was to transfer production of his boots to places like Vietnam and Thailand. Over one thousand British employees lost their jobs as a result, leaving only a skeleton staff of twenty in their Head Office. Mrs Thatcher would have been immensely proud of him.

As I was researching this piece, I saw an article on Faceflannel which featured lots of photographs of Nene Park in its pomp: and very impressive it was too:

One Peter Hall wrote the following, which seems to perfectly summarise the attitude most people who know anything of the sad history of the club have towards its demise – and why it happened:

“Rushden n Diamonds was just Max Griggs toy plastic football club. I used to deliver shoe boxes to Nene park to Doc Martens factory every day for 10 years and the money that was wasted on Rushden n Diamonds was amazing. When the bubble burst and he became disinterested in the folly he ditched it like all these bastions of the community do when their little hobby fails to amuse them.”

The club Morecambe would face today in the FA Cup was founded in 2011 and initially played in the Northants Senior Youth League Western Division with an Under-18 side. A year later, the FA allowed a senior side to compete in Division One of the United Counties League. This was promoted to the Premier Division immediately. In 2015, the club was promoted again, this time to Southern League Division One. Two years later, they transferred to the First Division South of the Southern League and in 2019, won a place in the Premier Division of the same competition The Diamonds transferred to the Northern Premier League Midland Division in 2024 and finished in fourteenth place last season. .

With Nene Park first derelict and finally totally demolished, the new incarnation of the club started its new life wherever it could play: four venues so far. Since 2017, they have shared the home of former feeder club Rushden Town in Rushden itself with Rushden & Higham United FC. This is not a situation it is happy with. The Phoenix club’s `New Home’ website tells us:

“Yet, while cherished, Hayden Road has significant limitations in terms of capacity, facilities, and long-term sustainability. It is a practical compromise, not the ambitious, permanent home a Club of this size deserves.”

Delusions of grandeur? Just plain deluded? Or a statement of intent?…

Whatever, during its short existence, AFCR&D has not managed to avoid further notoriety. On 21^st March 2026, the Diamonds were playing a Northern Premier League Midlands Division fixture against Loughborough Students. About twenty minutes into the game, Diamonds’ fowards Bruno Andrade and Tyler Winters were involved in a disagreement on the field which led to them coming to blows. The referee sent them both off; Diamonds lost 3-0 and once source I read insisted that the club responded by sacking the two men. (That’s clearly not correct because Andrade played against Morecambe today. Maybe the whole thing is a nonsense invented by A.I….)

On 19^th September 2026, the club entertained Peterborough Sports at Hayden Road. Subsequently, this appeared on the official website:

“The vast majority of supporters enjoyed what was a great afternoon at Hayden Road, but the behaviour of a small number of individuals was unacceptable and, unfortunately, took some of the shine off the day.In particular, we need to make it absolutely clear that bringing alcohol into the stadium is not permitted. Anyone found bringing alcohol into the ground will be required to leave and may also face a ban from attending future matches. More broadly, the Club will not tolerate behaviour that is disrespectful, threatening or abusive towards our volunteers, staff, opposition or fellow supporters. It is particularly disappointing when incidents of this nature require members of our Board and other volunteers to step in and deal with situations that should never arise. These individuals give up their own time to help run and support this football club. They should not be placed in difficult or confrontational situations because of the behaviour of a small number of people. There is already more than enough going on behind the scenes to keep our volunteers and Board busy without having to deal with avoidable issues caused by poor behaviour on matchdays. Following discussions with Rushden & Higham United, we have also taken the decision that, with immediate effect, supporters under the age of 16 will no longer be permitted entry to the clubhouse unless accompanied by a responsible adult. We appreciate that this may be disappointing for some of our younger supporters, but the decision has been made in the interests of maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for everyone using the facility. We also want to apologise to Peterborough Sports and their supporters who were affected by Saturday’s incidents. That is not the experience we want visiting clubs or supporters to have when they come to Hayden Road.”

Oh dear. So perhaps the new club should really be called AFC Rushden & Rough Diamonds…

Morecambe played the original R&D in 2007, drawing the home game at Christie Park 2-2 and winning at Nene Park 0-1 in the Football Conference. At least a couple of players have appeared for both club, including Justin Jackson and Manny Panther.

Rushden started the match today in twelfth position in the Northern Premier League Midland Division but have played significantly fewer games than most of their rivals due to their successful FA Cup run. In the last round, the Diamonds overcame Braintree Town of the National League South by two goals to one at Hayden Road to pull off a significant giant-killing.

The club’s website stated the significance of today’s match in these terms:

Home section is SOLD OUT! The crowd will be record breaking! The atmosphere will be deafening! The opportunity is massive! The prize would be historic!

For this match only, they also printed a special programme:

The visitors’ Manager Adam Lakeland put the clash into slightly less hyperbolic perspective with these words:

“We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be a very difficult game for us on Saturday. It is a banana skin.”

Asked about the importance of approaching the fixture with the right mentality, he replied:

“If we don’t, we’ll go out. And we’ll probably be all over the front page of the Non-League Paper on Sunday morning as well.”

Adam then waxed lyrical about the possibility of a draw against `a really big club’ if his side was able to prevail today.

It’s a really sobering thought for Shrimps’ fans to remind ourselves that Morecambe would have been one of those `really big clubs’ just two short years ago…

Anyway, the Manager had already explained after the defeat at Worksop last week that injuries alone meant he would have to sign another central defender this week because he has basically run out of them.

Club Captain Will Smith’s knee injury has turned-out to be a lot more serious than initially suspected and he has had to have it operated upon. He will remain sidelined for the next few months as a result. Replacement Captain Liam Hogan was hurt last week at Worksop and had to be withdrawn at half time. He will also need some time to recover.

So it was no surprise when 20-year-old Luca Davis was drafted into a skeleton staff to fill the breach. The Everton loanee will play for the Shrimps until next January and he apparently has all the attributes needed to steady the ship at the back.

The Manager made it clear that the small squad at his disposal present multiple challenges give the varying fitness levels of his players, many of whom are carrying injuries.

He also seemed unhappy about the fact that his team were being bussed to the fixture on the day of the game, which – although obviously not being ideal – is yet another reminder of how far our club has fallen in recent years.

Meteorologists have predicted that today would be one of the last truly gloriously sunny days right across England this year. And so it proved in Northamptonshire: this was shirt-sleeves weather as a record crowd to watch the latest version of Rushden & Diamonds in their biggest match so far.

The home side started on the front foot on a bobbly but natural grass pitch with a lot of sand in it and won a free-kick almost immediately. Morecambe had the first shot of the game – Ruben Curley forcing an easy save from home keeper Charlie Woods after two minutes. The Shrimps had an early warning with seven minutes played as a long throw by Sam Brown from the Diamonds’ left was headed from the near post into the path of Bruno Andrade, who had a gold-plated chance to score but forced tremendous double saves from Myles Boney at the cost of a corner. The visiting stopper was forced to make another decent save from Matt Warburton after ten minutes. At the other end, Woods was then forced into an excellent stop in the twelfth minute as Ben Williams played-in Isaac Buckley-Ricketts for a one-on-one chance against the goalkeeper which was turned-away for a corner kick.

The home goalkeeper then made an excellent save from Curley as he hit a cross from Cameron Coxe first time with just over a quarter of an hour played.

The home team won another throw-in after 20 minutes from an almost identical position to where they had troubled the Shrimps’ defence earlier in the game. Brown lobbed another howitzer into the mix; the visitors couldn’t clear it once more and James Clifton smashed it into the net despite another valiant attempt by Myles to keep it out.

It got even worse just three minutes later. Paul Lewis gave away an unnecessary free-kick which Warburton brilliantly struck home to Boney’s left with a tremendous shot which curled round the wall to put a team a whole two divisions below Morecambe into a really comfortable position against a supposedly superior outfit.

The pathetically weak display by the visitors continued as Rushden continued to ask all the questions until half time. Joe Garner was forced to head an effort off the Morecambe line from an Andrade corner with almost half an hour played to keep the score down as the Shrimps continued to look an absolute shambles all over the pitch. Clifton forced another smart save from Boney with thirty-two minutes played from what turned out to be an offside position. At the other end, the alleged Morecambe forward line offered no threat whatever as it was far too easy for the home side to clear the occasional cross which was inevitably either too long or too short.

Having said that, Isaac had a chance to reduce the arrears after being played-in by Garner with 38 minutes on the clock. He did well to beat Woods but Tejan Thomas did brilliantly to clear the ball off the line. Buckley-Ricketts then missed the target altogether from a tougher angle with just three minutes still scheduled to play. But the hosts had the last say of the normal time when Brown hit a shot over the bar right at the death.

So the half ended with at least a spark of resistance from the visitors. But overall, the Diamonds were really good value for their lead against a team which had been comprehensively out-played and out-battled all game so far. This display put the clock back to the worst days of Ashvir Singh Johal’s hopeless regime last season: it was unacceptably weak, uncommitted and feeble against theoretically far inferior part-timers who comprehensively out-played them.

If Morecambe had received the rocket they deserved at half time, they showed no sign of it as the hosts had yet another chance almost straight from kick-off which Boney was forced to turn away for a corner.

But the Shrimps halved the arrears with four and a half minutes of the re-start played: Curley made progress down the left and slung over a perfect cross which Garner headed powerfully home.  Morecambe were playing downhill towards their own supporters and the momentum clearly had changed even in the early stages of the second period. Hoping as I was that it would prove to be an omen for what was about to happen to AFCR&D, the skies clouded-over and the temperature dropped around the hour mark.

Buckley-Ricketts created another really presentable chance for himself with 60 minutes on the clock only to be denied by the feet of Woods as the home team visibly started to tire. The visitors probably should have equalised after 64 minutes when good approach play by them resulted in Elliot Newby putting a perfect cross onto Paul Lewis’ head. He had the whole of the goal to pick but headed the ball straight at Charlie Woods instead.

Within sixty seconds, a shot from a long way out by Cameron Coxe bounced back off the post. But the game gradually deteriorated into a shapeless slog between the two sides after that. Joel Nketia stung the palms of Boney with about five minutes left of the ninety as Morecambe had created little going the other way. But Woods did well again to push another attempt by Coxe away for a corner in the eighty-sixth minute. The nearest the visitors came to pulling the iron out of the fire was when Rushden substitute Freddie Robinson deflected another Coxe effort over his head only for it to just miss Woods’ goal by a fraction.

Last week, Adam Lakeland told us this:

“We concede a really poor first goal and – very, very quickly after – concede a poor second goal. Unfortunately for us, that’s happened all too frequently away from home and it’s something we need to address really quickly. We have gifted them two goals and it happened at Radcliffe; it happened at Southport; it happened at Harborough – and it’s happened again today. Ultimately, that’s why we’ve failed to get anything from another away game. It’s very disappointing.”

Today, they did exactly the same thing again.

Words simply don’t describe how inept the Shrimps were today. Nothing the Manager could possibly say could take the gloss off Rushden’s unbeaten season so far so I don’t think we need to bother with whatever he came out with after the game. The Diamonds seem to be a club on the up – but we most definitely aren’t. Good luck to them – their fans will be ecstatic tonight and I empathise with them, as I’m sure most Shrimps fans will.. 

What happened today was actually really humiliating: yet another new low in our seemingly kamikaze fall from much greater heights. The team needs to up its game right across the pitch. And so does the Manager: the fact that Morecambe’s latest shocking performance will be all over the front page of the Non League Football Paper – and plenty of others too – for all the wrong reasons tomorrow is down to him at the end of the day.

Before the season started, Adam Lakeland assured us all that he did not intend to sign any player who would come along just because of the size of the pay-cheque. He demanded commitment; effort and an unassailable determination to succeed from all the men he brought to the club.

I wonder how many neutrals watching this match today would say that he has succeeded?

AFC Rushden & Diamonds: 17 Charlie Woods; 2 Max Prickett-Reed (Y) (18 David Adegbola 77’); 3 Sam Brown; 4 Joel Nketia; 5 Tejan Thomas; 6 Sidik Atcha; 7 Jordan O’Brien (12 Curtis Hartley 82’); 8 Matt Warburton (14 Jack Daldy 45’); 9 James Clifton; 10 Bruno Andrade (Y) (21 Freddie Robinson 76’); 11 Freddie Findlay (15 Tarik Dallas 92’).

Subs Not Used: 18 Maltby Smith; 19 Cairo Taylor.

Morecambe: 13 Myles Boney; 2 Cameron Coxe; 3 Ben Williams (Y); 6 Lewis Baines (C); 8 Lewis Leigh; 9 Joe Garner; 10 Matty Daly (18 Taelor O’Kane 76’); 11 Elliot Newby (19 Ronnie Blois 88’); 14 Isaac Buckley-Ricketts; 17 Paul Lewis; 22 Ruben Curley; 24 Luca Davis.

Subs Not Used: 1 Joe Young; 7 Teddy Collis; 26 Lennon Dobson; 27 Adam Fairclough.

Referee: Jack Bloxham.

Att: 1,875 (An unknown number from Morecambe – 250 or so maybe?)