Tomorrow, Darlaston Town welcome AFC Rushden & Diamonds to the Paycare Stadium for a Northern Premier League Midlands Division fixture.

Tomorrow has been dubbed “bring a friend or relative”. Darlaston are looking to increase their supporter and fan base and therefore the “bring a relative or friend” campaign starts today and will continue for the next month or so in a drive to introduce new people from the community of Darlaston to the club and the club’s excellent facilities.

This is the second season tomorrow’s opponents have been playing in the Northern Premier League after being moved from the Southern League at the beginning of the 2023/24 season by the FA. Last season they finished 19th out of 20 teams, just avoiding relegation. Diamond’s played 38 games, winning 9, drawing 5 and losing 4. So far this season tomorrows opponents are in 16th place having played six league games, the same number of games as Darlaston but have won 2, drawn 3 and lost just once, scoring 9 goals but conceding 12 and they are two points behind Darlaston on 7 points.

The season started in the Emirates FA Cup, Diamond’s beat a very strong Corby Town side, in the replay after penalties before losing out to Newark and Sherwood United 2-0 in the Preliminary Round.

In the league this season, on opening day AFC Rushen & Diamond beat Lye Town 1-0 at their Hayden Road Stadium, followed by a 2-1 loss away at Bedworth United and a 5-1 heavy loss at home to Anstey Nomads. On Bank Holiday Monday they beat local rivals Loughborough Students 5-3 in an exciting game at home followed by a good 0-0 draw at Shepshed Dynamo.

In September Diamonds lost to Kidsgrove Athletic 3-1 in the Isuzu FA Trophy and last mid-week suffered the heartache of a 2-1 loss at Long Eaton United this after Diamonds had taken an early lead only to concede two goals in the 88th & 90th minute allowing their hosts to take the win.

Danger men for Diamonds are forward Jamal Adams who has scored 5 goals in league and cup games so far this season, followed by Charlie Green with 2 and Cairo Taylor who scored 2 goals in their 5-3 thriller at home against Loughborough Students.

As Darlaston are learning very quickly, there are no easy games in the division and the club has to be at its best to ensure that any return from any game the players have to be at their peak to stand a chance of coming away with some result.

After last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Coleshill Town Dean Gill’s squad has trained but also the members of the squad who have not seen much pitch time recently state their claims for a starting place this weekend with some excellent performances in the 2-1 Walsall Cup win over Midlands Premier Division side Romulus. Therefore, the manager is likely to have a few selection headaches for tomorrow’s game.

Kick-off – 3.00 p.m.
Gates and bar open at 1.00 p.m.

Admission – Adults £9.00, Concessions £7.00 (over 65’s and over 14’s)
Under 14’s free of charge.

Programmes on sale at the pay hut at £2.00 each

Team sheets will be produced in the bar before kick-off

The bar will be serving its usual hot and cold pre-match food from 1.00 p.m.

Please do not leave it late to come to the game, surely it is better to come early and have some lunch and a drink before the game.

We hope to see many new faces tomorrow, as the club would like all Darlaston supporters to bring a friend or relative to the game, introducing them to the club for the first time ever.