Season 2006-07

As a result of relegation the club decided not to renew Barry Hunter’s contract as Manager whilst many players were also released prior to the start of the 2006/07 season. A total of thirteen senior players left the club including Player of the Year Phil Gulliver and top scorer Drewe Broughton. Former Nottingham Forest and Barnsley Manager Paul Hart, was appointed First Team Manager on 23rd May 2006. In addition the high profile names of Ian Bowyer, Ian Woan and Tony Godden were also brought in as back room staff. With only a short list of players retained, Paul Hart signed Glenn Wilson, Paul Watson, Jon Ashton, Chris Hope and Leo Fortune-West early in the pre-season period, while Michael Rankine and Nicky Eyre both signed shortly before the season began after successful trial periods at the club, with Eyre becoming the third senior keeper on the club’s book along with Scott Tynan and Danny Crane.

The Diamonds started the season poorly with defeats to Crawley Town and Grays Athletic, and after a 4-1 defeat to Northwich Victoria, and with only 4 wins in the first 16 games Paul Hart and his management paid the price for the Club’s poor league position, with Tony Godden taking temporary charge as Caretaker Manager.

Tony’s first game in charge saw a respectable 1-1 draw away at Weymouth and although the side lost in the League to Dagenham & Redbridge, St. Albans and Aldershot, the club progressed to the Second round of the FA Cup after beating League One side Yeovil Town 3-1.

On 22nd November 2006 the Supporters Trust handed over control of Rushden & Diamonds, and the Nene Park facilities they controlled, to Keith Cousins, who made a loan to cover short-term debts and became the new Club Chairman.

Following Mr Cousin’s arrival the club sought a new manager, with Graham Westley being appointed on Monday 18th December 2006 prior to the Club’s busy Christmas schedule.

After results picked up, and Conference safety looked certain, Graham Westley left the club by mutual consent to be replaced by Garry Hill, the former Weymouth and Dagenham & Redbridge manager, appointed at the end of February 2007.

Garry’s side finished the season in 12th place on 62 points. Over the summer players such as Curtis Woodhouse, Martin Foster, and former Diamond players Jon Challinor, Andy Burgess and Phil Gulliver were brought in to strengthen the team, with the aim of a push for in the newly renamed Blue Square Premier in the 2007/08 season.

The game at St Albans on 18th November 2006 was the 800th in the Diamonds History – see here for a reflection on that milestone.

See below for a match summary as well as links to match reports. The final league table for the season can be seen here.

See here for a detailed summary of all the games during the season, including team-line up for each game and match timings.

Date	V	Lge	Opponent	Result	Scorers	Att
Sat 12/08/06	A	Conf	Crawley Town	Lost 0-1	–	1088
Tue 15/08/06	H	Conf	Grays Athletic	Lost 1-3	Rankine	2015
Sat 19/08/06	H	Conf	Forest Green Rovers	Won 2-0	Chillingworth, Jackson	1693
Sat 26/08/06	A	Conf	Southport	Won 2-1	Chillingworth, Watson	1083
Mon 28/08/06	H	Conf	York City	Lost 0-1	–	2416
Fri 01/09/06	A	Conf	Kidderminster Hrs	Drew 0-0	–	1850
Sat 09/09/06	H	Conf	Altrincham	Won 3-0	Jackson/3	1680
Tue 12/09/06	A	Conf	Tamworth	Won 4-1	Jackson/3, Ashton	1105
Sat 16/09/06	A	Conf	Stafford Rangers	Drew 1-1	Hope	1054
Tue 19/09/06	H	Conf	Gravesend & Nft	Drew 0-0	–	1879
Sat 23/09/06	A	Conf	Woking	Lost 0-3	–	2084
Sat 30/09/06	H	Conf	Burton Albion	Lost 1-2	Kelly	2179
Tue 03/10/06	A	Conf	Morecambe	Lost 0-1	–	1252
Fri 06/10/06	H	Conf	Stevenage Borough	Drew 2-2	Hatswell, Hope	2309
Tue 10/10/06	H	Conf	Halifax Town	Lost 0-1	– (P)	1839
Sat 14/10/06	A	Conf	Northwich Victoria	Lost 1-4	Jackson (P)	853
Tue 17/10/06	H	NHSC1	Cogenhoe Utd	Won 2-1	Langdon, Lambley	133
Sat 21/10/06	A	Conf	Weymouth	Drew 1-1	Tomlin	2148
Sat 28/10/06	H	FAC4q	Altrincham	Won 3-0	Tomlin, Shaw, Jackson	1509
Tue 31/10/06	A	NHSC QF	Ford Sports, Dav	Won 2-1 AET	og, Rankine	86
Sat 04/11/06	H	Conf	Dagenham & Rdge	Lost 2-3	Kelly, Watson	2039
Sat 11/11/06	H	FAC1	Yeovil Town	Won 3-1	Hope, Rankine/2	2530
Sat 18/11/06	A	Conf	St.Albans	Lost 2-3	Tomlin, Kelly	1236
Sat 25/11/06	H	Conf	Aldershot Town	Lost 0-1	–	2128
Sat 02/12/06	H	FAC2	Tamworth	Lost 1-2	Shaw	2815
Sat 09/12/06	H	Conf	Oxford United	Won 1-0	Woodhouse	3270
Sat 16/12/06	H	FAT1	Scarborough	Won 3-2	og, Hope, Woodhouse	1152
Tue 26/12/06	A	Conf	Cambridge United	Won 1-0	Kelly	3000
Sat 30/12/06	A	Conf	Gravesend & Nflt	Lost 0-1	–	1110
Mon 01/01/07	H	Conf	Tamworth	Drew 1-1	Savage	1872
Sat 06/01/07	A	Conf	Altrincham	Lost 1-2	Tomlin	1111
Sat 13/01/07	A	FAT2	Witton Albion	Won 1-0	Tomlin	602
Sat 20/01/07	H	Conf	Stafford Rangers	Won 2-1	Cook, Jackson	1837
Tue 23/01/07	H	Conf	Cambridge Utd	Won 3-1	Jackson, Beardsley, Rankine	2239
Mon 29/01/07	A	Conf	Oxford United	Won 1-0	Beardsley	5654
Sat 03/02/07	A	FAT3	Gravesend & Nflt	Lost 1-2	Rankine	1127
Tue 06/02/07	H	HSCSF	Rothwell Town	Won 1-0	Rankine	260
Sat 10/02/07	A	Conf	Dagenham & Rbde	Won 2-1	Jackson, Hope	1817
Sat 17/02/07	H	Conf	St.Albans	Won 1-0	Maamria	2488
Tue 20/02/07	A	Conf	Exeter City	Drew 0-0	–	3135
Sat 24/02/07	A	Conf	Aldershot Town	Drew 2-2	Jackson, og	2189
Sat 03/03/07	H	Conf	Exeter City	Won 3-0	Jackson, Albrighton, Woodhouse	2344
Tue 06/03/07	H	Conf	Morecambe	Drew 2-2	Rankine, Kelly	1701
Tue 13/03/07	A	Conf	Halifax Town	Drew 0-0	–	1314
Tue 20/03/07	A	HSCF	Woodford United	Won 4-1	Tomlin, Beardsley/3	298
Fri 23/03/07	H	Conf	Crawley Town	Drew 1-1	Tomlin	1974
Tue 27/03/07	A	Conf	Grays Athletic	Lost 1-3	Jackson	762
Sat 31/03/07	A	Conf	Forest Green Rvrs	Won 2-0	Jackson, Ashton	1110
Tue 03/04/07	H	Conf	Weymouth	Won 4-1	Williams, Albrighton, Rankine/2	1623
Sat 07/04/07	H	Conf	Southport	Lost 2-3	Jackson, Rankine	2122
Tue 10/04/07	A	Conf	York City	Lost 1-3	Jackson	2955
Sat 14/04/07	H	Conf	Kidderminster Hrs	Lost 0-1	–	1925
Tue 17/04/07	A	Conf	Stevenage Borough	Lost 0-1	–	1715
Sat 21/04/07	H	Conf	Woking	Won 2-0	Rankine, Jackson	1922
Mon 23/04/07	H	Conf	Northwich Victoria	Won 1-0	Woodhouse	1533
Sat 28/04/07	A	Conf	Burton Albion	Won 2-1	Jackson, Woodhouse	2910

Note – those games with a (P) in the scorers column will have match photos in the report, and those with a (V) will have a link to video highlights of the game.