In addition to lifting the Northants Youth Cup following a superb performance in defeating Peterborough United, the Youth Team had finished their Puma Junior Alliance League campaign with an impressive 2 - 0 away to Wycombe Wanderers at Bishem Abbey two days earlier.

Paul Driver took a young side down to Buckinghamshire, resting second year scholars Ben Nunn, Andrew Tidswell, Jake Beecroft and Sam Smith completely and leaving Lewis Hallford out of the start line up ahead of the Peterborough game.

A fairly even first half ended goalless but Rushden struck twice early in the second half through John Wigglesworth and Jack Higgins to move into a 2 - 0 lead.

A slightly delayed match report as we're waiting for confirmation from the Puma Youth Alliance of where the youth team finished!

Wycombe had a great chance to pull a goal back following a foul in the penalty area by Higgins but Joe Day saved the resulting spot kick to keep the two goal lead in tact.This proved to be the only real opportunity on the Rushden goal during the second period and the visitors were able to complete a fairly comfortable victory.

Rushden, therefore, finished the season with 25 points from their 18 games and boasted the second best defence with just 19 goals conceded to the 18 let in by Champions, QPR.

The performances, both at Wycombe and looking at the season overall, pleased the coach.Driver commented "The Wycombe game was a great opportunity to take a early look at the side for next season - especially as Richard Dobson, their Coach, had done exactly the same with his selection.To play as well as we did against an outfit as strong as Wycombe was very encouraging".

"In terms of the season as a whole, I'm more than satisfied with how we've done with a comparatively young side.We've equalled the previous season's points tally but in four games less and to do so well defensively with a back line containing two first years and an Under 16 is a real bonus"

When asked about the final league position, he added "this is a bit of an unknown, I'm afraid! Of the 12 other teams in the league, we played 6 once and 6 twice to make our 18 fixtures but 6 teams got to play an extra 19^th game for some reason so, as it stands we finished a very respectable 6^th place- two points behind Northampton in 5^th with a game in hand.When you consider the calibre and status of the clubs below us in the league, I think we've progressed well".

Rushden Team: Day (Captain), Cox, McDonald, Phillips, Calcutt, Higgins, Hilliard, Freshwater (Hallford 67), Wigglesworth, Shariff (Evans 87), Easlea (Kirby 79).Subs Not Used.Sharpe, Hayes