The Youth Team entertained Northampton Town on Pitch 2 at Nene Park on Saturdayin the first derby match of the season and were victorious beating their local rivals by 3 - 0 thanks to goals from Nabil Sharif, James Freshwater and Aynsley McDonald.

The early exchanges in the match were fairly even with both sides being limited to one long distance attempt each.Michael Jacobs' shot was safely caught by Joe Day and Lewis Hilliard's strike went just over Anthony O'Connor's cross bar in the Northampton goal.

Hilliard then created the first real chance on goal and saw his 20 yard shot rebound back off of the post and into safety.He was again involved in the opening goal midway through the half when his flick into the box found Sharif in space and the striker finished from 12 yards out.

The lead was extended towards the end of the half when Freshwater made space for himself in midfield and his 25 yard strike went low into the bottom corner of the net.

Half Time:Rushden & Diamonds 2 Northampton Town 0

Northampton enjoyed the better share of the possession in the second half and looked dangerous whenever Joe Benjamin was involved in the attack but, despite this, they did not create too many chances on Joe Day's goal thanks to a hard working Rushden defence and midfield.

Alex Phillips replaced Sharif and John Wigglesworth came on for Dan Easlea as fresh legs were introduced into action in the final quarter of the game.

With just minutes to go, Matt Evans' cross field ball found McDonald who unleashed a 35 yard drive into the top corner of the net to seal the victory for the hosts.

Full Time: Rushden & Diamonds 3 Northampton Town 0

Youth Team Manager, Paul Driver was extremely pleased with the performance and commented afterwards "I'm very happy with the overall display today and it's always nice to win a local derby.We attacked well in the first period and Nab and Freshy took their goals well, then they applied the pressure in the second half and we showed our resilience in defence, denying Northampton from having many attempts on goal.

Aynsley's strike at the end was the icing on the cake and we now have to take that sort of performance and level of work rate in to the upcoming League and FA Youth Cup games"

Rushden Team: Day (Captain), Evans, McDonald, Cox, Hayes, Higgins, Hallford, Freshwater, Shariff (Phillips 66), Hilliard, Easlea (Wigglesworth 78).
Subs Not Used. Emery (GK), Kirby, Sharpe.