We caught up with Paul Driver as the Youth Team's pre-season friendly programme gets into full swing. This week, the Youth Team are playing:
Tuesday 14th July 2009
Bradford City Youth 1 v 0 Rushden & Diamonds Youth
Wednesday 15th July 2009
Cambridge United Youth 3 v 1 Rushden & Diamonds Youth
Friday 17th July 2009
Nottingham Forest Youth v Rushden & Diamonds Youth
Paul Driver talked about the Bradford defeat saying: "It was a good run out and I'm very happy with the fitness, we played some nice stuff but it was a but of a look back at last season, where we would have 4 or 5 chances at 0-0 and fail to convert. We used it as a chance to try out 3 new lads and 3 trialists for the Youth Team and also to try cover for Aynsley McDonald's absence (He is on international duty)"
After a second Youth Defeat to Cambridge United Paul added "We used 19 different players against Cambridge including a number of trialists. It was a very poor start and we were 3-0 down after half an hour. After that was a massive improvement, the fitness was good and apart from a very sloppy start we played well overall"
The Diamonds Youth take on Nottingham Forest Academy on Friday, with some Diamonds XI games to follow, involving a mix of Youth Team and First Team players.
Paul added "Congratulations to Aynsley McDonald, who played the whole game in Wales Under 17's 2-0 win over Iceland Under 18's on Tuesday. He phoned me to let me know he will be starting at left back in this afternoon's game against Norway Under 18s"
