Mark Starmer felt that his AFC Rushden & Diamonds side showed enough that they will be able to compete in the United Counties League after their County Cup defeat against Northampton Town.
The phoenix club are planning to make a return to senior football next season after reforming as an under-18s side in the Northants Senior Youth League this year, and it is hoped many of the current squad will be involved.
In what was their biggest test in their short history, the Diamonds exited the Northamptonshire FA Under-18 Cup after a 2-0 defeat against the Cobblers last Thursday.
And although disappointed to lose, manager Starmer hailed the performance from his team and believes that they will be capable of competing if they are granted entry to the UCL Division One for the 2012/13 campaign.
“I gave them a few things to think about before they went out on the reality of it and where Northampton are,” he said.
“[I said] forget that it's them and how many of those boys next year are going to be playing UCL level at best, which is what my boys are trying to do.
“That's what they have got to compete against and they applied themselves exceptionally well.
“The only difference was fitness levels - they train every day and they went for longer.
“They had a little bit of luck at the end when they scored the second, but overall we've applied ourselves exceptionally well and they couldn't have done any more.”
Goals from Danny Elmes and Claudio Dias secured Northampton’s progress to the quarter finals of the competition, with the Cobblers putting out a near full strength side to face Rushden at Kiln Park.
Starmer said: “I wasn't expecting that strong a side if I'm honest - I thought Sean would have mixed it up a little bit with the under-16s, but he hasn't done so which is credit to us.
“He's brought over a near full strength side...and again that's another pat on the back for us, it's where the boys have come from and how people think about our club.
“They obviously respect us and want to show us respect, and I'm really pleased with that.”
The Diamonds had a quick turnaround from that match and returned to action on Monday evening in the Senior Youth League Cup second round, where a goal from Blake Helsdown late on saw them sneak through 1-0 at home to Daventry Town.
Their next game is now not until a week tonight when they travel to West Division bottom side Olney Town in the league.
