Caretaker manager Tony Godden spoke of his surprise when the Rushden and Diamonds chairman told him to take control of team affairs.

Diamonds sacked Paul Hart following an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at Northwich Victoria on Saturdayand are now in the hunt for a new manager.

Godden said "It all came as a big surprise on Monday before I took control of training. Then yesterday they asked me to be the caretaker-manager for a couple of weeks until they appoint someone permanently."

"So I haven't even thought about applying for the job yet. I haven't stopped since Monday morning with trying to organise the trip to Weymouth. I'll get Saturday's game out of the way and then maybe think about the future."

"Quite honestly I haven't got a clue what will happen next week. There is no fixed number of games in charge and I'm doing it because I'm the only member of staff left here!"

"They asked me to take the reins for a couple of weeks so it saves rushing into anything and maybe upsetting the running of things twice in a month."

"All the lads know me so it's just a matter of keeping things ticking over and then we will see what happens next. I will try to make it as smooth as possible and, hopefully, we can get a good result on Saturday."