A crucial Dan Barton goal five minutes from time saw Spalding United end a winless run against Darlington.
For the third time in five games the Tulips let a two-goal lead slip.
But this time they delivered the killer blow to take all three points and a 3-2 win.
“I thought we were very good in the first half, we got our second goal, and as we’ve been lately, we took our foot off the gas a little bit,” said manager Jimmy Dean. “I read the riot act to them about that at half time.
“In the previous games, I never felt comfortable when we were 2-0 up, but here I wrongly was.
“Credit to Darlington, they made changes and they caused us a lot of problems until we made a change to counteract that, bringing on Ashton Fox.
“He deserves a huge shout out.
“He wasn’t playing until about 1.40pm on the day and I didn’t know he was going to do a fitness test , never mind pass one.
“He’s come on and his performance for the last 10-15 minutes as much as anyone has won us the game.
“It’s a funny game, football, as when we’re 2-0 up our confidence wasn’t up, then when they got back to 2-2, they dropped deep and barely touched the ball before we scored.”
Once again, Spalding found themselves 2-0 to the good after a strong first half showing.
They took the lead in 22nd minute when Michael Kelly’s ball was turned home at the near post by Dan Jarvis.
A similar ball from Joe Nyahwema down the left also brought the second 12 minutes later. This time Kelly leaving it at the near post for Barton to tap home in the centre.
Both Darlington’s goals came from set-pieces.
Firstly on 50 minutes a back post corner was headed back across for Jacob Hazel to volley home.
A failure to clear another corner saw Darlington level, Mark Beck pouncing after a decent save by Peter Crook fell to him.
“We looked really leggy,” said Dean. “If we’re honest a lot of my teams are transitional and we pride ourselves on energy, work ethic, combination play out wide and being aggressive.
“We want more control. It’s not games as to why we’re leggy; it’s the load and injuries.
“It’s unfortunate. We only get that back by games and repetition.
“We’ve got probably five players to come back in and they’re going to have to go through the same.”
But this time around Spalding did get the win as Barton received Alfie Bendle’s pass into the area and fired home.
“The fitness is there now,” Dean said of the striker. “All the bit between the boxes is great from him, but I’ve told him he’s got to then have the energy and desire to get in the box and score the tap-ins.
“He did that for the first and the second showed more of his quality. He had a great impact.”
It was a first win in the league since September 12 for Spalding, but it also makes it unbeaten in seven at home in all competitions.
“We’ve been struggling, there’s no denying that, and we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Dean. “We’ve a bit more confidence and a couple of players more to come back, but the fans are making a huge difference to us.”
Tulips: Crook, Kelly, Moore, Johnson, Bendle, Barton, Jarvis, Byrne, Straughan-Brown, Sembie-Ferris, Nyahwema. Subs: Sani, Betteka, Fox, Fowkes, Vaughan, Abbey, Grant.
Attendance: 781.
Pictures by Adrian Smith
