Spalding Town captain Rob Ambrose hopes that Saturday’s shock defeat at Belton Park will serve as a timely reality check for his promotion-chasing team.
The 30-run loss at South Lincs and Border League basement boys Belton was Town’s first defeat since April 30 and ended a run of nine wins on the spin.
They’re now just eight points clear of Sleaford 2nd – who have a game in hand on them – with five matches left to play.
Ambrose’s side do still have their chief rivals left to play on August 27, meaning their fate is still in their own hands.
With key men returning for Saturday’s home date with Grantham 2nd (Spalding Grammar School, 1.30pm), the skipper is confident that his side will still win the title and secure promotion back to the Lincs ECB Premier League.
He said: “It’s still in our own hands, which is the main thing.
“Maybe we allowed complacency to kick in against Belton, I don’t know.
“Hopefully this will be a kick up the backside for the team and will allow us to re-focus on the task in hand.
“With five games left, the target is obviously to win them all. If we can do that, we’ll be champions.
“The Sleaford game stands out, but we’ve got some tricky games ahead of that one.
“Grantham won’t be easy on Saturday. They’ve picked up a few eye-catching results this season, so we’ll have to be on our game.”
Although Ambrose himself misses the next two games, Town are boosted by the return of Ben Smith, Cameron Roy and Jack Barratt for the clash with Grantham 2nd.
After that it’s away trips to rivals Boston 2nd (August 13) and Billingborough (August 20), before the trip to Sleaford 2nd.
Spalding then finish with a home date with Stamford on September 3.
Ambrose added: “Unfortunately it’s holiday season at the moment. I’m even going away!
“We’ve promoted a lot of young players in recent weeks and they’ve done really well, but it’s important that we have our big players available for the final five games.”
Vice captain Tim Norris will step up to skipper the first team in Ambrose’s absence over the next two weeks.
