An entertaining encounter at the Sir Halley Stewart Field on Tuesday saw Spalding United move two points clear at the top of the Southern League Premier Central table.
A 1-1 draw with fellow promotion chasers Quorn saw the Tulips create the better chances but they were unable to add to Alfie Bendle’s early goal.
It leaves them two points ahead of Harborough, although it is from two games more.
Spalding dominated the first-half play but had to be alert with some desperate defending needed to repel the visitors on the break.
Zak Goodson blasted a ferocious effort in from the corner of the penalty area to equalise five minutes before the interval after an earlier long-range effort had fizzed narrowly wide.
Another shot from distance tested James Dadge after 56 minutes, while Spalding came close soon after when Liam Moore’s header bounced off the bar.
Bart Cybulski then dragged a shot wide before Jack Roberts’ deflected shot looked to be going in until Tom Alssopp recovered well to save.
A half-time ‘tweak’ from manager Jimmy Dean had set up Spalding for a 2-0 win at Alvechurch on Saturday.
A lack-lustre first half showing left Dean concerned his team were suffering a bad reaction to the previous week’s FA Trophy defeat but his words turned things round.
“Particularly after the result last week this was a test,” he said. “It’s always a real acid test of where you’re at physically and mentally when you come here.
“We weren’t there first half, we were very flat. We were nowhere near where we needed to be and couldn’t get any rhythm in our game. We didn’t offer enough and I was very disappointed with that.
“It wasn’t a case of tweaking too much tactically I just needed to get them where they needed to be mentally. We did that and we came out in the second half with a great reaction. The subs impacted really well.
“We created six…seven…eight… very good chances but only scored two. But that’s back-to-back clean sheets in the league and another couple of goals.”
The Tulips went ahead four minutes after the break when Cybulski sent the ball out to the right wing from inside his own half to free Roberts. He rifled the ball across goal for Jordan Nicholson to slot in.
It was 2-0 after 69 minutes when Bendle’s corner was flapped at by home goalkeeper Redman Evans under pressure from Cybulski and Connor Johnson fired the ball across the face of goal for substitute Mane Sani to slide in on the line to convert.”
“We needed that first goal, it was a big moment,” said Dean, who also had praise for second scorer Sani. “Mane has got two in two games off the bench and turned it massively in our favour when he came on.
“We needed more conviction and needed to be more clinical and the first goal came at a good time for us.
“We probably should have had a couple more but I’m delighted to come away with a win.”
Tulips (v Alvechurch): Dadge, Hart, Blythe (White), Moore, Johnson, Lawlor (Clifton), Roberts, Bendle, Sembie-Ferris (Sani), Cybulski (Bondswell), Nicholson. Sub: Thompson.
Tulips (v Quorn): Dadge, Hart, Bondswell (Blythe), Moore, Johnson, Lawlor (Thompson), Roberts, Bendle, Sembie-Ferris, Cybulski (Clifton), Nicholson (Sani). Sub: Ceesay.
