Spalding United supremo Dave Frecklington has paid tribute to skipper Nathan Stainfield after he made his 150th appearance for the club on Saturday.
Central defender Stainfield was presented with a special award by the Tulips to mark the occasion before the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field clash with Market Drayton Town.
He duly led his side to a 3-0 victory – and Frecklington now wants him to lead Spalding to promotion from Evo-Stik NPL Division One South.
“Staino has been excellent from day one,” said the Tulips chief. “He’s a real leader.
“He actually makes my job easier in the dressing room and leads by example.
“Nathan wants the same thing that I want – to win things.
“His ability is there for all to see and he’s rightfully a regular in the Evo-Stik team of the year.
“If you want to win things at this level you need a leader like Nathan in the side.
“All that is really missing from his CV here at Spalding is promotion from this league.
“Hopefully he’ll be in the team of the year again – only this time as a player that has helped his side to promotion.”
Frecklington was delighted with Saturday’s 3-0 win over Market Drayton, meaning his side have taken six points from two games in December.
That’s a run he’s looking to extend at Gresley on Saturday (3pm). The Moatmen are the only side to have scored four against Spalding this season – having dumped them out of the FA Trophy 4-1 back in October.
However, Gresley have plummeted to 15th in the table since then, giving Frecklington hope of a revenge mission.
“Going forward, Gresley were as good as anyone I’ve seen at this level on that day,” added the Tulips chief. “But they’ve lost a lot of games since then.
“We’ve got back on track after our November blip. I want to see us go there and give a really good account of ourselves.”
Cenk Acar should return at Gresley, but Jonny Lockie and Jason Field have joined Boston Town and Chris Hamilton has been released.
