Chris Rawlinson is keen for Spalding United to put their cup woes behind them and focus on mounting another play-off charge – starting with Saturday’s home clash against Carlton Town.
The Tulips now have no choice but to put all of their energy into Evo-Stik NPL First Division South games after last weekend’s FA Trophy loss at Chasetown ended their interest in cup competitions for another season.
For Rawlinson, securing a top six place is now the sole priority. His side clinched third last year before losing in the play-off final, but he admits that the class of 2017/18 aren’t comparable to that team.
“All we can do now is focus on the league,” admitted the Tulips chief. “As I’ve said before, nobody in the league really scares me.
“Our home form is very good – and that is the cornerstone of any strong season. We’ve struggled away, but there’s still time to fix that.
“What we’re finding is that a lot of teams are hurting us by playing like we did last year. We’ve been especially vulnerable to long throws.
“We’re working on combating that, as the aim now has to be to challenge for a play-off place like last year.
“Saying that, we can’t compare our team now to last season’s group. We haven’t got a player like Nathan Stainfield to take matches by the scruff of the neck early on, or a Bradley Wells scoring 25 goals. But what we have got is a team with a bit more sparkle and goals coming from the likes of Jamie Jackson and Gary King.
“I couldn’t say which side is better as they both have great qualities. It’s just that they are very different qualities.”
Rawlinson must do without strike duo King and Jackson for Saturday’s home date with 14th-placed Carlton Town, with both serving one-game suspensions. That could give youngsters Jonny
Lockie and Lewis Millington a chance to shine for the Tulips, who go into the clash in seventh place – just five points off second.
The Tulips chief is also hoping to do some business ahead of the weekend, with a “utility player” number one on his hit list.
Any new signing will need to adhere to a new club initiative that will see players hit in the pocket for bad behaviour on the field. The move comes after Jackson’s red card for dissent on Saturday,
with Rawlinson admitting that enough is enough.
“Our behaviour on the pitch hasn’t been acceptable at times,” added the Spalding boss. “We’re going to have to start hitting players in the pocket now.
“We’ve got an internal arrangement sorted and hopefully things will improve.
“Enough is enough now, we can’t keep getting players sent off.”
Defender Neal Spafford also misses the Carlton clash through injury, but he is expected to be back in action at the start of December.
