Manager Jimmy Dean had mixed feelings after seeing his team scrape a 2-2 draw at Stratford Town on Saturday but will have been a happier man after a midweek 4-2 win at Kettering Town.
Substitutes Jordan Nicholson and James Clifton combined to strike the equaliser five minutes into stoppage time to salvage a Southern League Premier Central point at Stratford.
However, Dean thought his team should have had all three and in some comfort.
“It was fantastic from Nicho and a great finish from James,” he said. “I’m frustrated that we didn’t come away with three points but thankful we got one. I’ve got to praise the boys’ character to get back so late but it was a frustrating afternoon and it still feels like a couple of points dropped.”
There were no worries on Tuesday when Dean’s team stormed back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Kettering Town and shoot up to second place in the early-season table, despite having played all of their seven games away from home.
Things looked grim when they trailed 2-0 after 29 minutes to two goals from Nile Ranger but within another eight minutes they were ahead, thanks to a quickfire hat-trick from Bart Cybulski. Jack Roberts completed a spectacular victory in stoppage time.
The Tulips also had to hit back from behind to pick up a point at Stratford three days earlier.
Ty Deacon gave the hosts the half-time advantage but 13 minutes into the second half Yusifi Ceesay cut inside and fired home from goalkeeper Paul Jones’ long ball.
Cyrus Bruce looked to have earned all the points for Stratford when he struck with three minutes to go but the substitutes had other ideas, with Clifton heading in Nicholson’s cross for a point.
“The goals we conceded were both dreadful from our perspective but there has been a lot of change in the back four but no excuse for conceding like we did, it was really poor from us,” said Dean after Saturday’s draw.
“We weren’t aggressive enough in their box from our set pieces. It’s a sickening watch when you keep seeing the ball flash across the face of goal and there’s no-one there for the tap-in.
“We have to start doing it because it isn’t for the want of not communicating it. We get our wingers into good attacking areas and, when they put the balls in again and again, we have to die to get on the end of them because they are goals, simple goals.
“It is down to a lack of aggression and we’re not in the right place to get basic tap-ins. We’ve had lots of chances but lack that little bit of quality in the final moment.”
That was not the case on Tuesday when Cybulski tapped in Roberts’ cross for his first after 29 minutes, slotted home a pass from Ceesay six minutes later and then combined again with Roberts to bundle in his third in the 37th minute.
Veteran goalkeeper Jones played in both games, having signed on a two-month loan from National League North side King’s Lynn Town. On the bench on Tuesday was another new signing, 19-year-old Welsh u21 international centre forward Alex Roberts, who joined the Tulips after being released by Championship side Norwich City during the summer.
Spalding take a break from league action on Saturday with the visit of Alfreton Town in the FA Cup. It also marks the first match at the Sir Halley Stewart Field following its conversion from grass to an artificial surface.
Dean will be pleased to finally get to play at home but was annoyed that his team’s FA Cup focus was disrupted by the midweek league match at Kettering.
“To drop a game in at this stage before an FA Cup game is crazy,” he said. “The league should want our teams to do well, not hand the advantage to the opposition.”
Alfreton, who parted company with long-serving manager Billy Heath last week, have had a full week between fixtures after holding King’s Lynn to a 1-1 draw last Saturday.
Tulips v Stratford: Jones, Sembie-Ferris, Bondswell, Johnson, White, Lawlor,
J Roberts, Bendle, McCammon, Cybulski, Ceesay. Subs: Clifton, Sherif, Blythe, Sani, Nicholson.
Attendance: 532.
Tulips v Kettering: Jones, Sembie-Ferris, Bondswell, Moore, Johnson, Lawlor,
J Roberts (Nicholson), Bendle (Sherif), McCammon (Sani), Cybulski, Ceesay. Subs:
A Roberts, Blythe.
Attendance: 1,002.
