Carlton Town 2
Spalding United 5
Satisfied boss Dave Frecklington got the response he was looking for from his Spalding United side as they romped to a 5-2 victory at Carlton Town on Tuesday night.
The Tulips shrugged off a spirited comeback from their Evo-Stik NPL Division One South rivals to progress in the Integro League Cup thanks to goals from Jack Wightwick, Cenk Acar (2) and Nathan Stainfield (2).
The victory ends a run of three games without a win for Frecklington’s charges and banishes the memory of Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Newcastle Town.
Attacker Wightwick fired Spalding ahead with a diving header from a Bradley Wells cross, which marked his first goal for the club since joining from Boston Town.
The in-form Acar then won and converted a penalty to put the Tulips 2-0 to the good, but a spot-kick conceded by Mitch Griffiths allowed the hosts to pull one back before the break.
Carlton came flying out of the blocks in the second period and levelled through William Mellors-Blair – and the game was tight for a period.
But two copycat headers from skipper Stainfield – both from Matt Varley long throws – put Frecklington’s side back in command at 4-2.
There was even time for Acar to put the icing on the cake with a brilliant individual goal in the closing stages, beating three players before exchanging passes with Wightwick and finishing at the near post.
A much happier Frecklington said: “It was a good response from the lads. In terms of attitude, commitment and desire, I can’t fault them at all.
“We still have one or two issues and a few players looking low on confidence, but we’ll iron that out.
“Carlton is a terrible place to go on a Tuesday night, so to get five goals and end our poor run of form is just what we wanted.
“I thought they made a game of it for 20 minutes in the second half, but we stuck to our task well and deserved to progress.”
Tulips: Duggan, Lemon, Walker (Field), Stainfield, Gater, Varley, Downey, Griffiths (Lockie), Acar, Wells, Wightwick. Not used: Fleming.
