Spalding United 3
Shepshed Dynamo 0
Three goals in the last 18 minutes earned Spalding United a 3-0 victory over Shepshed Dynamo on Saturday – and gave Brett Whaley his first win as boss.
Top scorer Jordan Macleod broke the deadlock for Spalding in the 72nd minute, before Shepshed keeper Brandon Ganley was sent off moments later for conceding a penalty.
Macleod picked himself up to bury the penalty to make it 15 goals for the season, before Ben Starkie rounded off the win nine minutes from time with a fine run and finish.
The victory ended Spalding’s run of five winless matches, but it wasn’t all plain sailing with keeper Michael Duggan forced into a number of superb saves.
But the Tulips, who included new signing Dylan Edge from Wisbech Town in their starting line-up, were good value for the points
Whaley said: “It was good to get that first win. It was critical to get the result, really.
“The conditions obviously weren’t ideal, but we got the job done in the end.
“We had another first half that wasn’t perfect, but I think it was better than it has been and a continuation of the improvement we saw in the last match.
“It was better again in the second half and we controlled the play a lot more before finally getting the goal.
“What pleased me the most is that we didn’t just sit on our lead, we stayed in command and went for the second and third goals.
“That showed to me that we’ve got a good level of confidence within the squad.
“It was good for Jordan to get two more goals. What I especially liked was that his workrate was excellent.
“He understands that he has to do more than score goals and I thought he had another good game.
“We brought in Dylan Edge to give him support up there and I thought our attackers were all very good.
“But it was very much a good team performance on the day. Nobody panicked despite the amount of time it had been since we’d last won a game.”
Tulips: Duggan, Price, Lynch, Koroma, Stainfield, Cartwright, Starkie, Broccoli (Bucci 78), Edge (Olivant 86), Macleod, Seymour-Shove (Floyd 83). Not used: Stainsby, Buckingham.
Attendance: 182.
