New signing Bart Cybulski made an immediate impact for Spalding United as they hit back from 2-0 down to pick up their second win in four days at the Sir Halley Stewart Field on Tuesday.
His two goals earned a 3-2 success against Lowestoft Town in a stormy Southern League Premier Central encounter that saw referee Gareth Davis show 12 yellow cards and send off two players.
The Suffolk visitors capitalised on two mistakes to score twice through Gabriel Overton and Flynn Clarke midway through the first half but Cybulski, who had signed for an undisclosed fee earlier in the day from National League North side King’s Lynn Town, pulled one back just before the interval.
The six-foot six-inch Polish striker then grabbed the equaliser after 82 minutes before substitute Callum Chettle fired in the winner four minutes later from a free-kick.
Lowestoft captain Travis Coles was sent off just after Cybulski’s second goal, with Spalding’s Lamine Sherif dismissed for two yellow cards.
The Tulips had picked up their first points since the opening day of the season on Saturday with a 3-2 win against Biggleswade Town to ease away from the foot of the table.
Jimmy Dean was delighted to collect his first points as Spalding manager as his team ended a run of six straight defeats since their opening day win against Bedford Town on August 10.
That left Dean, who replaced Elliot Sandy three games into the season, able to say he was now looking up the table, instead of worrying about the bottom.
“I had been looking to see what Hitchin had done but now we can start looking up. No-one wants to be at the bottom of the league,” he said.
Dean admitted the win had been scrappy but insisted: “It doesn’t matter how we get them. They gave us a couple of goals but we gave them one. We’ve been on the wrong end of them a couple of times against Sudbury and Harborough.
“Those three points are massive for us right now. We had lots of good moments in games but we just need to have a bit more know-how.
“We had a corner in the last minute at 3-2 up but still the two centre halves were going up. We’re creating problems when we don’t need to.
“We do need to focus on the positives though because there were lots again. The effort was there again in abundance and they’ve given us everything.
“We were disgraceful at the start and we’ve got to get away from that. But we came back from behind and we won so you’ve got to give the boys praise for that. We were definitely value for the win.”
A thrilling encounter at the Sir Halley Stewart saw Cyrus Babaie-Gumbs put the visitors ahead after ten minutes but goals a minute either side of the break from Tyler Winters and Lewis Hilliard saw Spalding go in front.
Babaie-Gumbs levelled just after the hour mark, setting things up nicely for home captain Glenn Walker to grab the winner after 72 minutes.
New signing Connor Brown went straight into the team following his arrival from Ilkeston Town and the 32-year-old former Sheffield United, Oldham Athletic, York City, Barrow and Buxton man put in a man-of-the-match performance.
Tulips (v Biggleswade): Breeden, Brown, Ngandu, Cartwright, Stainfield, Walker, Hilliard (Chettle), Sherif, Winters (Bennett), Nicholson (Tomlinson), Nyahwema (Dawes). Sub: Warburton.
Att: 500.
Tulips (v Lowestoft): Breeden, Brown, Ngandu (Warburton), Cartwright, Stainfield, Walker, Hilliard (Chettle), Sherif, Cybulski, Nicholson (Tomlinson), Nyahwema (Winters). Sub: Bennett.
Att: 259
* The Tulips have been drawn at home to Alvechurch in the third qualifying round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.
The tie against the fellow Southern League Premier Central team will be on Saturday, October 5.
