On the face of it, a 3-0 win at Southern League Premier Central Division bottom side Royston Town should have been a fairly unremarkable result.
However, Spalding United manager Jimmy Dean insists it was one of his favourite of the season.
After a goalless first half, the Tulips needed the late intervention of substitutes Tom Pugh and Saleem Akanbi to add to Yusifu Ceesay’s earlier strike to wrap up the points.
Dean said: “It’s one of my favourite wins this season. It was a real test of where we’re at and how much we want it. I know they’re bottom of the league, but they really put it on us in the first half.
“They were very competitive on the second ball and I sensed when we came in at half-time that we were getting a little bit panicky.
“We had to keep cool heads. We had to trust what we were doing.
“The red card helped us a little bit as well. We mustn’t take away from that. It was really difficult conditions, a really difficult surface and we’ve won 3-0.”
Ceesay fired in the opener just before the hour-mark from a tight angle and the hosts lost their captain Adam Murray to a second yellow card soon after.
However, any hopes that would make things easier for Spalding were dashed as the Crows continued to battle hard.
Home resistance was eventually broken with six minutes to go when Pugh came off the bench to crash in a shot from 15 yards and then Akinba got on the end of a good save by the home goalkeeper to add the third in the last minute.
Dean said he was happier than ever with his substitute options.
“We’ve got to trust what we’ve got on the bench,” he said. “We had a strong bench before, but it was probably just a centre half and two right backs. There was no balance to our impact but none of them have come here to be subs. We look real solid and we’ve still got quality.”
Spalding face a tricky task on Saturday as they defend their three-match winning run, during which they have not conceded a goal.
The visitors to the Sir Halley Stewart Field are play-off chasers Redditch United, who boast a five-match unbeaten record of their own.
Tulips: Wilks, White, Olopade, Moore, Johnson, Thompson (Pugh), Roberts (Fowkes), Bendle, Cybulski (Akinba), Sani (McCammon), Ceesay (Sembie-Ferris).
Attendance: 355.
