Spalding United 0
Alvechurch 1
Boss Chris Rawlinson felt he could take plenty of positives from Spalding United’s 1-0 defeat to Alvechurch on Saturday – despite it being their sixth loss on the spin.
A clinical finish from Josh March in first-half stoppage time was enough to settle a tight Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field tussle in Church’s favour, but the Tulips pushed them all the way.
Upbeat Rawlinson was convinced his side should have taken something from the game against a side that are currently sitting second in the Evo-Stik NPL First Division South table.
Rawlinson said: “I felt we deserved something from the game, but that’s football for you.
“One lapse in concentration from us let them in – and the boy finished well.
“To be fair, the lads are frustrated in the dressing room. But they took their chance, we missed ours.
“If you look at the chances, Jonny Lockie had a few that were flashing around in the box and they had a few similar.
“But we had a one-one-one and so did they. We missed ours, they put their chance away.
“We put a lot of pressure on them and you can see that we’ll score goals and win games again.
“Obviously we’ve got a huge game in respect to where we are at in the table next weekend (at Loughborough Dynamo). But I’ve told the that lads that they have to believe that, if they keep working like that, things will turn around.
“I thought Conor Marshall was superb and I thought Ben Davison was a real handful. Scott Floyd was superb on his debut, too.
“With Lee Beeson and Jack Fixter to come back into the squad, I personally think we’ll be OK.
“It’s football. You have runs of wins, runs of draws and runs of defeats.
“I’ve seen enough to know that we’ll break this run. We’re starting to get a bit of togetherness going after what we’ve been through, which is hard when you’re losing, and we’ll dust ourselves down and go again.”
After a largely forgettable opening 20 minutes, it was Spalding who fashioned the first chance of the game.
Good play down the left from Gary King teed up strike partner Jonny Lockie, but his low effort was saved the by the legs of Charlie Price.
Layton Maddison then crashed a powerful effort wide at the near post following a smart lay-off from Lockie as the Tulips continued to look the more likely side to open the scoring.
With two minutes of the first half remaining Spalding spurned an even better chance. Cenk Acar raced clear on the left-hand side, but dragged his effort wide with only the keeper to beat.
The Tulips were made to pay for the profligacy, however, with left winger March finding a pocket of space in the final minute of the half – and he finished clinically past the on-rushing Duggan.
There was little between the sides early in the second period, with Lockie seeing a header saved at one end and March sending a decent opportunity wide of the near post at the other.
Striker Justin Ceesay had two chances to seal it for the visitors, heading just over from a corner and then flicking an effort off-target at the near-post following a great run and cross from Jordan Nadat.
Spalding applied plenty of pressure late on, but failed to carve open the resolute rear-guard of Alvechurch as they slipped to 15th in the table.
The game was played just 24 hours after key defender Paul Walker left the Tulips to join higher-graded Boston United.
Striker Jamie Jackson also moved on earlier in the week, but Rawlinson said that no more players will be leaving the club without being replaced – insisting that the post-budget cut exodus is now over.
Rawlinson added: “That’s the end of players leaving, unless the usual methods happen. Anybody that leaves now will be replaced.
“There’s been a lot of work going on off the pitch to save the club some money, but we’re sustainable now.
“As far as I’m concerned, please don’t think that there are going to be another two players leaving this week.
“With regards to Paul Walker, where we are at the moment (financially) the contracted players took up a lot of the budget.
“That made things nigh-on impossible for us, so we had to look at our options. Of the contracted players, Paul was the keenest to move on.
“This wasn’t what he signed up for in fairness, he thought we’d be winning games and be near the top of the league.
“He actively wanted to find himself somewhere else and Boston United is a dream move for him.
“Fair play to him, I love Paul to bits and wish him all of the luck in the world.
“He’s been fabulous for the club for a long time and he deserves to be playing at a higher level.
“Boston United will suit him, which is great.”
Tulips: Duggan, Floyd, Jackson, Humble, (Havard 90), Spafford, Marshall, Davison, Maddison (Neil 65), Acar, King, Lockie (Couzens 70). Not used: Smith.
Sponsors’ MOTM: Davison.
Attendance: 101.
