Carlton Town 4 Spalding United 0
Brett Whaley admits that his Spalding United side will need to be “much, much better” if they are to beat title-chasing Chasetown in their final game of the season this Saturday (3pm).
That’s after play-off hunting Carlton Town handed the Tulips a 4-0 drubbing on Easter Monday, with boss Whaley dubbing the performance “poor”.
Strikes from Aaron O’Connor (12 and 38), Tyler Blake (41) and Aaron Opoku (74) eased the hosts to victory as they took their bid to finish in the top five to the final day.
In contrast, Spalding slip down to tenth and now face an even more difficult season finale at the Sir Halley against a Chasetown side that that will win the league if they prevail on Saturday and Ilkeston Town lose at Wisbech Town.
A disappointed Whaley admitted that it was a day to forget for his side against Carlton and demanded better in the season finale.
He said: “It was poor, what more can I say.
“We made changes to the side given that we’d played on the Saturday and, to be honest, we didn’t look better for it.
“We were a yard off them in every department and it really showed that Carlton had something to play for.
“For me, it was a bit of a reality check. Perhaps it was one that was needed ahead of the summer, as I need to decide which of these players we want to ask back next season.
“We need to be careful, as another performance like that on Saturday against Chasetown will give us the same kind of result.
“We’ll be much fresher for Chasetown and we need to compete a lot better.
“They will be going all out to win the title and, if we’re too open, it’ll be a tough day.
“We’ve done well against the better sides by being disciplined and hopefully we’ve got one more performance in the tank.”
Spalding will either finish ninth, tenth or 11th depending on the results.
Tulips: Duggan, Hart, Lynch (Marshall 46), Koroma (Broccoli 46), Stainfield, Withers, Floyd, Bucci, Smith, Starkie, Seymour-Shove (Adams 72). Not used: Cartwright, Edge.
Attendance: 272.
