Upbeat Spalding United boss Chris Rawlinson isn’t losing too much sleep over the 2-1 New Year’s Day defeat at Cleethorpes Town.
Midfielder Conor Marshall fired the Tulips ahead on 14 minutes at Bradley Road as they looked set to make it three wins on the spin.
However, a cracker from Luke Aldrich and a late header from Danny North ensured that promotion-chasing Cleethorpes completed a league double over Spalding, who stay 13th in the Evo-Stik NPL First Division South table.
Despite the defeat, Rawlinson was pleased with the haul of six points from four games over Christmas – and feels that the Tulips’ home form should be good enough to keep his side away from the drop zone.
He said: “Our home form is good and we need to capitalise on that for the rest of the season.
“Spalding is a difficult place for teams to come. The pitch and facilities aren’t great and it’s a long trip for most.
“We should be able to pick up enough points in our home games to keep us safe from the drop.
“I’m confident our away form will pick up at some point. We did well at Cleethorpes and a draw would have been the right result really.
“We probably should have gone 2-0 up, but they equalised with a fantastic strike – you have to take your hat off to the lad.
“The winner was tough to take as Ben Davison was down with a knock and I imagine he’d have stopped their guy scoring.
“But it’s a measure of how far we’ve come that we managed to push a Cleethorpes side that have aspirations of being promoted so hard.”
Following two excellent wins over the holiday period it would have been nice for the Tulips to complete the hat-trick, but certainly a share of the points would have been well deserved, writes RAY TUCKER.
As in the home wins over local rivals Peterborough Sports and Newcastle Town (see page 37), the Tulips again drew first blood with an early goal and the side looked to be on course for another maximum haul of the points.
Right-back Marshall fired the opener after 14 minutes – a tremendous strike from 12 yards out.
Gary King, on his return to Bradley Road, featured in the build-up.
His through pass to Cenk Acar ultimately won a throw in (quickly taken) and led to left-back James Hugo winning possession and giving the final pass for King to find Marshall, who gave former Tulips keeper Richard Walton no chance.
Two minutes later Marshall got forward, only to fire over the bar, while Jonny Lockie also had a couple of opportunities.
Lee Beeson gave another fully committed performance and also tested Walton before the interval.
At the other end, Aldrich twice missed the target, but Spalding keeper Michael Duggan wasn’t really called into action until early in the second half.
He was finally beaten by an exceptional strike from Aldrich on 62 minutes – a full-blooded hit from 20 yards which rocketed into the far corner.
Jack Fixter limped out of the game after turning an ankle in the 68th minute.
Fellow defender, man-of-the-match Ben Davison, then laid prostrate on the pitch with an hamstring injury when The Owls sneaked their deciding goal in the 78th minute – with substitute North heading in at the far post in packed area. It could be argued that had he not been injured Davison would have been in the right place to prevent the goal.
The Tulips switched to a three-man attack in search of an equalising goal. Ellis Humble could have snatched the vital goal but fired over the bar and a Matt Clarke effort from a Beeson corner was blocked on the line as the hosts held on for the win.
Spalding, who are nine points clear of the basement side Romulus, travel to Sheffield FC on Saturday (3pm).
Both Fixter and Davison are doubts, but Neal Spafford should return after a one-game absence.
Tulips: Duggan, Marshall, Jackson, Fixter (Floyd 68), Davison (Clarke 80), Humble, Acar, Beeson, King, Lockie (Couzens 75), Hugo. Not used: Smith.
MOTM: Ben Davison.
Attendance: 258.
