Bedworth United 0
Spalding United 0
Stand-in manager Elliot Sandy has been dropped in at the deep end with his Tulips team facing three matches in just seven days.
Following Wednesday’s trip to Corby Town, Spalding welcome Harborough Town this Saturday before the eagerly anticipated Lincolnshire FA Senior Cup final against Grantham Town at Lincoln City on Tuesday.
Six of Spalding’s remaining matches see them face fellow Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Midlands Division play-off contenders and Sandy said: “They are all tough ones. It’s exciting times and is the sort of position you want to be in at the end of the season. Every game is massive now.”
As well as those tough league fixtures, the Tulips travel to Lincoln for the county cup final, where they are hot favourites to lift the prestigious trophy.
“Grantham play at the same level as us but haven’t had the best season,” said Sandy. “However, they’ve got many decent players who are more than capable of turning it on on the day. We’re not taking anything for granted. It’s a real 50-50 game and we need to get everything right.
“We’ve had them watched so know a bit about them; their strengths and what we’ve got to do to stop them.”
Recent matches have shown how solid the Spalding back line is, with Saturday’s goalless draw against Bedworth making it three clean sheets in a row.
However, apart from last week’s incredible 9-0 win at Daventry, goals have been hard to come by, with the other four of the last five games resulting in blanks.
“We’re working on our lack of goals,”admitted Sandy.
“That’s the reason I’m in the position I am now after taking over from Brett (Whaley). The the defence is sorted but we need some fine tweaking to get things right at the other end. We all know we can do it, just look at last week!
“The forwards have been lacking a bit of confidence and I need to lift them.
“We’ll be playing teams pushing for a play-off spot so they will need to win against us, which should open up things a bit, rather than teams coming for a draw.”
A scrappy game of few chances against Bedworth summed up Spalding’s recent lack of goals.
“We created chances but the final ball just let us down,” said Sandy, “Bedworth don’t concede many and were a real tough nut to crack.”
Sandy is only in temporary charge and said: “I’ve agreed to take this job on until the end of the season and see what happens then.
“I’ve got the full backing of the club and the players know what I’ve achieved in my career so I have a bit of respect and good contacts across non-League football.
“It’s probably come a bit earlier that I expected but I know I can’t carry on playing for ever so will put everything into making sure I make the best of this chance I possibly can.”
Tulips: Duggan, Bucciero, Warburton, Hilliard (Clifton 59), Stainfield, Cartwright, Jones, Barker, Edge (Ansu 79), Rolt, Broccoli (Sandy 67). Subs not used: Peters, Draper.
Attendance: 204.
