Spalding United 1 Chasetown 0
Spalding United signed off their 2021/22 Pitching In NPL Midlands Division season with an impressive 1-0 win over promotion-chasing Chasetown on Saturday.
A second-half strike from Dylan Edge (63) settled the contest at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field, ensuring that the Tulips finished in tenth place.
The result also saw Chasetown drop to fourth place in the final standings, as they became the third team to finish in the top five to lose to Spalding since Whaley took charge back in December.
The former Wisbech Town chief was impressed with what he saw and felt it was the perfect response to last Monday’s 4-0 hammering at Carlton Town.
And Whaley was particularly pleased to give the sizeable home crowd something to cheer, having produced most of their best results on the road in his time as manager.
“It’s a great way to end the season for us,” said Whaley. “Most of our best results have been away, so it’s nice to end with a big home win.
“Given the result at Carlton last Monday, this is the kind of response I wanted.
“Chasetown could have won the league on Saturday, so perhaps our fans came here thinking we’d be turned over and they’d have to see the opposition celebrating.
“But what they saw was a really good all-round performance from the lads.
“In a way, the last two games of the season show you where we are as a team.
“We have the potential to beat anybody, but have been way too inconsistent.
“We’ve beaten three of the top five since I took over, so the ability is here in this squad.
“The confidence was there on Saturday and you could see how committed the team was.
“Given that we didn’t have anything to play for, that’s a good sign.
“We’ll now go away for the summer with the aim of coming back next season as a team that is challenging at the top end of the table.
“We’re all very ambitious here.”
The loss didn’t hit Chasetown too hard, as they beat Halesowen Town 1-0 in Tuesday night’s play-off semi-final and now face Belper Town, who defeated Stamford 2-1, in Saturday’s final (3pm).
Tulips: Duggan, Floyd, Bucci, Marshall, Stainfield, Cartwright, Hart (Withers 82), Broccoli, Smith (Adams 86), Seymour-Shove (Starkie 75), Edge. Not used: Lynch, Nassunculo.
Attendance: 296.
