Belper Town 1
Spalding United 1
Spalding United were denied their first away win in Evo-Stik NPL Division One South since November as Belper Town battled back to hold them 1-1 on Saturday.
The Tulips, who went into the game with a lingering hope of reaching the play-offs, looked to be on track for a rare away win when Joe Curtis headed home his first goal for the club on 35 minutes.
They held that advantage all the way up until the 70th minute, when Gerome Palmer levelled with a header from a corner.
With the howling wind gusting straight down the pitch, Saturday’s clash was very much the cliched a game of two halves.
Both teams struggled to control the ball, which spent more time in the air than on the ground.
With the wind at their backs in the first half the Tulips had, for the most part, the upper hand and tested home keeper Mark Rathbone as early as the sixth minute.
Paul Walker and Curtis combined well down the right side and Jamie Tricks took the final pass to force a save at point-blank range.
And, shortly afterwards, a Jamie Thurlbourne free kick caught the wind and the ball drifted just wide of the far post.
At the other end, a good save at a stretch by Michael Duggan denied Eric Graves before the Tulips broke the deadlock on 35 minutes.
A Thurlbourne corner was headed against the cross bar by Tom Waumsley and Curtis connected from the rebound with a strong header to beat Rathbone in a crowded area.
The better football was coming from the Tulips, but all too often some good approach play broke down in the final third with passes going astray and players being caught in possession.
But the Spalding were a shade unlucky as the half progressed, with Tricks just out of reach of a defence-splitting cross from Waumsley.
Defensively, the Tulips were equal to anything the home side could conjure up, illustrated in the closing minutes when Adam Jackson made a dash across his area to clear from Palmer.
Early in the second half skipper Nathan Stainfield’s glancing header from a corner was inches off target, and Sam Murphy, putting in another good shift in the heart of the Tulips back line, fired a 25-yard effort narrowly wide.
But Belper were more active going forward and it was no real surprise when Palmer headed in a Louis Keenan corner for a 70th minute equaliser.
It could have got worse for Spalding as, in the closing stages, a superb diving save by Duggan turned an Alex Steadman volley around the post and denied the hosts a winner.
The draw, Spalding’s second on the spin following Wednesday’s stalemate at Carlton Town (see page 26), leaves the Tulips needing something of a miracle to reach the play-offs.
Tulips: Duggan, Walker, Jackson, Murphy, Stainfield, Lawlor, Banister, Curtis, Waumsley, Tricks (Lockie 86), Thurlbourne (Kadar 77). Not used: Humble, Spafford, Talbot.
MOTM: Sam Murphy.
Attendance: 213.
