The focus is completely on the league for Spalding United manager Jimmy Dean after his side were on the wrong end of a cup upset.
The Tulips’ hopes of a decent run in the FA Trophy were ended at the first hurdle by lower level Northern Premier League Division One Midlands side Corby Town.
The only goal of the game came in the last 13 minutes and left Dean annoyed at how easy his side had made it for the visitors.
“We got caught in possession and committed a foul from trying to stop the boy breaking on us,” he said. “It was an abysmal goal to concede from a set piece in a straight area. Senior players on the pitch were not listening to instructions and for the second week running we were caught out at the back stick. The ball was tapped back across and the lad scooped it over Dadgey (goalkeeper James Dadge).”
Dean admitted his side did not have a realistic chance of going all the way to Wembley but he had expected a win.
“We weren’t going to be winning the FA Trophy but we did want a decent run and to get some good sides down here.
“We need a solid reaction after a full week of training, which will be used to rectify the goals we are conceding There’s enough experience on the pitch to identify that and the instructions were clear.
“For us now we’ve just got to focus on the league. We don’t want to be losing games at home but you will see a reaction in the next two or three games We will be better and we will get back to doing what we do best, which is scoring goals and winning games.”
Spalding had the vast majority of possession and a lot of chances but were unable to convert any into goals and slipped to their first home defeat on the new Sir Halley Stewart Field surface, going down 1-0.
“We started really well and created quite a few chances and had a good goal chalked off in my opinion,” said Dean. “Towards the end of the first half we lost our way a little bit and their game plan started to work for them.
“The message at half time was to be patient, we’ll get this. The moments did come, we just didn’t finish them. We had three or four chances and had to score but didn’t.”
Corby defended in depth and their plan worked to perfection when they broke to score the only goal of the game through Rhys Kelly.
“They put 11 men behind the ball but that’s there prerogative,” said Dean. “They’ve done a good job of doing it. They’ve defended for their lives and followed their instructions to the letter.
“It was a mixture of Corby defending very well and us missing chances and that moment not locking the game up and not concentrating and defending abysmally bad.”
Spalding had no midweek fixture but face a tough four days with a trip to play-off chasing Alvechurch on Saturday and a home match against third-placed Quorn on Tuesday.
Tulips: Dadge, Sembie-Ferris, Blythe, White, Johnson, Lawlor (Thompson), Roberts, Bendle, Sano-Sani (Clifton), Cybulski, Ceesay (Nicholson). Subs not used: Sherif, Bondswell.
Attendance: 627.
