Spalding are ahead of the game even before their Southern League Premier Central season starts.
The Tulips are through to the semi finals of the Lincolnshire County FA Senior Cup thanks to a 2-0 win at Grantham Town on Saturday. But, with some first-round ties still to be played, they will not find out their last-four opponents until the semi-final draw on January 2.
Spalding enjoyed lots of possession on a challenging surface but had to settle for two first half goals. Josh Ezwele’s 25th-minute cross was turned in by Lewis Darlington and five minutes before the break Darlington turned provided when his cross was headed in by Tyler Winters
Manager Elliot Sandy was left feeling flat, despite another pre-season success and said: “Grantham kept good shape and just sat in and let us have the ball.
“It can be hard to lift yourself and raise your game when your opponents don’t want to come out and play. We need to up our levels. We can’t just turn up and go through the motions.
“When you’ve got a 2-0 cushion at half-time with no danger of losing the game that’s when I want us to push on and turn the screw a little bit and go on to get a third or fourth.
“We’ve got some tough games to start the season that will really test us and we have to make sure our levels are at 100 per cent.”
Tulips at Grantham: Breedon, Ezwele, Warburton, White, Cartwright, Walker, Chettle, Clifton, Winters, Ngandu, Darlington. Subs: Barker, Johnson, Draper, Graham, Bennett, Dawes, Sandy. Attendance: 180.
p The screw was certainly turned in Tuesday’s friendly against a youthful Macclesfield as Spalding ran riot with an 8-0 win.
Goals came from Sam Bennett 2, Kieron Dawes, James Clifton, Kyle Barker, Jordan Graham, Sam Cartwright and Tyler Winters.
p Spalding have already picked up one trophy this season. The Tulips were named Club of the Year at the Lincolnshire FA Grassroots Football Awards on Friday. The club also received a nomination as grounds team of the season and manager Elliot Sandy said: “I have to thank the ground staff and volunteers, the pitch is unreal. The whole ground is starting to look like a proper stadium.”
