Bedworth United 1 Spalding United 0
Spalding United boss Brett Whaley has challenged his players to show they deserve a place in the squad next year after an 11th minute goal from Ryan Nesbitt condemned a lacklustre Spalding United to defeat on Saturday.
It’s now back to back 1-0 defeats for the Tulips in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division and they have only scored one goal in their past four games.
Spalding struggled to break Bedworth United down after conceding early in the mid-table battle.
The Tulips started well with Greg Smith and Tiago Nassanculo having early efforts blocked. But Bedworth were soon ahead when Nesbitt got on the end of a long ball, controlled and finished.
Nathan Stainfield had a header cleared off the line while Dylan Edge went close in the first half.
But Spalding struggled to create, and a Stainfield header from a corner that went just wide and a mis-hit Charlie Hart cross that dropped on to the bar was as close as they came to a leveller in the second half.
“It was a disappointing day and it’s similar problems of not creating enough,” Whaley said. “It’s something we’ve felt since we came in that when we play against sides and the onus is on us to create something we’re not doing it enough.
“We’re good against the better sides who want to take the game to us but not against the sides who make it difficult for us. The players have to do that themselves and we’ve got to work as a group on that for the rest of this season.
“Our performances haven’t been too bad we’re just not scoring goals.
“We’ve worked really hard to shore up the defence and we’ve done that and have only conceded three goals in those last four.
“But that seems to have come at a cost at the other end and we need to get that balance right.”
Whaley says the eye is on next year now and has challenged his players to show what they can do in the next few weeks, starting on Saturday at home to Coleshill.
One player came in on the league’s deadline day, young keeper Jonah Gill arriving from Cambridge United as cover for MIchael Duggan who is set to miss at least one game in the run in.
“We want to see if the players we’ve got can make the difference, and if they can’t, we need to look at who we bring in who can,” Whaley said.
Tulips: Duggan, Hart (Floyd 82), Bucci (Lynch 68), Marshall, Stainfield, Cartwright, Seymour-Shove, Broccoli, Smith, Edge (Koroma 59), Nassanculo. Sub not used: Withers, Adams.
Attendance: 189
