Rawlinson tells his Spalding United side to relieve their looming relegation fears with elusive away win

Chris Rawlinson has urged his Spalding United side to serve up a reaction to Saturday’s disappointing 3-1 home defeat against Kidsgrove Athletic.

The 13th-placed Tulips make the trip to rock-bottom Gresley this Saturday (3pm), with only six points separating the two teams ahead of the showdown.

Spalding’s away form has been their Achilles heel all season, with a haul of only eight points from 12 games on the road.

Rawlinson accepts that the Tulips are in a fight for survival, but wants his side to rediscover some form and ease the pressure.

“Saturday was very disappointing,” admitted the Spalding supremo. “But that’s football, we need to roll our sleeves up and move forward.

“We defended too deep against Kidsgrove and were punished by two very good strikers. Then we did what we always seem to do when things go against us – get grumpy with each other.

“The league is looking tighter. Every time we lose, we seem to be looking over our shoulder a little.

“What I want is for the lads to step up and produce the kind of performance I know that they are capable of. Getting a win on Saturday would really ease the pressure – and prevent things getting too dicey.

“We keep saying it, but our away form has been poor and it has to improve.

“Gresley will likely be tricky, the pitch won’t be the easiest either.”

Meanwhile, Rawlinson has reminded new captain Gary King of his responsibilites after he was sent off for throwing a punch during Saturday’s loss.

It is alleged that a Kidsgrove player spat at the striker, but the Tulips chief feels his skipper should have handled the situation better.

King will miss the next three games, leaving Rawlinson short of options in attack.

He added: “Look, if somebody has spat at Gary it’s obviously not very nice. Nobody would react well to that. But, as captain, he should have walked away and just told the referee.

“He’s apologised and we move on, it’s just one of those things that can happen. He knows that he has to behave better.”

Although King is missing, Rawlinson hopes to again have Paul Walker available. He’s returned to Spalding on dual forms with Boston United after struggling for minutes with the Pilgrims.