The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Chuffed Pat Rayment reckons his Tulips are beginning to hit top form after seeing them take a strong Soham Town Rangers side apart 6-1 in the FA Trophy on Saturday.
Despite falling behind to an early Jordan Gent strike (16) at Julius Martin Lane, Spalding roared back to lead 2-1 at half time thanks to goals from Ryan Oliver (24) and Lewis Webb (41).
A mesmerising second-half showing then saw the red-hot Tom Waumsley make it three (61), before a rare Chris Hall effort (75) and two late Kern Miller goals (79 and 90) gave the scoreline an emphatic feel.
The preliminary round victory earns the £2,500 in prize money and sets up a tricky clash at Evo-Stik League First Division South rivals Leek Town in the next stage on November 1.
It’s now four wins in a row for the Tulips in all competitions – and Rayment is impressed with what he’s seen from his troops.
“Considering the amount of players we had missing, I couldn’t be happier with the lads,” said the former Peterborough United professional. “A few players really stepped up and we could easily have won by more against a good Soham side.
“What we’re seeing now is a team that is really starting to improve. What they are doing on the training pitch is starting to bear fruit.
“After the FA Cup horror show at Norton we’ve won two hard-fought games against Gresley and Coalville, then performed well to win at Rainworth.
“This was more of the same. 6-1 did not flatter us in the slightest.
“We were either winning or losing at the start of the season. Our pre-season was terrible and that was reflected in our results.
“Now we’ve found our feet at this level and it’s great to see. There’s still more to come, too.”
Spalding were missing a few key men, with skipper Michael Leary unavailable, leading scorer Andrew Tidswell only fit enough for the bench and new signing Jordan Nuttell failing a late fitness test.
It looked like that could prove key, as the Ryman League high-fliers snatched a 16th minute lead when towering centre half Gent headed home from a corner.
The Tulips hit back with some telling raids and were rewarded on 24 minutes with Oliver turning in a Jamie Thurlbourne cross from close range.
Some five minutes before the break the Tulips were ahead, with determined play by Hall opening up the defence for Webb to drill low into the net.
Oliver rattled the woodwork moments later as the Tulips stepped their efforts up a notch in a bid to seal their passage to the next stage.
Nobody would have expected what happened in the second half, though.
Waumsley, who put in a tremendous shift up front, was rewarded with his eighth goal of the season when he rattled home from a neat Adam Jackson knock-on just past the hour.
The goal of the game came 15 minutes from time when Hall, who had moved up into a forward position to partner the recently arrived Tidswell, notched his debut goal of the season with a cheeky overhead kick from inside the area.
Just four minutes later defender Miller arrived in the home penalty area to superbly head in a Thurlbourne corner.
Not done there, he added his second from a similar situation to double his tally in added time.
Leek, who dispatched Bedworth 5-2 on Saturday, will surely prove a tougher test in the next stage.
But the quality of this result shouldn’t be underestimated by anybody, with the Tulips producing a real statement of their intent at this level once again.
Tulips: Duggan, Griffiths, Jackson, Miller, N Stainfield, Webb, G Stainfield, Hall, Oliver (Tidswell 65), Waumsley (McKue 70), J Thurlbourne.
Attendance: 117
