The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Confident Pat Rayment is sure that Spalding United will emerge from a tricky festive period with maximum points.
The title-chasing Tulips welcome Loughborough Dynamo to the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field on Saturday (3pm) as they kick off a run of three Evo-Stik League First Division South games in eight days.
It’s perhaps the easiest of their Christmas clashes, with a Boxing Day trip to play-off hopefuls Lincoln United (3pm) and a home test against leaders Sutton Coldfield Town (December 28, 3pm) to follow.
Spalding go into Saturday’s Dynamo duel as the division’s in-form side, having won eight of their last nine league games.
Although they were forced to sit out last weekend’s round of fixtures due to a frozen pitch at Market Drayton Town, Rayment believes that his side have nothing to fear during their busiest period of the campaign.
“However tough people think our Christmas run is, it’s tougher for our opposition,” said the Spalding supremo. “It’s not in my DNA to go into these games just looking for a result, we want to win them all.
“My mentality ahead of the three matches is simple: attack, attack, attack.
“We’ve got great momentum at the moment and are sitting very pretty in the table. If it wasn’t for such a bad start, it’s frightening to think just how well we would be doing.
“What I would say is that every game in the league is very hard, so it’s important that we stay focused.
“But when you’ve got such a solid back five and so much attacking firepower, you’re always confident.
“We’ve got the top central defensive partnership at this level in Nathan Stainfield and Jamie Stevens, while Adam Jackson is defying the odds with his performances.
“Michael Leary is incredibly experienced at right back and Michael Duggan is as good as any keeper at the level too.
“That allows everybody else to attack – and you can see the results.”
Spalding go into Saturday’s opener in fourth place in the table, 14 points off top spot with five games in hand.
They’ll be strong favourites to see off Loughborough, who have plummeted to tenth in the standings having been the early pace-setters.
Their downfall was started by the Tulips, who won the reverse fixture at the then leaders 6-0 back in September.
Lewis Webb is Spalding’s only confirmed absentee for Saturday. The midfielder is serving a prison sentence and could be out until late January.
Everyone else is fit and new signing Lee Clarke could make his debut after signing from Yaxley last week.
Meanwhile, Rayment has moved to thank South Holland District Council for helping improve the playing surface at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field.
The Tulips chief – and many others – have been vocal in their criticism of the surface in recent weeks, but he’s very thankful at the work that has been done to ensure their title bid can continue.
He added: “I’d just like to publicly thank the council, the pitch is looking much better.
“They’ve been very helpful and I’m glad common sense has prevailed.”
Follow @Andrew_Clucas on Twitter for live updates on Saturday’s clash.
