The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Daventry Town 0
Spalding United 9
New interim Spalding United manager Elliot Sandy joked he might have to retire from managing after an astonishing start to his period in the hot seat.
The Tulips scored six goals in the opening 37 minutes at Daventry on Tuesday before sub Dylan Edge netted a second half hat-trick in their first game since the sacking of Brett Whaley last week.
His departure followed three games without a goal for the Tulips who on Tuesday netted two more than they had in their previous 11 games.
Bradley Rolt got the opener after just four minutes finishing off a fine Spalding move.
Sam Cartwright netted a set-piece that wasn’t cleared five minutes later before Stef Broccoli made it 3-0.
He played in Nat Ansu for the fourth Archie Jones netted the fifth and debutant Sam Warburton scored the sixth.
“We just changed the way we wanted to go about things,” said Sandy, whose only previous experience in the dug out was as assistant manager at Corby Town. “We didn’t have to change much, but we tweaked a few things like getting more bodies in the box and pushing our full backs on a bit more.”
That was summed up by Warburton, the left back signed from Bedworth Town causing all sorts of problems on his first appearance with his goal, a 35-yard screamer.
“I’ve known Sam a long time and he’s a very good player.” Sandy said. “He’s played higher for most of his career and I felt he could do a good job for us.
“His goal was unbelievable, but so was his general play and passing.
“I’m asking my full backs to get forward a lot more and they did that last night but we’ve got to keep doing it.
“We’ve a very experienced back four now and hopefully everyone stays fit so we can have a strong end to the season.”
Sandy says he’s been given the manager’s job until the end of the season, but he’s hoping to impress enough to take it on full time.
“Everyone’s been in a bit of bad form and it wasn’t going quite right,” he said. “But the intensity in training has remained really high and all the players have really worked hard.
“When I got offered the job I went and spoke to each of the lads about how they felt and all the conversations were really positive. Everyone wants to achieve what we always set out to achieve.
“I thought I’d play one more year and then see but this has been thrust upon me.
“One thing about me Is I don’t do anything by half. I’ll put my all into making this work.
“I’m sure like everyone else I’ll be assessed at the end of the season. I’m just grateful for the opportunity.
“It’s a brilliant start but it needs to continue.
“We’ve Bedford and Corby next which will be tougher games.
“But we will go into it with much more confidence after Tuesday.”
Saturday’s scheduled Pitching-In Northern Premier League match with Corby was postponed due to the weather and will be replayed next Wednesday.
Tulips: Duggan, Bucciero, Warburton, L Hilliard (Peter), Stainfield, Cartwright, Jones, Barker, Ansu (Edge), Rolt (Draper), Broccoli. Subs not used: Hart, Sandy.
