The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
New faces couldn’t stop Spalding United from enduring yet more away day blues at Lye Town on Saturday.
Goals in the ninth and 90th minutes saw Lye take the points in the Pitching In Northern League Midland Division clash.
It means the Tulips have taken just two points from their last four away games.
They haven’t won away in the league since the 1-0 victory at Cambridge City in August, a 2-0 win at Grantham Town in the county cup their only win on the road in their previous eight games in all competitions.
It left manager Elliot Sandy frustrated, but importantly Spalding are still very much in the title race sitting in second just three points behind Loughborough Dynamo and with a game in hand.
“I said to the lads, every game we play teams are going to want to beat you because we’re Spalding United and we’re trying to win the league and get promotion,” he said. “We’re a scalp for teams.
“We started terribly. From the kick off we’ve let them run down the middle; it’s a really poor goal to give away.
“Lyle don’t score too many and they don’t concede many so they’re always in a game and to give them a 1-0 lead at their place is always going to leave you with an uphill battle.
“We huffed and puffed and when we played football we looked alright without really creating anything.
“We had a few chances in the first half we probably should have scored.
“But on the balance of play Lye probably deserved it.
“They got the goal, were organised and defended well.
“In the last second we pushed everyone up looking to get the equaliser and they’ve hit us on the break so, 2-0 flattens them a little.”
Nathan Kabeya netted early on for Lye with a deflected shot that squirmed past keeper Ben Heath.
New signing Zayn Hakeem thought he’d levelled for the Tulips moments later but the goal was disallowed for offside.
On the half hour Sam Warburton hit the post for Spalding before James Clifton had a long range effort tipped around the post by the home keeper on the stroke of half time.
The second half saw plenty of effort from the Tulips but there was a lack of quality in the final third as they were unable to break Lye down.
In injury time Lye sealed the win with Ben Billingham finishing off a swift counter attack.
Spalding gave debuts to both Hakeem and Riley O’Sullivan.
The latter has been signed from Stratford and played against them earlier this season in the FA Cup.
“Riley is a great signing for us,” said Sandy. “The two games he played against us this season, I felt he was the stand-out player.
“He’s exactly the player we want, young, talented and hungry for success.”
Hakeem was part of Mansfield Town’s academy and had spells at Anstey Nomads and Shepshed Dynamo last season where he netted 20 goals in all competitions.
He’s signed from Basford.
“Zayn was a player we wanted in the summer,” Sandy continued. “He’s a handful and a proven scorer in our league.
“We look forward to hopefully seeing him replicate that with us.”
Sandy will hope both will see them get back to winning ways on the road this weekend as the Tulips travel to Sutton Coldfield on Saturday.
They then have three home fixtures with the first the re-arranged game with Corby Town on Tuesday night.
“We’ve got to re-group,” said Sandy. “We’ve a few new lads in and got to work as a team and get there.
“We’re still right up there and in the mix but we know we need to work hard to get it right at Sutton, which is absolutely massive.”
Tulips: Heath, Draper, Warburton, Baker, Stainfield, Wise, Ngwa, Clifton, Hakeem, Hilliard, O’Sullivan. Subs: Sneddon, Graham, Sandy, Winters, Wysocki.
Attendance: 129.
