Spalding United

The Tulips’ Jekyll and Hyde character was firmly back in evidence at Hillgrounds Leisure on Saturday when, for the second time this season, they were largely outplayed by an accomplished Kempston team.
The Tulips performance was far removed from a week earlier when they had praise heaped upon them for the quality of their play against table-topping King’s Lynn.
Kempston, who notched a 3-2 victory at the Sir Halley Stewart Field last August playing some fast flowing football, served up more of the same on Saturday. Once again it was play-maker Cameron Clarke who largely fashioned their victory from the mid-field, although the finishing skills and pace of Ash Farmer, who helped himself to a hat-trick, took the plaudits.
The Tulips only managed to take their game to a level anywhere near to that at King’s Lynn, after manager Pat Rayment made a triple substitution on 68 minutes, pulling off Matt Brady, Greg Smith and Simon Mowbray and replacing them with Ryan O’Loughlin, Alex Lyon and Ben Harris.
The side was already trailing 3-0 at the time and a fourth goal followed within a minute of the substitutions.
The Tulips had been chasing the game from as early as the 11th minute when Farmer applied the finishing touch to a great passing movement down the left side which cut the Tulips’ defence to shreds. But to their credit they managed to hold the home team to a single goal until the interval.
Ricky Miller, still lacking in fitness and match practice, did have the ball in the home net after 15 minutes but his effort was ruled out after a “late flag” by a referees’ assistant.
Goalkeeper Nick Conroy denied Farmer a second goal mid-way through, palming a stinging shot over the bar, while shortly before the interval Matt Brady was just off target with a snap shot following a Dan French corner.
Inside the first minute of the second half the home side had increased their lead, Jordan Jarrold’s thunderbolt strike from fully 35 yards, taking everyone by surprise, the ball going in off the far post.
A third goal followed on 64 minutes from the ever lively Farmer and he completed his hat-trick five minutes later, outpacing substitute Alex Lyon before slotting comfortably past Conroy.
The substitutions certainly gave the Tulips a lift and for the first time in the game they started to take play to the opposition. Ryan O’Loughlin reduced arrears with a far post header from a Josh Ford cross on 80 minutes and a Dan French special three minutes from time added a bit of respectability to the scoreline.
Team: Conroy, Ford, Earls, Thompson, Fuff, Ashton, French, Brady (Harris68 mins), Smith (O’Loughlin 68 mins), Mowbray (Lyon (68 mins), Miller. Subs (not used) Cherry, Hussey. Tulips’ man-of-the-match was Simon Ashton.