[ Tue 1st Nov ] v Spalding Utd, KO 19:45pm NPL1S AWAY

[davealbon]

That was immense! I've no idea how we won that game given the first 30 minutes of the second half. I thought we edged the first half, and certainly didn't deserve to be a goal down, but second half we never got going... until Winters' sending off.

Incredible resilience to prevent Spending from going 2-0 up (plus a fair amount of luck if we're being honest), and the way we then fought back was just outstanding!

Credit where it's due though, I thought Spending were excellent at kicking or throwing the ball a long way and then heading it. Their step 2 centre back is still shit though, and very lucky not to get sent off.

Awesome way to spend a Tuesday evening!

[Pigman]

Massive statement of intent by our lads tonight, there is no-one we need to fear in this league - epic comeback with just 10 men!

Very proud of the way we kept going tonight - couple of clowns as officials too - will remember this as "one of those nights" !!

Sitting nicely in the table now, poised for a timely run on the play off spots !!

Well done to Peaksy and the lads tonight - special mention to Heath who I thought had an impressive debut !!

[sussexdiamond]

I drove 180 miles/ 5 hours to get to this game and it was well worth it.

Three great saves from Heath who up to that point had been a virtual spectator.

Not sure what happened for Winters second yellow as it seemed the Spalding player was the one who committed the foul.

Spalding.......can we play you every week!!!!

Before tonight the Non League Paper had us at 8th best team in the Fair Play League for all clubs in Steps 1-4 . Think we might have dropped a few places !!!!!!

[Formic]

After one of the best first half performances I've seen from the club, we were massively unlucky to concede the goal just before the break. After a couple of slick passing moves early on, Spalding resorted to a very one dimensional long ball game, relying on long throws for much of their attacking threat, whereas we were able to vary things and just lacked a bit of luck in front of goal in the first half.

Conceding that late goal in the first half seemed to take the wind out of our sails, and Spalding's one dimensional approach looked like seeing them home until the referee succumbed to the pressure he'd been getting from the home team and management and started waving yellows at anything with a yellow shirt with the red card capping it off, helped by some dubious squeals from the player who went down. I think that sense of injustice turned the game, as our team suddenly saw it as a cup tie in which they were underdogs - and suddenly we saw Jake Newman creating a threat down the left which led to panic in the Tulips defence after they failed to clear when the keeper saved a Newman effort, and after a few hacks the ball fell to Richard Bunting who seems to like playing in the Fens. especially in Spalding. Liam Dolman was a real hero all night, and having Jack Ashton back alongside him has made a real difference, so it was fitting that it was his header across the area, from an Evangelinos delivery, that created the winner for Jack Ashton, silencing the locals.

[Brownie]

That wasn't a bad way to spend a Tuesday night was it, sadly Mr Frecklington the Spalding Manager missed it as the game he watched, Spalding dominated, were by far the better side and should have / could have won if not for players mental weakness, oh and we celebrated like we had already won the league. We celebrated Mr F ington because we were behind in a game and we didn't deserve to be, we were reduced to 10 Men due to your No 3 rolling about as if he wasn't injured, as anyone who has sustained a genuine injury would not be able to put on a performance like that, then with 10 Men we came back from 1 down to win and that for me is worth a celebration. He noted how they scored with a set piece, though that was always likely as for 90% of the game that's all they offered. If that was a team who with a win last night would have gone top then it's either not as good a league as I thought, they have been very lucky or they had a very bad day yesterday as for me they were bang average, and what's happened to the Step 2 defender, I always rated Mr Stainfield as one of the best central defenders we played against in the UCL, but last night he was dreadful and should have had first use of the showers long before Rory was offered the opportunity to use them.
Great team performance excluding the slow start to the 2nd half but the Red Card if anything worked in out favour, so a big thank you to the Lino on the stand side for seeing and pointing out whatever it was you think you saw.

[BartonRaz]

That was one of those games that come along once or twice in a season. My throat is pretty bad this morning, haven't celebrated like that since the Barwell game. Everybody just lost it and started sprinting around, hugging people they didn't know. What a great night!

I think what i'm about to say will be very controversial, but I thought Winters was correctly sent off and lucky not to get a straight red. Just my view, I don't think it is shared by many! It worked in our favour massively however and really galvanised both the team and the fans. Huge well done to the players who really dug deep and showed unbelievable character to pull that one out. Hopefully they enjoyed the celebrations as much as we did!

Just a word on Ben Heath who had an outstanding debut, some breathtaking saves and a calmness that defied his young age. Finlay's been superb for us but he's got a job on to wrestle the shirt back on that evidence.

[Brownie]

That was one of those games that come along once or twice in a season. My throat is pretty bad this morning, haven't celebrated like that since the Barwell game. Everybody just lost it and started sprinting around, hugging people they didn't know. What a great night!

I think what i'm about to say will be very controversial, but I thought Winters was correctly sent off and lucky not to get a straight red. Just my view, I don't think it is shared by many! It worked in our favour massively however and really galvanised both the team and the fans. Huge well done to the players who really dug deep and showed unbelievable character to pull that one out. Hopefully they enjoyed the celebrations as much as we did!

Just a word on Ben Heath who had an outstanding debut, some breathtaking saves and a calmness that defied his young age. Finlay's been superb for us but he's got a job on to wrestle the shirt back on that evidence.

Not sure about the Red, I was the other side of the pitch but in line and it just looked like a hard challenge, though I wasn't surprised when he gave them a free kick, the next 3 minutes were a good example of the wrong side of football, having done little to impress even his own Mother the Lino (who ironically after 10 minutes the comment was made by a player "I wouldn't trust that linesman to get much right" decided he had had enough of being overruled or just waiting and following the decision of the Referee and was going to get involved and become the center of attention. And as for the Spalding No 3 that performance would not have been out of place on a stage, rolling around screaming like a pig with it's throat cut, then propping himself up on one elbow to see if his actions were having the intended results, down for a bit more screaming and so on, even went to get up when the Physio arrived only to be pushed back down, though as soon as the Red was issued and the administering of "Water from Lourdes" the miracle of instant recovery was there to be witnessed by us all, as a spoonerism I think he was a complete wucking fanker, though it did all help for an excellent Tuesday night, see an away win with 10 men and a miracle being performed.

[Trek]

It's interesting to note that we have now scored 10 goals in the second half of our last 6 matches conceding just the solitary late consolation goal at Histon. This is in stark contrast to our previous 5 matches where we failed to score in the second half.
This indicates that we are now finishing matches a lot stronger and performing better defensively.

[Rushdenjim]

It's interesting to note that we have now scored 10 goals in the second half of our last 6 matches conceding just the solitary late consolation goal at Histon. This is in stark contrast to our previous 5 matches where we failed to score in the second half.
This indicates that we are now finishing matches a lot stronger and performing better defensively.

Earlier in the season, we were seeing us really tail off in the second half. I was questioning what Peaks was saying in the dressing room at HT because it was not working. However the last few months have seen the players really come out fighting which is a credit to Andy

[Trek]

However the last few months have seen the players really come out fighting which is a credit to Andy

Totally agree. It was disturbing to see how poor we were in the second period of matches a month or so back and I was even questioning our fitness on this forum at the time when it was clear that our opponents were out working us. Traditionally our club had previously had a track record of finishing matches strongly and I'm delighted that we've reverted to type.