Attendance – 355
Star man – Brad Smith (Royston Town)
Match rating – 3 out of 5.
Table toppers Spalding claimed all 3 points although they were made to work hard to claim them as the home side produced a resilient performance.
The first half was an even affair and gave no indication of the league places of the respective teams. Indeed it was The Crows who created more opportunities with John Shamalo testing away keeper Daniel Wilks with a low shot early on and home skipper Adam Murray turning over a well delivered James Brighton free kick.
For their part The Tulips went close as a Jack Roberts free kick was well saved by Reuben Rabstein, before a well worked move saw Yusifu Ceesay cross for Liam Moore to lay off for Alfie Bendle to shoot narrowly over.
The second half proved a different story though as a strong start from Spalding saw them take the lead. They had already gone close when Moore saw his header hit the post and Rabstein saved well low down from Ceesay. Ceesay wasn’t to be denied though as he raced on to two flick ons from a long throw before finishing from a tight angle.
Shortly after the goal the Crows were reduced to 10 men as Murray was given a second yellow card.
The second goal came from another flick on from a throw as substitute Tom Pugh hit a controlled volley into the corner of the net.
The icing on the cake came in the 90th minute as substitute Saleem Akanbi was on hand to finish from close range after Rabstein had saved the initial effort from Ben Fowkes, as the league leaders claimed all 3 points.
