Spalding United 2-1 The Mikes

A gritty Mikes display pushed the League leaders all the way, in a frenetic, scrambling affair in Fenland. Recent arrival Bekir Halil started for Boldmere, while new signings Finn Holmes and Luke Carsley were in the squad. Ben Usher-Shipway was ruled out with a hamstring injury, and Joe Daley came off the bench to make a welcome return. Ben Heath made his debut in the home goal, replacing the suspended Tony Breedon.
The Tulips started by playing the more connected football, and went close after four minutes, a late Joe Curtis interception looping the ball over the visiting bar. The Mikes relied on long passes for Andre Brown and Finn Holmes to run onto. Play was scrappy and scrapping; though perhaps it was significant that the Mikes won more of the fouls. The quarter mark gone, Jordan Graham hit the top of the bar from outside the corner of the box, to signal a period of Spalding pressure, winning a succession of corners, a loud “Oooh!” going up as the Mikes somehow got the ball away. A Sam Cartwright screamer fizzed past the angle from twenty yards, as Mikes fought for every inch of the pitch. Two shouts went up for a home penalty in the first half’s final quarter of an hour, Tyler Winters going down under the attentions of Joe Hull, followed by Dan Moore getting hold of the ball through a forest of flailing limbs. Were they penalties? The Spalding video will show you them both in slow motion! A more punctilious official may have given spot kicks; but a late Winters dribble was finally thwarted, and the teams went in on equal terms.
The second half started just as Boldmere didn’t want. A curling free kick from well out on the right saw that man Winters get a head on it, and Jordan Graham poked it home to open the scoring. On the hour, a third penalty appeal was turned down, after Winters had gone down under a challenge from Harry Craven; but “VAR” shows it to be a fair shoulder charge. With a quarter of an hour left, the Tulips made a double substitution, and the result was immediate. James Snedden picked up a long through ball. Was he offside? To your correspondent, and Harry Sweeney, he looked it; though other voices opined he’d been played on. Wilson Carvalho had a straightforward task converting his centre. Soon, it took a fine diving save to push away a Snedden curver: but if the hosts thought they could sit back on their two-goal lead, they were mistaken, as the Mikes began to play their best football of the game. A complex passing movement ended with Lewis Allison firing home from fifteen yards, a shocked silence greeting his goal. The game ended in surreal fashion, the hosts having to withstand constant Boldmere attacks, nineteen men crowding the home penalty area at one point, as Owen Parry took a long throw. The final whistle went, and Spalding and their fans celebrated their win; but the Mikes had pushed them all the way.

Spalding United: Ben Heath; Danny Draper; Sam Warburton (Stephen Morley 83); Kyle Barker; Nathan Stainfield; Sam Cartwright; Tyler Winters; Joe Curtis (James Snedden 76); Jordan Graham (Wilson Carvalho 69); Lewis Hilliard; Glenn Walker.
Subs. not used: Elliott Sandy.
Boldmere St Michaels: Dan Moore; Ricardo Dudley (Luke Carsley 82); Harry Sweeney; Joseph Hull; Harry Craven; Jack Byrne; Lewis Allison; Bekir Halil (Joe Daley 70); Andre Brown (Kaden May 60); Owen Parry; Finn Holmes.
Subs. not used: Tommy Jackson; Michael Tait-Moran.