Spalding United lose to Corby Town in the FA Trophy
Spalding United were on the receiving end of a cup upset as they tumbled out of the FA Trophy on Saturday.
The Tulips were beaten 1-0 at home in their first round clash by lower level Northern Premier League Midlands Division visitors Corby Town.
The Steelmen struck the winning goal through Rhys Kelly with 13 minutes remaining after a frustrating afternoon at the Sir Halley Stewart ground for the Tulips.
The Tulips made two changes to their starting line-up from the midweek league win as Lewis White and Maniche Sano-Sani come in for Liam Moore and Ben Hart.
Dion Sembie-Ferris was moved to right-back to replace Hart with Matty Bondswell and Curtis Thompson returning to the substitutes' bench.
The Steelmen included ex-Spalding attacker Connor Tomlinson in their line-up but former Tulips forward Tyrone Lewthwaite missed out on facing his old club.
Spalding had netted nine goals in their last two home games and they soon started out by looking to add to the tally.
Sano-Sani brought a fantastic fingertip save out of Jake Laban in the early exchanges before Bart Cybulski had a fifth minute header ruled out for a foul from Jack Roberts' cross.
Corby came with a game-plan to set up defensively and contain and frustrate the Tulips and that was how the rest of the first half panned out.
Spalding had plenty of possession and worked the ball into good areas but were unable to find the breakthrough against their Northern Premier League visitors.
Alfie Bendle saw a powerful effort late in the half blocked by the Corby defence while Ben Blythe brought a flying save out of Laban after a tidy run and shot as the first period finished goalless.
Spalding started the second half on the front foot and strong run and cross from Yusifu Ceesay just evaded Roberts at the back post.
The visitors then struck the Spalding crossbar with their first serious attempt on goal as Harrison Jones' strike was deflected onto the woodwork off Connor Johnson.
The Steelmen's attacking confidence started to grow and Blythe twice did well to block efforts from Matty Slinn.
Spalding brought on James Clifton, Curtis Thompson and Jordan Nicholson in a bid to regain the momentum and Bendle found time and space outside the area but curled his shot straight at Laban.
Blythe's inviting cross just grazed the heads of both Clifton and Cybulski while Roberts was crowded out after bursting onto a neat link-up with Thompson.
Corby then broke the deadlock with 13 minutes remaining as a free-kick was only cleared out to Kelly who lofted his finish into the far corner of the home net.
Spalding could have equalised shortly after as Cybulski saw his shot hit the post with Laban producing a fantastic reaction to keep out the follow up.
Jones then headed just wide for the visitors after coming close to taking advantage of some defensive uncertainty from the Tulips who were unable to find a leveller despite six minutes of stoppage time.
Spalding: Dadge, Sembie-Ferris, Blythe, White, Johnson, Lawlor (Thompson), Roberts, Bendle, Sano-Sani (Clifton), Cybulski, Ceesay (Nicholson). Subs not used: Sherif, Bondswell.
Attendance: 627.