Spalding United manager Lewis Thorogood watched his side prove they were no "one-hit wonders" by taking top spot in the Pitching In Northern Premier League South East Division.

A double by Shane Clarke, with a goal in each half, earned the Tulips three points against Carlton Town at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field.

Thorogood made two changes to the side that had beaten Sutton Coldfield Town in their season opener last weekend, with Ryan Flitton in for Mitch Griffiths and Jan Yeomans replacing the suspended Ollie Price.

Spalding went ahead after four minutes when Clarke was set up by Joel Brownhill before firing an angled drive across and beyond Carlton goalkeeper Jack Steggles.

The game then became scrappy as the Millers tried to work their way back into the game, with Toby Moore seeing his shot deflected wide from a free kick.

Joel Brownhill could have doubled the Tulips' lead just before the rbeak when he headed a Tyrell Shannon-Lewis cross straight at Steggles.

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Spalding United v Carlton Town at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field. Photo by Chris Lowndes. (42448468)

Shannon-Lewis himself wasted a good chance early in the second half when Lewis Brownhill put a ball into the box before Carlton made a triple substitution.

But Spalding doubled their lead minutes later when Joel Brownhill attacked down the right before finding his brother Lewis whose shot was saved by Steggles, only for Clarke to drive home the rebound.

In the last 25 minutes of the game, Carlton found Tulips' goalkeeper Michael Duggan in unbeatable form as he kept out efforts by Kamani Wilson, Martin Ball from a free kick and a dangerous cross by Joel Daft.

Spalding nearly grabbed a third when Jacob Fenton, who came on for Joel Brownhill, robbed Steggles and then saw his shot cleared off the line.

Thorogood said: "If you'd have said to me that we can have two wins, two clean sheets, six points and be top of the table, I'd have taken it.

"It's a good platform to build on, but it wasn't a perfect performance on Saturday, not as good as the previous week against Sutton Coldfield Town.

"We started well and grabbed the goal early on through good link-up play between Joel Brownhill and Shane Clarke.

"Then we got a bit scrappy as we were looking to clear our lines and we seemed to panic a little bit, not creating the link-up play that we did really well before.

"Carlton didn't really get in the game in the first half so the important thing in the second half was to grab a stranglehold on the game by increasing the temp.

"After we got the second goal, Carlton did try to get back into the game and they had a lot of possession in midfield.

"But we earned the right to win a game where there was more pressure than last week because we didn't want to be a one-hit wonder."

SPALDING UNITED

4-1-4-1: Duggan; Floyd, Greenwood; Yeomans, Flitton; Clarke (sub Liversidge, 77 mins); Weir-Daley (sub Zuerner, 90 mins), L. Brownhill, Goddard, Shannon-Lewis; J. Brownhill (sub Fenton, 77 mins). Subs not used: Richards, Smith.

CARLTON TOWN

Steggles, Brown, Fletcher, Ball, Moore, Bako (sub Whitten, 56 mins), Quinn (sub Daft, 56 mins), Mabonga (sub Wilson, 56 mins), Thomas, Clark, Davie. Subs not used: Randall, Sturgess.

REFEREE

Alistair Wilson.

GOALS

Clarke (4 mins, 1-0); Clarke (62 mins, 2-0).

BOOKINGS

Goddard, J. Brownhill, Flitton (Spalding); Thomas, Brown (Carlton).

ATTENDANCE

136.

WHO'S NEXT

Loughborough Dynamo (A) - Tuesday.