Spalding United beat Rugby Town in the Northern Premier League

A ruthless display helped fire Spalding United to a third successive Northern Premier League victory on Saturday.

The Tulips were 5-1 away winners at Rugby Town to close the gap on league leaders Harborough Town at the top of the Midlands Division table.

The two sides meet this coming weekend at the Sir Halley Stewart ground with just two points separating them after Harborough were held to a 1-1 home draw by Corby Town on Saturday while second-placed Spalding were enjoying a comfortable away success.

Riley O'Sullivan scored twice for the Tulips with Jordan Graham, Nathan Stainfield and Kyle Barker also on target.

Rugby had levelled through ex-Spalding striker Mikey Taylor before Spalding swept away their struggling hosts.

Manager Elliot Sandy said: "It was a great win.

"It was probably expected but it's never as easy as that. Rugby are a dangerous side going forward with a lot of pace and Mikey was a real handful.

"We were ruthless though with the chances which we got and it's fantastic to score five goals away from home in this league.

"We'll take the positives from it because we're on a good run of form and we've obviously now got another big game on Saturday."

The Tulips had made the trip to Butlin Road without the services of Peterborough United loanee Tyler Winters.

His place was taken by O'Sullivan who scored two of the opening three goals and also assisted Graham in breaking the deadlock.

It was O'Sullivan's shot that was palmed out by home goalkeeper Paul Hathaway in the sixth minute for Graham to convert the rebound and put Spalding ahead.

However, the lead lasted just four minutes as David Kolodynski flicked the ball into the path of Taylor who surged clear before finishing confidently against the club where he started the campaign.

Spalding had restored their advantage by the midway mark in the first period as O'Sullivan ran from deep before hitting a sweet finish into the bottom corner of the home net.

He added his second and Spalding's third four minutes later after smashing another shot into the bottom corner.

Skipper Nathan Stainfield added the fourth goal five minutes before half-time as he beat two players before curling home a fine finish into the top corner.

That effectively put the match beyond Rugby who battled well in the second half but were unable to reduce the deficit.

And the win was wrapped up with seven minutes remaining with another top drawer finish as Barker curled his shot into the bottom corner for Spalding's biggest away win of the season.