Reaction from Spalding United manager Brett Whaley after their victory over Stamford AFC
Manager Brett Whaley feels there is still room for improvement from his Spalding United squad as they continue to show their potential.
The Tulips stretched their unbeaten start to the Northern Premier League Midlands Division campaign to 19 games with a 3-2 home success over Stamford on Boxing Day.
The derby win moved the Tulips into second spot, one point behind table-topping Halesowen who have played a game more than Whaley's charges who had to withstand a late spell of pressure from the Daniels.
The visitors played for more than an hour of the match with 10 men and came finished the game the stronger of the two teams.
Whaley said: "I did think we made it quite hard for ourselves at the end but, to be fair to Stamford, they really asked us some questions with 10 men because a lot sides would have just said 'game over, it's done' after being 3-1 down.
"We sank a bit deep and showed a little bit of inexperience to invite pressure onto us when it was a game where, being 3-1 up with 15 or 20 minutes to go, we could have looked to increase that.
"The learning curve for us from that is these good sides know how to still win when we thought the game was done.
"Stamford are a good side and it's a big win for us against a team in and around us but it's a long season and, as much as we're in a very good position, we're still only halfway through.
"It shows that we have real potential but there are still things that we have to be better at."
Spalding had fallen behind to Marshall Willock's opener before skipper Nathan Stainfield got the Tulips back on level terms.
Goalkeeper Michael Duggan then saved a penalty from Jonathon Margetts to prevent Stamford from going ahead after they had been reduced to 10 men.
Stainfield scored again in first half stoppage time before Archie Jones added third goal shortly after the break.
Stamford cut the deficit late on with Spalding seeing out the six minutes of stoppage time to secure the win which saw them leap-frog the visitors in the league table.
Whaley added: "We showed a good reaction to their goal and there were some big moments in the game.
"The penalty after they had gone down to 10 men could have completely changed the game. It was a big save.
"The goals just before and straight after half-time were really important and we might have thought that the game was done.
"But they made some really good changes and asked us some real questions towards the end and we just about got through it.
"If they had nicked something then we would have looked back at an opportunity missed so we have to learn how to deal with those situations a little bit better."
The Tulips are back in action on Monday afternoon (January 2) when they travel to bottom-of-the-table Yaxley.