Spalding United lose to St Ives Town in the Southern League Premier Division Central

Managerless Spalding slipped to second-from-bottom in the Southern League Premier Division Central after a heavy defeat at St Ives on Monday.

The Tulips went down to a 5-1 away reversal as they suffered a fourth successive league defeat.

Caretaker boss James Clifton remained in charge of the Tulips following the departure of Elliot Sandy last Friday.

He made two changes to the starting line-up following the narrow home loss to AFC Telford on Saturday with Sam Warburton returning from suspension and Danny Draper replacing the injured Lewis Hilliard.

St Ives had won both their previous two home league games and took just five minutes to break the deadlock when Kobe Chong converted a near post cross.

The lead was doubled four minutes later when Alex Collard converted a rebound after a header from a set piece had struck the crossbar.

It got worse for Spalding in the 21st minute when a mix-up in their defence presented Jonny Edwards with a tap-in for their third goal.

Spalding looked for a way back into the contest with Draper shooting narrowly wide from distance while Tyler Winters was just over with an effort after working space for himself.

The Tulips did manage to cut the deficit just after the hour mark as Joe Nyahwema burst inside before firing home his finish at the near post to score his first Spalding goal in just his second appearance.

However, any hopes Spalding harboured of getting back into the match were dashed a minute later when another defensive mistake was punished by Theo Alexandrou.

Winters again went close with a cracking curling effort that went narrowly over the home crossbar.

Spalding's fate was then sealed with eight minutes remaining as Jordan Williams headed home St Ives' fifth goal.

The Tulips take a break from league action this weekend when they host Northern Premier League Premier Division side Matlock Town at the Sir Halley Stewart ground in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Tulips: Breeden, Ezewele, Warburton, Barker, Stainfield, White, Ngandu (Bennett), Draper, Graham (Dawes), Winters (Darlington), Nyahwema. Sub not used: West (GK).