Two second half goals sent Spalding United to a third successive away defeat in the National League North on Saturday.

The Tulips were beaten 2-0 at Hednesford Town to follow on from recent away losses at Marine and Chester to drop down to 12th in the league standings.

After a good first half performance, Jimmy Dean's side conceded a minute after the restart to a goal from Ahkeem Rose before Will Merry sealed the Tulips' fate late on.

The Spalding boss said: "I thought we were excellent in the first half and had good control of the game.

"The game-plan worked perfectly and we looked in a really good place.

"We had a structured half-time but then came out and conceded the goal and had a wobble for the next 10 minutes.

"Our courage and conviction, with and without the ball, went and it took us 10 minutes to settle down again.

"It's where I want to see us being better because it happened at Alvechurch on Tuesday where the belief was zapped out of us and this isn't the time for shirking responsibility.

"We got ourselves back into the game but then got caught on the counter attack for their second goal.

"We've lost a game where I feel there wasn't a lot in it."

The Tulips handed a first start to the returning Joe Nyahwema after getting the required international clearance for the exciting attacker.

Nyahwema was at the heart of Spalding's early attacks with some enterprising forays forward while Alfie Bendle saw a free-kick saved by home goalkeeper Will Murdock.

Visiting custodian Peter Crook was down smartly to saw a low drive from Rose before Nyahwema was twice off target with efforts as the first half ended goalless.

The Pitmen then needed just a minute of the second period to break the deadlock as Rose headed home following a Dylan Mottley-Henry cross.

The goal sparked a surge of Hednesford pressure as Rose sent a shot just wide of the Spalding goal before Jamie Crooke cracked an effort that rattled the upright.

Spalding then lost Dan Barton to injury but they shrugged off the setback to pick up the tempo with Murdock denying both Nyahwema and Bart Cybulski.

Crook then kept Spalding in the game with two brilliant saves to firstly deny Mottley-Henry and then the follow-up from Merry.

However, he was beaten with three minutes remaining as Aaron Jarvis teed up Merry who smashed a fierce strike past Crook to seal Hednesford's win in front of a crowd of nearly 1,900 at Keys Park.

Spalding return to action at the Sir Halley Stewart ground on Tuesday night when they host Brackley Town.