"Bucks looking to make it five home wins in a row"

Match Date : April 5th, 2025 3:00 pm
Competition : Southern League Premier Central
Ground : New Bucks Head
Kick Off : 15:00

The Bucks will be back on home soil again this weekend, when Spalding United will be the visitors.

The Tulips won the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands last year, finishing with both the league’s best attack and best defence – racking up 98 goals in 38 matches while conceding just 33.

But having impressed at Step 4, Spalding initially struggled on their return to Step 3. The Tulips kicked off the season with four defeats from their first five games, which led to manager Elliot Sandy leaving the club at the end of August. Former Scunthorpe manager and Peterborough Sports legend Jimmy Dean subsequently took up the reins at the Lincolnshire club.

After a period of adjustment, Dean has got Spalding firing, and they are now in playoff contention. The Tulips have won ten and drawn one of their 15 games since the start of 2025, comprehensively beating Bedford (5-1), Stratford (3-0) and Halesowen (2-0) in that time. Currently 8th, Spalding are just two points off 5th-place Harborough.

Dean hasn’t made drastic changes to the Spalding squad, but he has turned to some of his former Peterborough stalwarts in, former Buck, Nathan Fox, Dan Lawlor, and Dion Sembie-Ferris. But it’s another new arrival who has perhaps been the catalyst behind the Tulips change in fortunes. Striker Bartosz Cybulski has 12 league goals since arriving at the back end of September, netting a number of key goals that have been directly responsible for securing 16 points for the Tulips.

Prior to the current campaign, the Bucks only previous encounters with Spalding came 20 years ago during the our very first campaign as AFC Telford United in 2004/05. That year the two sides played out a goalless draw at the News Bucks Head, with Bernard McNally’s side running out 2-1 winners in Lincolnshire.

Ricardo Dinanga’s smart finish was enough to give the Bucks a 1-0 win when the sides met in Lincolnshire earlier in the season. And Kevin Wilkin’s men will likely need a repeat of that result if the Bucks are to maintain their challenge for the title.

MATCHDAY INFORMATION

Tickets for Saturday’s fixture will remain on sale up until kick-off and are available for purchase online in advance. See our ticketing page for further details.