Hinkley, Hinkley, ra-ra-ra....

Hinckley United vs Boston United

The games come around quick in the B.S.B. Conf. North.  Too quick really.  Our first choice strike partnership were out injured with no time to recover before this trip to De Montfort Park.  At least I hope they were, because I don't rate Davidson much as a first choice!  I arrived at the ground about forty five minutes before kick-off to find the programmes had already sold out and a massive queue for the poorly staffed bar.  T.I.N.P.O.T.  I'm not sure Hinckley were expecting quite so many away fans with almost half of the 615 in attendance being from Bostonshire.

Hinckley started the better team and pushed Boston back.  However, Hinckley, like Stafford on Saturday, had no real threat up front.  Boston defended well with Murphy putting in a particularly brilliant shift.  McKeown also played well between the sticks and managed to mop up any shots that Hinckley got off.  The presence of Davidson provided the option for lobbing balls up front.  This proved to be too much of a temptation and sadly Boston reverted to a long ball game.

Davidson actually wins a ball in the air.

As the half wore on the Pilgrims wide men came into it more and started to provide some good deliveries into Davidson.  This might not be such a terrible thing if Davidson could win a header rather than letting it hit him and bounce off in a random direction.  At least one of these random deflections did fall to Hunter who ran clear through on goal but couldn't beat the keeper.  Hunter was looking sharp and given a few more games to bed in could be a big player for Boston.

Boston came out looking more dangerous after the break and were having all the chances.  Hinckley tried to shake things up by bringing on Gary 'Dorothy' King who is both ex-Boston and ex-Lincoln.  There was some brilliant ripping of him by the vocal Boston fans during half-time and I got the feeling he would get his own back by scoring.  Thankfully I was wrong and Dorothy is still as terrible as I remember, red boots or not.  Shortly after the substitution, Hunter's persistent play set-up Church to score the winner for the second game in a row.  Giving the Pilgrims support even more to shout about as they out-sang the home fans easily.  Hinckley tried to fashion an equalizer but the Boston defence was solid and it was two wins out of two for the Pilgrims.

Boston United: solid at the back.

It was pleasing to see just how much an away win meant to the players this early in the season.  This is the sort of commitment we have grown to expect over the last year or so and long may it continue.  According to the Hinckley keeper we were better than the bookies favourites for the league, Alfreton.  If this is true, combined with the players commitment and belief, we might be in with a shout of going up.  Maybe, just maybe.

Next up: Boston United away at Redditch.