A tale of two bottles... and maybe some football.

Boston United vs Gloucester City

The lonely bottle watches the game

Gloucester City were the second team in a week that the Pilgrims wanted revenge over.  The Pilgrims don't seem to play very well against Gloucester.  Previous performances include an under-par win at Whaddon Road in January, followed a week later by United's unceremonious dumping from the FA Trophy at York St.  Following their Trophy win there were some excessive celebrations from the City lot.  This time round the travelling support had dropped from the 30+ Trophy glory-hunters, to only seven who could be bothered to make their way to south Lincolnshire.

A rare first half attack

Boston fielded the same team which completed the 4-0 mid-week thrashing of Stafford Rangers and had dispatched Droylesden a few days before.  The first half was ridiculously boring.  The City 'keeper taking what seemed like an age to take even a simple goal kick.  The whole Gloucester line-up seemed intent on time wasting and, when they weren't, on putting eleven men behind the ball.  Hunter had the best (possibly only) chance of the half when a good cross fell to his feet.  It seemed easier to score than mess it up but heavy pressure from the defender enabled the 'keeper to gobble the chance up.  One of the most exciting events of the first half was the appearance of a rogue plastic bottle on the fence around the pitch...

Suddenly, a second bottle!

The second half had to be more interesting and it was, almost instantly, as a second plastic bottle appeared next to the first!  Some sort of bizarre, bottle mating ceremony perhaps?  On the footballing front, Jelleyman was replaced following an injury and the team was shuffled with Green dropping in to left back and Yates coming on into the left wing slot.  Boston had only their second goal-bound effort of the game as Boyes hit one from 25 yards but it was easy for the 'keeper.  The reluctance to put the ball into the box from wide does beg the question "why don't the wingers cut in and have a go?"  Sadly, nobody seems to want to take a shot either and so the ball is fed wide, the cross doesn't come in and the opposition get possession.  It's all a little frustrating.

United were visibly lifted by the arrival of Weir-Daley for Hunter with 35 minutes left as the managers tried a newfangled tactic of making a sub with more than five minutes to go!  Finally!  It hadn't been Hunter's day but Weir-Daley definitely sharpened the attacking line up a bit.  Still, with ten minutes left it was feeling like one of those days.  Weir-Daley won Boston a corner and Mr Hallgarth confidently predicted a goal from a Pearson header.  However, on the basis of his recent cricket predictions I thought the ball would probably go out for a throw-in.  As it was, a great Yates corner was met by a bullet header from Pearson leaving the 'keeper no chance.  Can you predict me a lottery win next please, Adam?

The Gloucester 'keeper tries to get back.
The only marathons he's ever seen are called Snickers these days.

The Gloucester 'keeper wasn't wasting any time now and his distribution was helping City apply a bit of pressure.  Pearson was on hand to block a goal-bound effort and protect the lead he'd given Boston.  City seemed incapable of breaking down United as the Boston defence stood strong.  With a few minutes left the City 'keeper embarked on what must have seemed like a marathon to him, as he mirrored McKeown from the Trophy game and came up for a corner.  Unlike McKeown, he got nowhere near the ball and it was only some slow distribution from Haystead which saved his blushes as he puffed and panted his way back between his sticks.  The ref. must have actually been monitoring all the time wasting as there were seven minutes of stoppage time for the teams to play out at the end of the match.

A win is a win but these have to be some of the dullest points I have ever seen.  I've definitely seen worse games, England vs Montenegro for example, but not much worse.  The good news is that Guiseley and Blyth both fell to defeats so this victory will do the Pilgrims' play-off aspirations a world of good.

Next up: League-title holders-elect, Alfreton Town visit York St.