Play-offs: part two - that's why I don't play the lottery

Boston United vs Guiseley AFC

This play-off semi-final, second leg was put into context with the announcement of the sad death of Pilgrims Safety Officer, Richard Carrington, on Sunday morning following a lengthy illness.  A minute silence was impeccably observed in his honour by both sets of fans.

The players walk out to a packed York St.

An early trip to York St gave to opportunity to watch the Black Country derby, it also offered an opportunity to drown the nerves under several pints of beer while praying that Boston could defend more effectively than West Brom.  The ground started to fill early and the fantastic home support of 2538 was bolstered by a pitiful 102 from Guiseley, one fifth of the support the Pilgrims took to Yorkshire on a Tuesday night first leg.  The Pilgrims were hoping to field a full first team but unfortunately Kev 'Keith' Austin aggravated an injury in the warm up and so Kieran Murphy started.  Pearson and Dudfield did manage to make it back into the team with Clarke and Boyes missing out as the Pilgrims looked to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit.

Churchy lines up a free-kick.

Boston were flying from the off as Pearson had his first effort cleared off the line, Yates put in the resultant corner and this time Pearson buried it.  Walshaw tried to restore Guiseley's advantage and managed to get a shot away without falling over much to the home support's amazement.  Dudfield and Weir-Daley both had chances but couldn't take advantage and neither could Guiseley as a shot was blocked by the Boston back line.  It was Boston who were having the better of an end to end game though and they were nearly ahead in the tie when Church smashed the ball into the crossbar either side of the break, including one from a belting free kick.

In a repeat of the first leg Guiseley were better after the break.  This improvement resulted in a goal as a free-kick deflected off the wall and fell to Rothery who beat Bastock from close-in.  Despite the improvement from the visitors it was still the Pilgrims creating most of the chances as Davidson and Clarke replaced Weir-Daley and Canoville respectively.  Yates had a great effort saved by the Guiseley 'keeper.  Yates was at the centre of most of United's good work in the second half and had another shot deflected just wide before his corner was returned to the box by Clarke, allowing Church to level the tie again.  Boston should have been awarded two or three spot-kicks during normal time but these were added to the one from the first leg in being turned down incorrectly.

The sublime Yates receives treatment in front of a heaving Town End.

Davidson had a chance to put United ahead early in extra time but could only nod wide from another great Yates cross.  Three minutes into the second period of extra time and a woeful clearance from Murphy allowed Stamp to spank in a wonderful effort from 20 plus yards.  The crowd was silenced except for a small contingent of joy in the corner of the York St stand.  The quiet lasted five minutes at the most.  Yet again Yates was at the centre of things, swinging in a brilliant cross for Davidson to convert to put Boston 3-2 up on the day and level 3-3 on aggregate.  The chance to win the tie fell to Boyes a few yards out completely unmarked and with only a minute or so to go but he leant back as he hit it and the ball sailed over.

Before this season I had never seen a Boston penalty shoot-out, now I've seen two.  Church and the cheat, Walshaw, both converted theirs but Sleath's penalty was brilliantly saved and Stamp gave Guiseley the advantage.  The Guiseley 'keeper made yet another superb save to deny Jelleyman, Boshell couldn't take advantage as his spot kick was fired straight at Bazza but Boston couldn't level up either, Boyes hitting the post.  Toulson spanked his kick against the bar giving Dudfield the opportunity to keep United in it.  Guiseley had to score to win the tie and Payton duly rolled the ball past Bazza to put United out.  I hate penalties.

The gutting feeling was tempered by immense pride in the performance and the overall achievement of the season.  The lads have done so well to even get to the play-offs.  Guiseley, whilst good enough on the pitch might not be good enough off it for the Blue Square Prem. and so I hope Telford win the play-off final, having seen off Nuneaton in the other semi.

Next up: England Ladies vs Sweden Ladies at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford will follow my 2010/11 season awards post.

Play-offs: part one

Guiseley AFC vs Boston United

Weatherspoons in Boston was the staging point for the pre-party-bus pints to settle the nerves.  Beers along with tainted coke ensured not only temporary balance issues as serious as those of the Guiseley front-line but a couple of unplanned "comfort" breaks en route to Yorkshire for the play-off semi final, first leg.  The balance issues also ensured that the party bus was rocking by the time we got to Nethermoor Park and piled out in full view of the cameras of Calendar or Look North or some other TV company that only shows an interest when we are at risk of playing Linscum next season.

Surely not as good as Eastwood?

There were Boston fans everywhere, along with the odd one or two from Guiseley dotted around; United must have brought 500+ of the 1000 odd attendance.  The Townenders presented their own player of the season award to Church, evidently disappointed that Pearson whitewashed the official awards.  The vocal support grouped together in one of the sheltered areas as the teams walked out, making it easy for the stewards to come and steal the inflatables and toilet roll; spoil sports.  Boston had made six changes from the weakened team that played against Vauxhall Motors; Canoville, Austin, Sleath, Semple, Boyes and Weir-Daley all coming in at the expense of Murphy, Pearson, Cullingworth, Frost, Dudfield and Stones.  Despite these changes it still wasn't what I'd call a first choice team.

Boston flew out of the blocks and had chances almost immediately as Yates sandwiched Guiseley efforts by nailing a free kick high before belting a second shot over.  Guiseley tested both Bazza and the integrity of the crossbar in response.  Following the initial shots across the bows the half tightened up and there were few chances.  Boston were having the better of the play but weren't helped when big Keith was forced off with an injury, having turned down a chance to play at Wembley with Darlington to remain with the Pilgrims.

The teams shake hands in front of the Boston fans.

Guiseley showed their Blue Square Premier class before the break as their floodlights and seemingly half the electricity in the ground failed, presumably because some Yorkshire Tea had been spilt on a generator or something.  Surely, surely Eastwood's ground is better than this?  There was just enough time for another injury before the break as the superb referee had to be replaced by the fourth official.  This was a shame for him, and probably for United too as the injured ref. hadn't been having any of Guiseley's falling over crap.

The sun sets over Yorkshire,
it's a good job the floodlights are reliable...

Someone had put another quid in the meter and the lights were back on as the teams walked out for the second half.  Guiseley managed one chance but it was Boston who should have gone ahead.  A stonewall penalty was not given by the fourth official, who showed why he hadn't given it by patting the underside of his arm where he thought the ball had hit the defender.  Last time I checked it was still handball when the ball hits an arm that's raised.  Mind you the fourth official should know better than me with all that time he has to read the rules whilst sitting on the sidelines...

Weir-Daley was denied but it was all Guiseley for a spell as the tide of the game turned.  Bastock made some excellent saves to keep the scores level but he couldn't keep out a worldy of a Peyton 35 yard free-kick, following a Church foul.  Guiseley threw everything at United in trying to increase the lead in the longest 15 minutes of play that I can remember watching.  Jason Lee brought himself on to try and alleviate the pressure but this only resulted in numerous Guiseley free-kicks as various defenders ran into Lee and bounced off.

Boston did well to hang on and ensure it's all to play for in the second leg.  There was a bit of trouble on the way out of the ground as three men and a dog the size of a horse seemed determined to take on 40+ Boston fans in a fight.  The stewards moved in and duly protected said angry northerners from their own stupidity.  I bet they don't turn up at York St.

Next up: Play-off semis, second leg.

Not all I'd feared

Boston United vs Guisley Guiseley

I'll be honest; I thought we were going to get spanked.  Absolutely battered in fact.  We've been poor recently, as poor as the local media's spelling of "Guisley".  This can only have been exacerbated by missing out on a good slab of money following last weeks debacle against Gloucester.  Luton away would have been a smashing trip for me as well.  Such is life. There was small cause for optimism though; the Pilgrims starting line up was subject to six changes as injured players came back into contention.  Boston were actually able to name a defence for this match, which was an enormous bonus, as Pearson and Jelleyman came into the back line and Nyoni slotted in to a defensive midfield role.  Church and Coleman were both pushed forward into the centre and the left of midfield respectively with Sleath, Clarke and Yates missing out.  Semple and Davidson replaced Newsham and Suarez whilst Haystead returned from being cup-tied.  One other small cause for hope, Boston usually play well against better teams...

Boston on the offensive in front of the Town End.

The game started fairly evenly with few chances.  Guiseley were passing the ball around well and fashioned the first chance of the game from a corner but were unable to take advantage.  Davidson set up Coleman for Boston but then couldn't control the rebound as Coleman's shot was blocked.  Pearson, a lad who the Pilgrims have missed massively, took things into his own hands.  After winning the ball well inside his own half he went on a meandering run to the edge of the Guiseley box before laying the ball off to Semple.  He wasn't finished there though as he continued the run to get on the end of Semple's cross.  Sadly the finish was wayward and the move didn't see the goal that it deserved.  Coleman had a couple more chances before the break and looked to be the danger man for Boston, unfortunately his efforts were either wide or easily gathered by the Guiseley 'keeper.  Church struck a dipping effort which was collected by the 'keeper without too much trouble whilst O'Neill hit the Pilgrims' side netting in reply for Guiseley.  It was a tight half of few chances with the ball spending most of the time in the middle third of the pitch.  So far, so good.

Guiseley clear their lines.

Guiseley were sent out a good two or three minutes before the Boston players at the start of the second half.  They'd clearly got some sort of talking to and it showed.  The Yorkshire club penned their Bostonian rivals back for much of the second half.  It was backs to the wall stuff from the Pilgrims whose defence were sitting on the edge of the six yard box.  Haystead was called into action on numerous occasions and performed admirably.  He was helped out by his defenders putting tackles and blocks in wherever they could.  There was Guiseley goal coming, it was just a matter of when.  67 minutes was when.  A Guiseley corner headed home with power by Simon Ainge burst the Pilgrims bubble and it was difficult to see how Boston could come back into the game.

Guiseley restart having conceded the equalizer.

But come back into the game they did!  The substitutions lined up before the goal were made with Clarke replacing Nyoni at centre midfield and Sleath replacing Coleman.  Sleath's impact was almost instant; the excellent Semple got free down the right and flighted a cross to a completely unmarked Sleath at the back post, who had time to compose himself before hammering the shot home just two minutes after the Pilgrims had conceded themselves.  What a substitution!  It does beg the question "what does Danny Sleath have to do to come back into the starting line-up?"  Man of the match last week and goal-scorer with almost his first touch as a sub this, he is definitely making a case for himself.

With the game wide open again both teams went hunting for a winner, the Pilgrims threw on Suarez for Davidson in an attempt to find it.  However, Guiseley returned to penning the Pilgrims back and almost took advantage when the ball was smashed across the face of the goal, luckily for Boston there was no-one to poke home and the cross-come-shot missed the back stick by a hairs-breadth.  The Pilgrims managed to hold out for their first, league, home draw for fourteen months.  A great point against a team who were obviously better than us.  More importantly a good performance which has been much needed after the recent run of games.

Next-up: Boston host a Redditch side languishing at the foot of the table.

It's Down To Us Now.

What a week!  The unbelievable set of results that I could never, in my wildest dreams, have expected have happened.  This won't be a long post (honest), mainly because I'm speachless.  It all started last Saturday against Guiseley...

Guiseley

Guiseley, you may remember, came into the match against Boston on the back of a fantastic run of form.  I duly expected the Pilgrims to get spanked and on 29 minutes a very soft penalty was converted to increase my fears. In honesty neither side were stunning but Guiseley probably deserved to be ahead.  The second half was a massive turn around though.  Guiseley were relieved to just get out of their half as Boston battered them.  Guiseley stood firm though and were well organised.  It's easy to see how they could grind out a result against the poorer teams in the league under these circumstances.  Boston are not, however, one of the poorer teams.  The persistent pressure eventually told with two Boston goals in the last ten minutes.

A fair proportion of the Boston fans waited behind for the Guiseley players to come off the pitch, aggrieved at the level of 'cheating' that had occurred.  Some words between players and fans were exchanged, culminating in the Guiseley number 7 telling us to "enjoy the play-offs"...

Worksop Town

Midweek saw a fairly routine trip to Ilkeston to play Worksop Town.  I didn't attend this match but instead listened to the commentary online.  Brilliantly my commentary feed cut out at exactly the right moment for me to miss both the first and second goals, I then missed the third whilst on the phone.  Not that I'm going to complain too much.  There was very little to commentate on and really Scotty Dalton could've gone to the pub during the second half.  Boston converted a their chances and ran out 5-1 winners.  We just don't seem to be able to keep a clean sheet at the moment.

More important were the results from the other promotion contenders games.  Bradford could only manage a draw against a good Buxton side on the Monday.  More results went Boston's way with Guiseley losing to Matlock.  This meant that the win at Worksop took Boston top on goal difference but Guiseley and BPA both had games in hand.

FC United of Manchester

FC United of Manchester were the visitors to York Street this Saturday in an important match for the Pilgrims.  A win would keep Boston top regardless of other results.  It's always a wonderful atmosphere whenever the FC fans come to town and this weekend was no different.  Flares, flags and incessant singing accompanied the opening exchanges of the game.  Boston went 1-0 down to an absolutely stunning free-kick.  No way that was going to be saved.  Cue more flares form the FC end.

Why the guy with the flares didn't get chucked out I'll never know.  It's not like he's hard to spot, he is carrying a bloody flare afterall!  The police seemed content to take a few home videos of the incident and leave it at that.  It did make the steward trying to throw a Boston fan out for standing in a cross-hatched area seem like a bit of a jobs-worth though.

In spite of the early goal FC didn't bring much football-wise and, in the first half at least, neither did Boston.  Going in at half time 1-0 down was made even worse by the news filtering through that both BPA and Guiseley were losing.  To be given an opportunity to take the league into our own hands and throw it away was gutting to say the least.

The second half saw a much improved Boston side.  All the endeavour of the first half was now combined with the much needed final ball.  FC United were being put under real pressure, only managing to get out of their half four or five times before Boston's breakthrough goal came on 70 minutes.  Without reading the match report I couldn't tell you who'd scored, the stand went completely mental and no one really cared who the scorer was (turns out it was Canoville, who knew?).  After that it didn't take Boston long to get in front with goals coming from Church, Weir-Daley and Davidson to see the game out.

The Boston fans applaud the FCUM fans in the Town End

4-1 to Boston is how it finished, a little harsh on FC maybe but the right result overall.  As the Boston fans poured onto the pitch to await the awards the vast majority walked over to the Town End to applaud the wonderful support provided by the FC United fans.  One or two idiots in the crowd were intent on causing trouble but it couldn't mar a great day.  Congratulations to Shaun Pearson on capping a brilliant season by receiving every award going, keep it up this week please!

There was a nervous wait for results elsewhere to come in... Guiseley 0 - Marine 2... Frickley Athletic 2 - Bradford Park Avenue 2... Brilliant!  It's now in Boston's hands, win at Marine next week and we win the league.  Only a small matter of a cup final to play before then, but who gives a cock about that?!

The top of the league table with one week left (lifted from the Unibond League website).