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).
