York Street Conference North Saturday February 1st 2014
Boston United returned to winning ways after a goalless draw in midweek with their joint biggest win over Gainsborough Trinity in the Lincolnshire Derby at a cold, wind-swept York Street.
York Street- the goalmouths in particular trouble.
This derby between the Conference North’s 2 Lincolnshire clubs was only given the go-ahead at 1:40pm after 3 pitch inspections. The pitch had taken a battering in the midweek clash against Stockport (0-0 draw) and as I set off from Nottingham, I was uncertain as to whether it would be on. Fortunately, it was but Dennis Greene was forced into making a change as the impressive Liam Marrs’ knee had flared up after the Stockport game so Conor Marshall had to switch to right back but it allowed Jamie McGhee to start in the centre of a midfield 3 after impressive cameos against Solihull & Stockport.
Blues’ boss Steve Housham made 2 changes from his Gainsborough side that lost their last game against Colwyn Bay. Josh Lacey replaced Josh Wilde in defence and Ciaran Toner replaced Jamie Wootton in midfield. The Blues were also playing a 4-3-3
On a heavy pitch, it was Boston who immediately took the game to their visitors- Kyle Dixon set up Marc Newsham on the left hand corner of the box but the striker’s shot was into the side netting at Phil Barnes’ near post. Gainsborough’s defence were all at sea against the lofted ball- the cold breeze making life extremely difficult and it was Boston who grabbed the lead on 8 minutes. A beautiful little lobbed pass by Conor Marshall set Ryan Semple free down the right and his low cross was met by NEWSHAM, getting in front of his man to stab past Barnes for the opening goal.
The Pilgrims continued to threaten, though on 19 minutes they did survive a potential scare as Sam Vince somewhat needlessly came off his line to try and intercept a through ball and came perilously close to handling outside his area. Having collected the ball though, his long downfield kick was missed by Callum Howe and NEWSHAM ran onto it and slotted through Barnes’ legs to double the lead.
Gainsborough then had arguably their best opening all afternoon. Rene Steer’s slip allowed Taylor to nip in and the ball then fell to Brad Barraclough- but his well struck shot from 18 yards was straight at Vince.
Then, the impressive McGhee made a surging run into the box as he latched on to a short pass, he burst past 2 challenges before being caught by Michael Leary. After Newsham’s recent penalties had been saved, Ricky MILLER– announced as the league’s player of the month with 9 goals in 5 games- stepped up and rolled it down the middle to extend the hosts’ lead yet further.
There were only 34 minutes on the board when Boston went 4-0 up. Another powerful run by McGhee was halted on the edge of the area and a powerfully struck SEMPLE free kick took a deflection off the wall (and possibly Miller too), leaving Barnes stranded as the ball went to his left and into the net.
It really was all Boston- the midfield trio of Dixon, Agnew and McGhee enjoying time on the ball to get their heads up and pick out passes, make forward runs and the work ethic of Semple, Newsham and especially Miller against a demoralized back line paying dividends.
Miller had 3 chances, either side of half time to make it 5- his first came as he got between the centre backs and the onrushing Barnes, another fierce drive beaten away by the Trinity keeper at his near post and the best chance in the early stages of the 2nd half, but he missed a 1 on 1 after being played in by Newsham’s well weighted pass.
Darryn Stamp and Jamie Wootton were both introduced at half time as Housham looked to stem the bleeding and Stamp seemed intent on creating some wounds on the Boston players with a couple of really poor challenges- the second of which, he got booked for, but although they showed a marked improvement, it was still Boston who were creating chances- McGhee forcing a good low save from Barnes and Agnew’s long range shot going narrowly wide. Wootton had the Blues’ only real effort in the 2nd half, but he flashed a drive from the right into the side netting.
2nd half action at the sun sets
Eventually, Boston did go 5-0 up on 75 minutes. A stunning effort by Conor Marshall rattled the bar, but it fell to Miller, whose cross from the left flashed across goal and Scott GARNER tapped in off the underside of the bar.
The icing on the cake was delivered 4 minutes from the end as NEWSHAM brilliantly took down Ian Ross’ driven pass before slamming into Barnes’ right hand corner to complete his first ever league hat-trick for the Pilgrims- quite a surprising stat given he has over 100 goals for them now and banishing any bad memories of his saved penalty on Tuesday night.
The full time whistle finally put Gainsborough out of their misery. An extremely impressive performance from Boston who have scored 22 goals in their last 6 games. The Pilgrims lie 5th, the Blues 16th.
Hat-trick hero Marc Newsham with the match ball (and bubbly behind his legs) talking to the Boston Standard’s Duncan Browne
UNITED: Vince, Marshall, Steer, McGhee, Garner, Piergianni, Semple (Ross 67), Dixon, Miller (Fairclough 80), Newsham, Agnew (Ross 79); Subs (not used): Galinski, King.
TRINITY: Barnes, Roma, Lacey, Leary, Howe, McKenzie, Russell, Toner, Taylor (Wootton HT) Barraclough, Winfarrah (Stamp HT); Subs (not used): Burbeary, Martin, Karkach.
Ref: Simon Barrow.
Att: 1,255 (56 visitors)
Match Rating- 8/10. Extremely one-sided but on a difficult pitch, Boston really played some neat stuff and were extremely clinical with their chances.
Under The Floodlights 