Nuneaton Town 1 Boston Utd 3

Saturday 3rd October, 2015

Match report courtesy of Nuneaton News;

Shell-shocked Boro suffered only their third defeat of the season as they were gunned down by an impressive Boston United.

Goals from Ryan Robbins and Dayle Southwell crowned an electrifying first-half performance by the visitors, and a second-half strike by Scott Garner sealed a nightmare day for Nuneaton.

Rob Duffy did grab a consolation for the hosts, but their run of four matches without defeat always looked destined to come to an abrupt end.

From the very first whistle, Boston got into Boro. So used to taking a stranglehold on possession, Kevin Wilson’s men were caught cold by the away side’s lung-busting pressing and couldn’t get to grips with their bright passing.

And as a result, The Pilgrims were gifted several chances in the opening stages and could have been one up within 10 minutes. The usually reliable James Clifton passed the ball straight to Robbins and it took a smart Jordan Smith save to keep the scores level.

Fortune was Nuneaton’s next saviour, as a cross was allowed to travel across the entire box, with Southwell waiting to convert. He would have done, but for a Jack Lane block on the line.

After the early exchanges, it was no surprise when the visitors took the lead. A surging forward run by Grant Roberts drew several weak challenges as he approached Smith’s goal and the midfielder squared it to Robbins to tap into the empty net.

The blow threatened to wake Boro up and Callum Chettle came close to levelling. A good move down the left broke to the former Nottingham Forest trainee, but his effort was stopped by the alert Henrich Ravas in the away goal.

The chance wasn’t to be the start of the fightback though, as Southwell made it two. Roberts wriggled clear in the middle again and threaded a through ball to the number nine, who poked the ball beyond Smith for two nil.

Boro were being beaten at their own game and weren’t being given any time to get into their rhythm. On countless occasions, marauding wing back James Reid was caught too far up the pitch as Boston turned over possession rapidly. The closest Kevin Wilson’s men came to reducing the arrears was when Aaron Williams – looking to notch in his fifth consecutive match – turned and shot from yards out, but Ravas got down quickly to turn it around the post.

With the Liberty Way faithful expecting to see a stirring response after the break, they were nearly given further reason to groan instead.

A long throw was allowed to bounce by the hesitant backline and Southwell managed to hit the bar with a placed effort when it looked easier to score.

Nuneaton started to show shoots of recovery when James Reid saw a rasping drive turned round by Havas, but it proved to be a false dawn.

First Southwell came within inches of grabbing his second after being teed up by a low right-wing cross, before Garner got his goal. The Boston skipper reacted quickest when yet another cross wasn’t properly dealt with and he steered beyond Smith to make it three-nil to the visitors.

After a disappointing performance by Marlon Harewood, Duffy’s introduction did help Nuneaton’s furrow with his stature giving Boston centre back pairing of Garner and Carl Piergianni something different to think about.

Substitute Duffy did manage to pull one back with a close-range header, but it never looked like being anything more than a consolation.

Williams sent another chance flashing across the face of Havas’s goal as Boro finally started to take control of the ball, although they couldn’t find the incisive pass to create a clear opening.

A late appeal by the home side for a penalty was turned down by the referee as time ran out, but it was Boston that came closest to adding to their lead when Nicky Walker saw his effort headed off the line by Joe Maguire.

BORO: J.Smith, Clifton, Reid (C.Keane 74), J.Keane, Maguire, Lane, Chettle, Whitehouse, Byrne, Harewood (Duffy 56), Williams.
Subs not used: De la Paz, Dyer, Daniels.

BOSTON: Ravas, Marrs, Greene, Richards, Garner, Piergianni, Roberts, Mills, Southwell (Felix 68), Jones, Robbins (Walker 77).
Subs not used : Dowie, Dixon, Johnson.

Attendance: 774