By Jez Ashberry
The Poachers’ winless run stretched to seven games after visitors Belper Town gave them what manager Chris Funnell called a footballing lesson at the Mortgages For You Stadium.
Town’s new ‘keeper Jake West was voted man of the match, but even his heroics in the Boston goal couldn’t deny an impressive Belper side.
An entertaining game began with a flurry of chances at both ends: within the first ten minutes both sides had hit the woodwork, Matt Cotton had been booked for simulation in the penalty area, Zak Munton had been denied in a one on one by visiting keeper Kieran Preston, and the visitors had taken the lead.
The influential Jacob Gratton crossed from the right after ten minutes and midfielder Lewis Austin made no mistake from close range.
Belper Town had travelled to Boston on the back of a run of four defeats, but they looked dangerous from the off and outplayed the Poachers, who looked jaded following their midweek trip to Coventry.
Town carved out other chances – a mistake let in Cotton on the left but he rolled his shot against the post from a tight angle – but Belper were by far the better side, with playmaker Gratton dictating play and winger Jack Edwards creating havoc on the right.
The visitors doubled their lead after 23 minutes when centre-forward Harry Draper hooked home Edwards’ cross at the far post, and to be fair to the visitors the score by then could have been 2-4.
Tricky left-winger Tavonga Kuleya gave Finley Ging a tough afternoon and he was unlucky to see his curling effort hit the crossbar after 16 minutes.
Jake West had to be at his best to deny Austin, Kuleya and Edwards as the visitors threatened to run amok.
Boston looked ragged, and left-back Kallum Smith was hooked after just 30 minutes to be replaced by Ollie Houlston.
Chris Funnell made three more changes at the interval, bringing on Mackenzie Burdass, Harvey Graves and Kris Zalusinskis for Munton, Layton Maddison and Tom Siddons, but Belper were not to be denied.
On the hour West tipped a scorching effort by Curtis Burrows over the crossbar, and three minutes later Belper deservedly notched their third.
West came out of his area bravely to head away danger, the Poachers defence was slow to react, and the ball fell to Draper on the right, who lobbed into an unguarded net from 30 yards with West stranded.
The Poachers introduced Harry Limb in a bid to get back into the game, and the move almost paid dividends.
First a shot by Ted Gibbons took a deflection off a defender and bounced down off the crossbar, and then Limb’s penalty appeals for handball were waved away by the referee.
After the match Chris Funnell described himself as “shell-shocked” and admitted his side “got battered” by an impressive Belper outfit.
They must now pick themselves up and dust themselves down for a daunting trip to Northern Premier League leader Cleethorpes Town in their first ever Lincolnshire Senior Cup tie.
Boston Town: West, Ging, Smith (Houlston), Maddison (Burdass), Ford, Watkins (Limb), Bayliss, Gibbons, Siddons (Zalusinskis), Munton (Graves), Cotton.
Boston Town FC 