Late goals sink Melton Town at Boston

Boston Town 2 Melton Town 0
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Melton Town saw their unbeaten streak broken with two late goals as they fell to a 2-0 defeat away to Boston Town, writes Adam Etheridge.

Tom Mucklin opened the scoring with five minutes left and Pharrell Waite added the second four minutes later.

The Reds went in to the match on the back of two wins, including a 4-1 victory against Boston a fortnight earlier.

On that occasion Melton were able to play their quick passing game at Sign Right Park. However, Boston’s pitch offered no such opportunity with the ball bobbling about across the surface any time it touch the grass.

It was a tough, physical match and Melton were awarded an early free kick that Paul Anderson swung in to the box looking for Henry Eze, who scored a hat-trick the last time the two sides met.

Boston dealt with the threat relatively comfortably and seemed to have learnt to keep tabs on Eze whenever he was in the area.

Both sides struggled to get going early on but Melton began to make headway down the right hand side.

Henry Eze clears his lines at Boston. Photo: Craig HarrisonHenry Eze clears his lines at Boston. Photo: Craig Harrison
Henry Eze clears his lines at Boston. Photo: Craig Harrison

A Sam Beaver cross in to the box found Zak Munton in the middle but he couldn’t make a solid connection and his effort was easily saved.

Moments later the ball was up the other end where Eze was on hand to block Harry Limb’s effort.

Melton began to take control of the match, dominating possession in the centre of the park but not turning that control into chances.

It was the Poachers that drew the best chance of the half though as top-scorer Limb beat Eze and lobbed Bill Harrison, only to see Cameron Gilchrist make a last ditch clearance from underneath his own bar.

Tom Manship’s side continued to enjoy spells of pressure in and around the Boston area but weren’t able to force saves from Travis Portas.

Owen Storey took a shot from outside the box but it was charged down by an onrushing defender.

An entertaining and hard-fought half was brought to an end with the sides locked at 0-0.

Neither side made any changes at the break and the second half came to life when Limb fouled Harrison as he collected a cross in to the box.

The collision left the Melton keeper in a heap as Eze confronted Limb.

The Boston striker found himself in the referee’s notebook for the foul and Harrison was able to carry on though required treatment later on.

Much the same as the first half, Melton enjoyed the lion’s share of possession but, once again, failed to make clear cut chances.

Both sides made several chances as the match became a bit of a stalemate.

Boston’s best chances were coming from Richard Ford’s long throws into the Melton box and with 25 minutes to play they flashed a header narrowly wide of Harrison’s post.

Syme Mulvany, who had a hand in all three goals against Holbeach last week, was adjudged to be offside when he broke free with 20 minutes remaining, a decision he clearly didn’t agree with as he was denied the chance to break the deadlock.

The Poachers finally began to take the game to the Reds in the final 15 minutes, creating a brief period of pressure in which they earned a couple of corners.

Manship had warned his side of Boston’s danger from set-pieces, and was proven correct as Mucklin pounced on a loose ball to score after Harrison had made a good save to deny Fraser Bayliss when he connected with another one of Ford’s long throws.

The Poachers had done just that, stealing the lead with five minutes to play.

Melton responded and went in search of an equaliser but were caught on the break when Waite scored against the Reds for the second straight match.

His 89th minute strike killed off the match and dropped Melton to ninth in the table.

Town will look to get back to winning ways when they welcome Quorn to Sign Right Park on Saturday afternoon.

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