7 September 2019 –
Boston United 2 Bradford Park Avenue 1 (1,110)
This season is the
final one that Boston United will play at their historic York Street
stadium before it's knocked down and replaced with houses and an
Aldi, so we just had to visit and say a fond farewell to the old
place. What a shame to see it go – York Street is one of the
“proper” old grounds remaining, with proper floodlights that you
can use to find it, flags fluttering atop the stands, and an
interesting variety of design in the stands themselves. For those
nerdy people like me there's a side terrace and end, a side stand,
and a lovely eccentric mix of both at one end. Which includes the
press box.
For a change we decided
to go for street parking, and after some research settled on Rowley
Road – it's the one at the end of York Street. Took a couple of
minutes to find a place but bingpot! Free parking – head down the
college end of the road. We ambled back along York Street, past the
ground, and on to the awesome Eagles chip shop. This place is
terrific – and mentioned in Boston's own version of the Sheffield
United “greasy chip butty” song. Chips and gravy twice for a
bargain £6.50 ensures a good score for food.
Back to the stadium and
we paid into the Main Stand for just £20 for the two of us, grabbed
a programme (£3) and the 50/50 tickets (£1 each) and picked our
seats – unallocated mostly. It's quite a small stand, maybe 15
rows, so we planted ourselves at the back, near the Town End where
the noisiest fans stand. When I say noisiest, I mean the slightly
louder than silent fans. The atmosphere was....poor. Both sets of
fans tried, but it just weren't that great, Like most non-league
grounds we have visited, lack of numbers seriously ruins the decibel
level, which we prefer to be ear-splitting but is often “canal boat
engine” level.
On to the match....it
was awful. Lots of energy but very little skill. One Boston player,
Nicky Walker, put in probably the worst individual showing that I
have ever seen. One of his shots from the six yard box bounced along
the roof.. The Boston number 5 must have had a tenner on himself as
first goal scorer as he constantly kept shooting, but only worrying a
seagull and a copper standing near the corner flag. A loan player
from Lincoln City came on in the second half and looked a class
apart, inspiring the home team to go 2-0 up, before a defensive
howler allowed Bradford to pull a goal back, and that's how it ended.
2-1. Boston, somehow, up to sixth in the league.
The highlight, as it
turned out, was the groundsman setting up the hoses and sprinklers at
half time, then losing his rag and squirting it by hand. Then
forgetting that he'd left a fork sticking in the pitch as the players
were heading out for the second half. Comes to something when this
is as good as it gets.
Remember that the press
box is in one end? Well it's also the end where the away fans are
housed. Today the Bradford fans had a drum with them (boo!), and we
discussed how pissed off Rob Makepeace and his Radio Lincolnshire
colleagues must be when this happens. As mentioned, both sets of fans
tried to create an atmosphere, and in truth had a good go at it. But
there were just not enough of them.
And so to the scoring:
Atmosphere 2.5
Food & Drink 3.5
Stadium 3.5
Value For Money 4
Bonuses for 50/50 draw
and half time entertainment (groundsmen setting up hosepipes and
joyriding around on a mini tractor). Narrowly missed out on the Big
Flag point and dodged a bullet with the drum – only the BPA fans
had one.
Final score 15. Boston
United are top of our league!
Current table:
1 – Boston United –
15.0
2 – Falkirk – 13.0
3 – Mansfield Town –
12.0
Total goals so far =
10. Average goals = 3.3. Global average 2.75.
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