Pilgrims 4-1 Swindon Town

FA Cup

Boston United's longest barren spell without knocking a League team out of the FA Cup finally came to an end after 23 years when they thrashed Swindon Town at York Street. A brilliant first half display saw them go in with a 4-0 lead and Swindon down to ten men after their 'keeper had been sent off. But they sat back in the second half and even allowed Swindon a consolation goal via the penalty spot. With Lee Canoville out suspended, Austin McCann got a starting place and Jason Lee was preferred to Lawrie Dudfield up front. Chris Holland came back into the side after missing out at Rushden, coming in for on-loan Ian Ross who is not allowed to play for Boston in the FA Cup. Boston totally dominated the first half and it was no surprise when they took the lead after just nine minutes. A shot by Bradley Maylett was deflected into the path of Julian JOACHIM who slotted home with a touch of Premiership class. On 19 minutes it looked like Joachim would get his second when he was clean through, but Swindon 'keeper Tom Heaton brought him down - an offence that earned him a red card and Boston a penalty. Jason Lee took the spot kick against quickly substituted reserve 'keeper Matthew Bulman. Lee blasted the penalty and Bulman tipped it onto the crossbar and behind for a corner. David Noble then entered the fray, coming on for Stewart Talbot who had picked up an injury. Boston increased their lead in the 23rd minute when JOACHIM picked his spot after getting on the end of a ball forward by Chris Holland.

In a rare Swindon attack Andy Gurney saw his long range effort clip the woodwork. Boston went three up five minutes before the interval when MAYLETT fired home from the edge of the area. Right on the stroke of half-time Boston got their fourth goal when LEE scored with a header after getting of the end of a cross by Noble that had been helped on its way by Ben Futcher. The second half was always going to be an anti-climax as Swindon sought to gain some sort of consolation. An early effort by Sean O'Hanlon was just too high. Joachim came close to getting his hat-trick on 50 minutes, but his shot was wide of the target. Mark Greaves made a good clearance to deny Andy Nicholas. Ten minutes from time Nathan Abbey made a good save to keep out Charlie Comyn-Platt. Three minutes later Alan White handled the ball on the edge of the area to give Swindon a chance from the penalty spot and Rory FALLON made no mistake with his kick, powering the ball into the bottom left corner as Abbey dived to the right. No more goals were scored so Boston United progress to the second round and a potentially lucrative home tie against Doncaster Rovers on 4th December. After the match Steve Evans said: "That's not acceptable the second half. The first half should have been ten. The second half was poor. The first half performance was the best ever at Boston. You can't then go from that to the second half."

United team: Nathan Abbey, Austin McCann, Ben Futcher, Alan White, Mark Greaves, Chris Holland, Bradley Maylett, Simon Rusk, Stewart Talbot (David Noble 20), Julian Joachim (Danny Thomas 89), Jason Lee (Lawrie Dudfield 85). Subs not used: Paul Ellender, Chris Wright.