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Pilgrims 1-1 Newport County AFC

Dr Martens League

It was party time at York Street as the Dr. Martens League Premier Division Champions were presented with the Championship Shield and the Lincolnshire League Champions also received their Cup. As the United team came out on to the pitch, fifteen minutes before kick off, to receive their trophy, fireworks were let off and a huge net full of black and amber balloons was released. To add to the spectacle the sound of bagpipes wafted over York Street as a lone Scottish piper led Steve Evans out on to the pitch to a tumultuous welcome from the large crowd.

After the scenes witnessed at the end of the Grantham match last week and with nothing left to play for, the game itself was always going to be something of an anti-climax. Newport, keen to test their championship potential for next season, looked lively and inventive. With a bit more luck they could easily have gone in front when Carl Dale headed just over the bar at the end of a move which saw the ball bouncing off assorted players in the Boston area like a giant pinball game. However it was Boston who took the lead on twenty five minutes. After good work by Peter Costello and Mark Rawle, Andrew Stanhope sent in a pinpoint cross which Mick NUTTELL headed home. Newport almost equalised straight away when Paul Bastock had to nudge a powerful header from Darren Robison over the bar.

At the other end Mick Nuttell came close when he headed a Paul Raynor free kick just wide. Bastock was soon called upon to make more good saves. First to keep out a volley from Dale and then to spoon a close range effort, again from Dale, over the bar following a long throw. Just before half time a penetrating Peter Costello cross just failed to find the head of either Rawle or Nuttell. The half time team talk clearly had the desired effect and Boston started the second half as if they meant business. Rawle saw a shot tipped over the bar and from the resulting corner a Costello drive from just outside the area had to pe pushed round the post by Pat Mountain in the Newport goal. Slowly Newport came back into the game. Paul Bastock made two good saves to deny first Rose, then Dale. Len Curtis got his name in the referees book following a clumsy challenge on Dale on the edge of the area, but Newport wasted the resulting free kick with a poor effort which was both wide and high. Newport got their equaliser in the seventy second minute. Darren ROBISON volleyed home a corner, with a wicked deflection off Andrew Stanhope putting it beyond the reach of Bastock and into the top left hand corner of the goal. Rawle almost restored the Boston lead a few minutes later when a flick on by Nuttell put him in the clear, but his shot was agonisingly inches wide of the upright.

United team: 1. Paul Bastock, 2. Joby Gowshall, 3. Len Curtis, 4. Colin Hoyle, 5. Peter Costello, 6. David Rennie, 7. Andrew Stanhope, 8. Gary Childs, 9. Mick Nuttell, 10. Mark Rawle, 11. Paul Raynor, 12. Paul Wilson, 14. Steve Charles, 15. Shaun Keeble.