Boston Town 1 King's Lynn 1
6th March 2012
KING'S Lynn Town's promotion hopes suffered a setback on Tuesday night when they were held to a 1-1 draw at local rivals Boston Town.
With title rivals Long Buckby winning 3-0 at Yaxley, Lynn were unable to take advantage of being allowed to replay the match after playing the suspended Rob Hughes in the original fixture.
The Linnets, who won the original fixture 1-0 in October, had to rely on an equaliser from substitute Danny Beaumont to earn them a share of the spoils after ex-Grimsby Town trainee Jammal Shahin had given the ten-men of Boston a shock lead.
In terms of goals conceded per game, Boston have the fourth best defence in the division and this was very much in evidence on Tuesday as a fine rearguard action denied Lynn all three points.
Linnets boss Gary Setchell said: "Some people will think it's the end of the world but we need to pick ourselves up as we still have a great chance of winning the title.
"It was always going to be hard here and, on a difficult pitch, it was always going to be a game of few chances.
"We lost our concentration for a few seconds and it has cost us goal and that's what disappointed me tonight.
"To their credit, Boston worked their socks off. They will go home delighted with their point, where we will go home slightly disappointed with ours."
The Linnets were forced to start the game without influential defender Stuart Wall.
Wall was held up in traffic on his way to the game and could only be named on the bench.
Boston played the last 25 minutes with ten men after Craig Parker was sent for an early bath after picking up two bookings.
Shahin gave the Poachers the lead out of the blue before Beaumont drilled home a Jack Defty knock-down with ten minutes left on the clock.
Lynn dominated long periods of the second half and had two good calls for a penalty turned down by the referee.
Both Danny White and Ryan Fryatt also had efforts cleared off the line but, to their credit, the ten-men of Boston battled valiantly until the final whistle.
Long Buckby visit Boston in their penultimate match of the season.
King's Lynn Town: Street, Deeney (Harris, 75), Wall, Fryatt, Yong, White, L. Thurlbourne, Hughes (Spriggs, 65), J. Thurlbourne, Defty and Turner (Beaumont, 65). Subs not used: Hails and Wall.
Booked: Watson and L. Thurlbourne. Goal: Beaumont (80).
Boston Town: Wright, Lambley, Parker, Brooks, Wood, Smith, Kirton, Borbely, Bull (Brown, 83), Shahin and Foster. Subs not used: Harper, Clancy, Jones and Stocks
Booked: Foster, Parker (x2). Sent-off: Parker. Goal: Shahin (74).
Referee: J. Thorold.