By Kate Jackson
July 5 2010

Games between the Imps and the Pilgrims were different to any other derby that City have really had in recent years. It was one of the few derbies where City filled the away end on the regular basis and it was certainly one of the more unique grounds to come out of the non-League in recent years.

There was no local derby that got me as excited as Boston United. Games against Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Hull, Doncaster and the various other local teams that City went to around that time were nothing in comparison to the level of anticipation.

Boston had won promotion to the Football League via controversial methods and they were equally looking forward to this derby, bringing out their "Bostonshire" flags.

Weeks of preparation went into the game and it was antipated to be a good day however, the day didn't start well when bad traffic in Boston saw a 45 minute trip turn into an hour and a half. Upon entering the ground I found it a bit bland and that ever reliable "ready to fall down" look to it.

THE TOWN END - THE AWAY END

The away end was an average sized terrace and it provided an otherwise excellent view of the action, the only problem being the advertising boards prevented you from seeing the goal line. However, there was an excellent view of the other end of the pitch and you would be able to easily see if a goal on just managed to sneak over the line, something that City learnt to their cost in the game in 2006/7.

It is one of the few grounds where the stand that away fans occupy is by far the biggest at the ground, with only the stand opposite really rivalling it in terms of height.

The stand to the Imps' right was the main terrace at the York Street and the obvious preferable choice of the Boston folk. This terrace, although small, ran the length of the pitch and I imagine it'd provide a relatively good view of the action. What limited atmosphere the Boston fans produced came from this stand.

The stand behind the opposite goal was the oldest looking of the four with a small terraced section at the bottom with a wooden seated section above this. This stand was updated during a later visit to turn the below terrace into a seated section. The view from this stand was reasonable, although restricted due to numerous posts. One thing that is very different about this end to the opposite end in terms of view is that you can easily see the line from this end of the pitch.

The final stand was an elevated seating stand that offered an excellent view of the game, however, due to the cramped nature of this stand, it felt very difficult to really get comfortable, especially the wooden benches that form the upper tier.

Another thing of note is that the Boston United dugout is a proper dugout, with nice plastic seats that you'd find at Sincil Bank and everything but the away dugout was filled with those really hard chairs you get in primary schools, now that's hospitality for you.

The programme was quite poor and wasn't really worth the £2 and perhaps was the cause of Boston worrying more about their points deduction during the summer rather than designing a new programme.

Crowd trouble marred the whole game with several fans being arrested and one Lincoln fan being walked down the pitch with blood pouring after being hit over the head with something. That was about as much atmosphere as the game produced as it was quite a poor game with a bad atmosphere from both sides but Boston went on to win 2-0 which was deserved.

The atmosphere from Boston fans was very limited indeed, with their selection of chants being extremely limited and they only really started singing properly during periods at which they were winning, and even then that is pushing it. Boston's preoccupation with trying to say it's called "Bostonshire" is very worrying indeed.

Overall I didn't enjoy my trip to Boston, I found it a very uncomfortable position to be in because of the violence. On our last League visit there (27/9/2006) Lincoln had more fans in the ground that the Boston fans did. Whether we ever face Boston in a league game again is very much up to debate, but they have started climbing their way back up the non-league pyramid, so you never know.

Boston United's York Street

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 05/07/2010 10:07

theimps.ka
05/07/2010 10:07

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