By Nathan Jackson
December 22 2005

Boston United view the Imps as their major scalp of the season, but do Lincoln fans share the same view of the Pilgrims? In recent years, Boston have developed a real hatred for the Imps, however, this hatred isn't really shared by the Imps, where most of the fans prefer the established rivalries.

The main difference between the 2 sets of fans is how the other is viewed. If you to ask 100 Boston fans to name the one said they would love to beat during the season, at least 99 would say Lincoln, however, if you ask a Lincoln fan that question, a lot would say Grimsby and if they were still in this league, most Lincoln fans would say Hull and Scunny before Boston even came into their heads. As a Lincoln fan, I don't see the games against Boston as anything to get excited about, granted it's a local derby but like most other Lincoln fans, I prefer the established derbies such as the afformentioned games against Scunny, Hull and Grimsby, as well as Mansfield.

The average Boston fan hates Lincoln with a passion and views the Imps as "the team to beat", however, Lincoln fans view Boston as a proverbial dog's "remains" on the path, although a slight annoyance, we have more pressing things to worry about and can easily adapt to the minor matter or the remains. This is more than likely down to Boston's relatively young league status as they are in just their 3rd year in the football league.

Boston, by their usual standards, are having a good season and are currently at the dizzy heights of 12th after a run of 2 defeats in 16 league games, however, runs such as that are pretty useless if you only win 5 of those 16 games because although you're going unbeaten, you're being caught up by sides who were miles behind you a few weeks before, the greatest example of this is Lincoln's current run. Boston's recent run has seen them win just 1 of their last 6 league games, the last 3 being draws, City on the other hand have only won 3 in 14 leagues and yet sit just one place and one point behind a Boston side who's performances have been described as inconsistent.

Manager Evans, seems to have set himself some incredibly high standards, in the FA Cup against Swindon, in a replay at York Street, Boston ran out 4-1 winners after leading 4-0 at half time and Steve Evans was so unimpressed with the second half, he had his players come in 3 hours earlier for training, something that you would think would only happen to players who had just lost 4-1. That is one of just 2 wins in the Pilgrims last 10games in league and cup with has gone from being the afformentioned Swindow 4-1 to losing 3-0 at home to conference side, Kidderminster Harriers exactly a week after that impressive result over the former Premiership side. One the basis of home form vs away form, you would favour Lincoln on Boxing Day as the Imps have collected 16 points at Sincil Bank, compared to Boston's 9 on the road.

Boston's major achilles heal is their away form, since they entered the football league, Boston have played a total of 80 away league games, only 13 of which have seen the Pilgrims return home with all 3 points. It says a lot about a club like Boston when most of them still cling to their 4th league match, a 2-0 win over City and refer to that every time that these games coming round, ignoring the fact that they haven't beat us in the league since that game on August 24th 2002, nor have they EVER finished in a higher league position than the Imps, any club that has fans that cling onto the past like that, really needs to reaffirm their priorities.

On Saturday, Boston faced Cheltenham, a side who had confidently done the double on the Imps this season and if you believed the Boston report and fans, you'd think that Boston should have won by at least 8 goals, however, the only people who share this opinion are Boston fans and every single Cheltenham fan I've spoken to who went to the game, said the game was as one sided as a Dodecagon (a 12 sided shape for those of you who don't know what one of them was) and that Boston strikers were the chasers of lost causes as their defence punted balls 70 yards upfield for them to chase, sounds familiar.

The one thing I will say about Boston fans is that they're a bit like buses. Whenever they're not winning any games, they're no-where to be seen, but as soon as they eventually win a game, you can't get rid of them.

It is the second time that Boston United will go into a league game against the Imps in a higher position in the table than the Imps, however, if the Imps do win against the Pilgrims, it will see City go above Boston in the table and go 2 points head of them and could even possibly be just 2 points off of the playoff places.

Just so fans know, this game is ALL TICKET for away fans, meaning that if you plan on coming to the game and supporting the Pilgrims, you must have a ticket otherwise you won't get in. The only stand that isn't all ticket in the ground, is the Stacey West, however, any Boston fan who gains entrance to this stand and makes it obvious that they are a Boston fan, you will be chucked out of the ground, so don't even try it......again.