Saints fail to recover from early double setback

Brackley Town failed to recover from conceding two early goals as they lost 3-1 against Boston United in Tuesday’s Vanarama National League North clash.
Saints boss Jon Brady wants more improvement all roundSaints boss Jon Brady wants more improvement all round
Saints boss Jon Brady wants more improvement all round

Boston raced into a two goal lead within seven minutes at St James Park as woeful defending left keeper Dan Crane exposed. First Carl Piergianni took full advantage of a free header from Kyle Dixon’s corner before Jamie McGhee’s pass put Mark Jones through on goal and he found the net with ease.

Saints fought back and reduced the deficit in the 27th minute as Luke Graham rose to place a firm header past keeper Jason Alexander from Owen Story’s corner.

Both sides had scoring chances before the break as first Deon Burton shot straight at Alexander after good work by Sam Smith before Boston top scorer Dayle Southwell struck the post when it seemed easier to score with Crane making an excellent follow-up save from the rebound.

Saints came out for the second half desperate for the equaliser but found only a resolute Boston defence. Burton almost connected with Tom Winters’ fine cross but Saints struggled to make headway in a second half stalemate.

When a goal came, it was for the Pilgrims in the 74th minute as another defensive mix-up saw Jay Rollins fire in at close range to put the game out of reach.

Manager Jon Brady did not hide his displeasure describing the evening as “extremely frustrating” and “a dis-jointed performance”.

He said: “Going two goals down so early gave us a mountain to climb, it was just poor defending by normally reliable players, We got back in it but second half they denied us shooting chances but we need to improve all-round.”