Barnet 1-0 Pilgrims

Coca Cola League

Boston United will want to forget 2005 as soon as possible - particularly their away form. With only three wins on their travels all year, it wasn't too surprising that they finished it as the losing side at Barnet's Underhill ground. An injury to Stewart Talbot during the warm-up didn't help. With no obvious replacement available amongst his substitutes, Steve Evans had to bring on Francis Green for an unfamiliar midfield rôle. Neither side created much in the way of goalscoring chances in the first half. Lawrie Dudfield forced a save out of Ross Flitney in the first minute and Alan White headed a cross from Lee Canoville over the bar. The home side had a goal ruled when a shot by Ben Strevens found the net, but the referee had spotted an infringement. Dwane Lee tested Conrad Logan with a powerfully struck free-kick just before half time, but the young keeper had no problems making the save. The half-time talk by Barnet manager Paul Fairclough must have been inspiring as his side came out full of enthusiasm at the start of the second half.

In the second minute of the half Barnet took the lead. Logan had made a good save to tip a shot by Damian Batt round the post. From the resulting corner Dwane LEE rose unchallenged to head Dean Sinclair's flick-on past the stranded keeper. Boston threw players forward in search of an equaliser. On the hour, striker Jason Lee was brought on to replace Alan White as Boston switched to a 3-3-4 formation. Near the end Boston almost scored when Francis Green produced an overhead kick to get on the end of Austin McCann's free kick, but his effort was cleared off the line by Simon Clist. Despite the loss, Boston remain just four points off a playoff place, although they have dropped to 13th place in the table. After the match Steve Evans said: "We had 80% possession, but we never had the final ball - the ball that opens teams up. That's what was lacking today."

United team: Conrad Logan, Lee Canoville, Paul Ellender, Alan White (Jason Lee 62), Austin McCann, Chris Holland, Simon Rusk, Danny Thomas (Bradley Maylett 82), Francis Green, Lawrie Dudfield (Noel Whelan 71), Julian Joachim. Subs not used: Mark Greaves, David Galbraith.