THE Magpies' third meeting with Boston in a fortnight brought the Lincolnshire side compensation for their defeat by Chorley in the FA Trophy.

The scoreline was a fair reflection of an undistinguished UniBond Premier Division game played on a partly snow covered pitch.

Chorley's under strength team, with perhaps one eye on next Saturday's big Trophy tie against Gainsborough, never looked sharp enough in attack to recover twice from falling behind.

After a quiet opening Simon Marsh saved spectacularly from Boston's Phil Brown at the expense of a corner, but United finally went ahead on 38 minutes when the tricky Andy Gray drove home an angled shot from a left wing cross.

Chorley began brightly after the break and were rewarded with a fine goal on 49 minutes. Following a free kick, Lee Trundle laid the ball back for Dean Emerson to flash a 20 yard drive into the top corner of the net.

After a period of stalemate Boston gradually reasserted themselves and grabbed the winner with 20 minutes to go, when Chris Cook nipped in front of covering defender Andy Thorpe to nod in an accurate cross from the right.

Neither side created much after that and the game petered out to be remembered more perhaps for the reintroduction of the orange ball than for the action itself.

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