Swindon Town 2-2 Pilgrims

FA Cup

Two sloppy errors by Nathan Abbey led to goals that denied Boston United their first win against League opponents in the FA Cup for 23 years. Manager Steve Evans made one change to the starting line-up over the team that had beaten Torquay last Saturday. He brought in Simon Rusk in place of loan signing Ian Ross. David Noble returned to a place on the subs' bench and Jason Lee was out with a knee injury. The opening quarter hour was quite dull, with no real chances being created by either side. Boston opened the scoring on 25 minutes. A ball from the left wing found Simon RUSK in space 30 yards from goal. He controlled the ball before powering a spectacular shot into the top right corner. The lead lasted six minutes. Swindon equalised from a free kick after Rusk had fouled Stefani Miglioranzi 25 yards out. Andrew GURNEY took the kick, but Abbey failed to stop the shot - palming it into the net. Boston regained the lead just before half time with a freak goal. Stewart Talbot fired in a long range effort that hit the post, then bounced back onto Swindon 'keeper Tom HEATON before rolling back over the goal line. In added time Swindon came close via another free kick that saw Rusk booked for dissent. Gurney's effort was only half cleared and the ball fell to David Stroud whose lob was just too high.

Swindon dominated much of the second half as they searched for an equaliser. In the first minute Tony Thorpe glanced Steve Jenkin's cross from the right wing just wide. In the 54th minute Miglioranzi saw his volley deflected onto the post by Abbey. Swindon won four corners in two minutes and one of these saw Brad Maylett having to clear the ball off the line to deny Sean O'Hanlon a headed goal. On 85 minutes Maylett almost made the game safe, but his shot from the edge of the area went over the bar. Swindon got their reward for their second half pressure two minutes later when substitute Charlie COMYN-PLATT made the most of mistakes by Abbey and Futcher to slot home a loose ball from eight yards out. Right at the end Boston almost snatched a victory, but Heaton made a superb save to keep out Talbot's shot after he had been set up by Julian Joachim. After the match Steve Evans said: "Swindon should be out of the Cup. We've scored two good goals and we've given away two bad goals, which is not like us."

United team: Nathan Abbey, Lee Canoville, Ben Futcher, Alan White, Mark Greaves, Chris Holland, Brad Maylett (Danny Thomas 89), Simon Rusk, Stewart Talbot, Julian Joachim, Lawrie Dudfield (Paul Ellender 86). Subs not used: Austin McCann, David Noble, Chris Wright.