Boston Town Football Club have been crowned the 2023 Lincolnshire FA County Senior Trophy Champions – sponsored by FreshLinc – after an impressive 2-0 win over Deeping Rangers FC at the Jakemans Community Stadium in Boston.

Martyn Bunce’s side claimed the club’s first trophy in 14 years following goals from Jordan Nuttell and Marshall Young.

The 614-strong crowd didn’t have to wait long for the opening goal of the game, when Jordan Nuttell hammered home an effort from the 6-yard box after a beautiful ball was floated into Deeping Rangers’ box, but goalkeeper Dan George couldn’t get hold of it and it fell to Nuttell’s feet who wasted no time in seeing it into the back of the net.

The game soon settled and became a midfield battle, with some strong but mostly fair challenges as both teams scrapped it out to find a way past their respective defensive lines.Boston appeared to be the stronger of the two sides though and had the better chances, with Deeping having to wait until the 37th minute for the first real threat on the Boston goal – when Will Bird hit an effort from inside the Boston area which deflected off a defending player, looped up into the air and forced Travis Portas into a save.

The game soon went into half time with Boston Town one goal to the good. 

Deeping Rangers came out into the second half with some fire in their bellies and looked a lot more threatening in the early stages, with Ben Seymour-Shove having a long-range effort on target and forcing Travis Portas to make the save. 

Drama soon followed after Boston squared a ball into the Deeping box to a completely free attacker, who tried to take it around Dan George and left the keeper scrambling. He brings the player down and leaves referee James Cliffe with no other choice but to award the penalty.

However, Dan George soon redeemed himself and heroically saved Fraser Bayliss’ penalty to keep the game at 1-0 and keep hope in the Deeping Rangers hearts.

Boston Town soon put the game to bed after a fantastic ball across the Deeping box was smashed home by Marshall Young in the 77th minute and handed Boston Town the 122-year-old County Senior Trophy, their first accolade since 2009.

Boston Town FC Manager, Martyn Bunce, told us he was “proud as anything” and was “really pleased for the boys and of course the club”.

“I thought we was quite sloppy in the first half to be honest, sloppy with the ball as well. The pitch is really fast tonight with the weather, so one bounce and it gets away from you, but I thought our decision making was poor at times. But second half, our boys got to grips with it a lot better”.

“Back to the club now [to celebrate] and a few glasses of red wine I think!”

Richard Ford was presented with the Player of the Match award, and our match officials were James Cliffe, Ben Woodward, Ellis Mills, and Rob Holland. The County Senior Trophy was presented by the competition’s sponsor, Robin Hancox from FreshLinc. 

Prior to kick off, a minute’s applause was held in memory of Simon Dethick – who suddenly passed away at the weekend. Simon was an ex-player and manager at Deeping Rangers FC as well as Sunday side Deeping Athletic FC. He won several Saturday and Sunday cups with both sides.

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Photo credit: Ed Mayes Photography