Grantham Town Under 16s beat Boston United in the Junior Premier League

Grantham Town Under 16s defeated leaders Boston United to close the gap back to two points at the top of the NPC Midlands Division of the Junior Premier League after a 2-1 success at the weekend.

Having been beaten 3-2 last week against the same side in another close encounter, Grantham were charged from the first whistle.

An early corner was forced on the left hand side and Jacob Price swung in the kick but Harley Webster's far post header went narrowly wide.

Another Webster effort was blocked inside the area following a nice move from Town as they applied the early pressure on the Boston goal.

The Gingerbreads were then unlucky not to take the lead when Rhys Stevens crashed a half volley onto the underside of the crossbar from the corner of the box. but, as the ball bounced down onto the goalline, it spun away to safety.

United had an opportunity of their own as a cross from the right was volleyed towards goal but Town Keeper Harri Bexon was equal to it by clutching the ball above his head.

Grantham took a deserved lead after 25 minutes as another corner from Price was swung towards the back stick and Maks Nowak stooped to head the ball into the back of the net.

The remainder of the first half saw a lot of hard work from both sides in the central areas of the pitch, without any clear cut opportunities being carved out and the half-time whistle blew with Grantham ahead.

The second half started with Boston forcing a sequence of corners but without success while there was a half chance as the United striker looped a volley high over the bar as they went in search of the equaliser.

Grantham almost doubled their lead when Rhys Stevens broke down the left, cutting the ball back to Aston Taylor to shoot towards goal. The ball looked to be heading towards the roof of the net before striking a Boston defender on the back and flying over the bar for a corner.

Webster then had a drive from distance that missed the target as Town looked for the second goal to kill the game.

However, with full time on the horizon, Grantham conceded a needless penalty with the player going away from goal.

The Boston forward converted the resulting kick calmly into the corner to give United their equaliser.

That goal could have been the catalyst for a Grantham collapse after the undoing of all their earlier hard work but, to their credit, they responded in the best way possible.

As the minutes ticked away, Town forced a throw on the right hand side and Fred Cahill launched the ball into the Boston penalty area.

Jacob Price ran from deep to prod the ball in at the near post to restore Grantham's lead and cue joyous celebration.

In fact their lead was nearly extended further from the restart as Ollie Harness won possession high up the pitch and crashed a shot off the angle of post and bar.

However, the final whistle blew and an important three points were claimed by the home side to keep the pressure on Boston at the top.

The two sides meet again in two week's time in the Lincolnshire County Cup final at the Sun Hat Villas and Resorts Stadium, home of Lincoln United.