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On This Day

In 1993,The Daggers beat Telford United 4-1 at Home in the GM Vauxhall Conference  In 1995,The Daggers lost 0-3 to Slough Town at Home in the Conference League Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg In 1999,The Daggers beat AFC Sudbury 2-1  Away in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round In 2004,The Daggers lost 0-4 to Aldershot Town Away in the Nationwide Conference  Report In 2010,The Daggers lost 0-3 to Bristol Rovers at Home in the NPower League One  In 2012,The Daggers lost 0-1 to Northampton Town at Home in the NPower League Two

Boston Woe by Hardy on 19/09/2002 All is not well up in Lincolnshire. Hardy looks at what is happening in Boston with their managerial woes, star striker problems and more. "Lets all laugh at Boston" Pre-occupied as we all are with the Daggers less than stunning start to the 2002/03 season it is worth taking a look at how our dear friends the Pilgrims are faring in the promised land of Division Three. It doesn't take the powers of Mystic Meg to tell that all is not well at York Street. The club is sitting just one off the bottom of the division after 9 games with 6 points following last nights narrow victory over Swansea City who replaced them at the bottom. Even without the 4 point deduction they would only be lying 19th so it has hardly been an auspicious start. It is early days though and observers will recall that Rushden & Diamonds were scarcely better off at this stage last season and ended the season in the Division Three playoff final at the Millennium Stadium. The same observers will also note that the Diamonds are a well run, financially stable club and Boston are, well Boston. After last night's game caretaker manager Neil Thompson quit, stating to BBC Radio Lincolnshire (here) as he did that his position had become untenable and that he wanted to leave with his dignity intact. This morning, club secretary John Blackwell is quoted as saying that Thompson is reconsidering his statement of last night. "There's only one Daryl Clare" Neil Thompson's real problems though seem to have started when interviewed by BBC Radio Lincolnshire after the clubs defeat by Oxford United last Saturday. Thompson revealed that Daryl Clare, last season's Conference top-scorer and a major reason that the Pilgrim's managed to pip the Daggers to the title, would not be playing for the team again after refusing to take a place on the bench for the game. The interview, which can be found here (see "interview" from the Oxford game), was worthy of Steve Evans at his most bizarre and prompted horrified posts on the Boston Patter. Thompson had already been the subject of questioning on team selection by fans having played Paul Ellender, normally a defender, up front on several occasions. Dropping and then castigating fans favourite Clare in a radio interview has further confounded his critics. Rumours that Daryl Clare was on the phone to Garry Hill (right) shortly after the bust up have not been confirmed. It is likely that the Clare situation was part of what made Thompson say that his position was an impossible one. If the man responsible for team selection says a player won't play for the club again and is over-ruled it is not unreasonable for him to walk away. It is interesting that the board now appear to be asking him to reconsider. Other problems are bubbling at York Street too though. Evans, hero or zero? A look at the Boston Patter reveals an unhappy set of supporters. There is a very vocal "get Evans back" contingent who wanted to see caretaker Neil Thompson replaced by the heroic but forgetful manager (what exactly was in those contracts??) who took them to two promotions in three seasons. There is another group that, much more sensibly, want to see Evans as far away as possible from York Street after the damage he did to the club's reputation last season. The pro-Evans group have been very vocal at recent games and have been accused of undermining Thompson and may well be part of the reason for him quitting. The pro-Evans camp argue that he has not been found guilty yet, and when it is pointed out that actually he pleaded guilty to half the charges against him they say "yeah, but those are the same ones that the club were found guilty of and the club still got promoted." Precisely! The FA meanwhile have yet to provide closure to the Bostongate saga by hearing the case on the remaining charges against Evans and former chairman Pat Malkinson. The hearing was originally delayed due to Malkinson's health and scheduled for this week, but has now been further delayed, bizarrely as Malkinson appears to have booked his holidays to coincide with the hearing. Dear old Steve (left, courtesy of Adam Upsall - BostonFever.com) is still stirring the pot too. He was reported in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph as saying he could return and take the team to the play-offs and that he is very frustrated that the hearings keep being delayed. Then came reports that the real reason for the delays is that the FA can't get hold of Evans to set the date. The same report stated that Evans' lawyer for the case is the same one that defended the real-life perpetrator of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" from extradition back to the US recently, Jim Shurman QC. Apparently after the guy had got off on a technicality US cops were trying for a re-trial based on new DNA evidence. One of our own wags commented that the appointment of Shuman by Evans was due to the FA having evidence of Evans' DNA on a brown envelope he licked. As they say in the X-Files, the truth is out there. Ticketing chaos Another clue that maybe Boston wasn't quite ready for the Football League is the chaos that is ensuing whenever a game is made all ticket, which is a regular occurrence it seems. Being a rural area it is not so easy for all fans to get along to York Street ahead of games to pick up tickets and the club has yet to get a computer for the office, let alone get an on-line, or even phone based, ticketing system. The result is crowds that are significantly down as the more casual fans can't just turn up on the day. One observer is estimating that this is reducing attendances by up to 500. The club put in place a match day ticket "Portacabin" to allow fans to buy tickets before games, but this has just led to huge queues to buy tickets only to join another queue to get through the turnstiles. One wag on the Patter has suggested the outlandish idea of taking cash on the gates. The management of the club seem worried by this for some strange reason. Finally... "You'll never take the Town End" No need, the club have given it away. The Boston faithful's favourite area of York Street, the Town End terrace, was given to away fans due to problems in segregating the other parts of the ground. Many fans are livid with this. Local rivals Lincoln made the most of the situation but unfortunately the Imps then lost to rather blur bragging rights.