**HORSE 1-2 FROLESWORTH UNITED**
JACK Boulton was once again the hero as he prodded home a last-minute winner to give Frolesworth United their first away win in the league this season, with a hard-fought victory against fellow strugglers Horse at Knighton Park on Sunday morning.
Boulton, who scored a dramatic 94th minute equaliser against Leicester Academicals earlier in the season and was named on the bench for Friday night’s defeat at the hands of title-chasing Sparta Moshdock, was once again thrown up front with 10 minutes to play in a desperate attempt to find an elusive winner.
And he rewarded manager Ben Harris’ bravery after he latched on to substitute Steven Bottom’s inch-perfect through ball to stab home with just seconds remaining on the clock to snatch a vital three points and secure The Rabbits’ Division One status.
United travelled to Brighton Avenue for their second game in just three days after a disappointing 3-0 defeat in their final ever game at The Warren on Friday evening, and they were without the services of front-three Jack Sutherland, Tom Stokes and Sam Young.
Instead, Harris opted to revert back to the more familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, with Boulton returning to the back-four alongside Mark James, meaning captain Mark Baker moved into midfield.
He was accompanied by Joe Swanwick, who returned at the expense of Bottom and Martin Finnigan was employed at left-back in place of the injured Jack Rudman. Martin Fennon moved out of position from sweeper to the left-hand side of midfield, while Eddie Glaister finally returned to the fray on the right, with Joe Cook once again leading the line up-top.
And although it was a makeshift starting XI for the visitors, they started much the better side in the early spring sunshine and had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside in just the eighth minute.
It was indeed Fennon’s sumptuous ball that sent Cook bearing down on goal, but instead of opting to shoot he cleverly laid the ball back for the on-rushing Glaister, only for him to return the favour for Cook to effortlessly slot home.
But due to a raised flag on the far side, The Rabbits’ celebrations were dubiously cut short. They wouldn’t be repelled for much longer, however, as just six minutes later Cook finally did give them the lead that their bright opening so richly deserved.
After some neat build-up play in midfield, the intelligent front-man had come wide on the left to receive the ball. Once he had done so, he then turned back infield and unchallenged, sent a curling effort towards the back post, which eluded not only his team-mates but also the home side’s goalkeeper and fell kindly into the far corner.
It was exactly what Harris had wished for, but his side would take their foot off the gas from there on as the home side began to dominate. Always a handful in the air and scorer of a last-minute equaliser in the game at Hall Park earlier this season, Mike Tuxford crashed a header off the bar from another Horse corner shortly before the break.
But their pressure told after the interval, as Tuxford flicked on a long-throw at the near-post and the impressive Matt Pell couldn’t do anything to stop it harmfully drifting into the far corner.
Frolesworth’s response came through the isolated Cook, as in a similar manner to his goal he peeled wide before cutting inside and then flashing a curling shot narrowly past the upright. Both sides were intent on gaining all three points at this late stage in the season, as United pushed for the winner, throwing Swanwick forward in a 4-4-2 formation.
And Harris, who was accused of getting his tactics wrong against Moshdock on Friday, would silence the doubters with a masterstroke 10 minutes from time. He replaced the tiresome Swanwick with Bottom, who slotted into midfield, meaning Baker would move to centre-half and Boulton was sent forward to try and get his head on things as the visitors put all hands to the pump.
It would have an almost immediate effect too, as with time running out Bottom, with the vision and craft that had been missing throughout the past 80 minutes, supplied a fantastic through ball for Boulton to latch on to and the centre-half composed himself before nudging the ball into the far corner.
It was a huge win for The Rabbits, who proved they can now finally grind out results with their first win on the road in Division One this season and with each passing game, both Harris and his players are learning more about themselves.
The result now moves Frolesworth into 6th place on 17 points, three short of their target, with three games remaining, starting at AFC Hurricanes on Friday evening.
FROLESWORTH: EVANS 7, FINNIGAN 5, BOULTON 8, JAMES 8(MOM), PELL 7, SWANWICK 7, BAKER 5, FENNON 6, PANTONY 6, GLAISTER 6, COOK 7. SUBS: BAINES 6, BOTTOM 7.
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