On his league debut, George Moncur pulled a superb goal out of the bag to claim a point in one of only two National League games to survive the temperatures this afternoon. Both sides had the lead in this game after Aaron Cosgrave’s first-half opener before Fleet fell behind midway through the second period… only for Moncur to show his class six minutes from the end.

There were four changes for the Fleet from the New Year’s Day clash against Dagenham, with Tyler Cordner, Jez Davies, Rakish Bingham and the injured Dominic Poleon out while in their place were Tom Dallison, George Moncur, Callum Harriott and Kwame Thomas.

In low winter sun on a freezing afternoon, Fleet made a solid start in the opening 10 minutes and fashioned a couple of half-chances without testing Boston’s new goalkeeper Tom Donaghy.

Boston thought they’d got the breakthrough on 12 minutes when Tony Weston’s run down the right created space for a ball into Jacob Hazel. He got lucky with a couple of bobbles of the ball to convert past Mark Cousins but the flag was raised.

Fleet were pressing again on 18 minutes and Moncur forced a corner from a very tight angle as Donaghy had to cover his near post. And Moncur was the architect of an even better opportunity two minutes later, charging down the right. His delivery caused Donaghy to palm the ball into the air and Cosgrave’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Tom Leak.

But Cosgrave wasn’t to be denied on 22 minutes. Dan Adshead didn’t look when he played the ball back across the final third. Cosgrave nipped in, wrong-footed the last man and fired low through his legs for the opener.

Adshead almost made immediate amends with a tricky low shot that Cousins pushed behind. It was end to end stuff for a period and Cosgrave’s stepovers in the box saw him able to feed Thomas but the ball was a difficult one to control and Oisin Gallagher stopped him in his tracks.

An eventful few minutes for Adshead ended with injury on the half-hour and he was replaced by former Bromley striker Adam Marriott. Cosgrave was also having a busy time and he did well to thread a passage into the box after some neat approach play but Boston did enough to crowd him out as the visitors earned another corner.

Boston threatened again on 39 minutes when the dangerous Weston slid a pass into Marriott in a crowded box. Cousins blocked him at the near post but from the resulting corner that was headed on, the unmarked Marriott rifled a low shot into the opposite corner just out of the Fleet goalkeeper’s reach.

Donaghy had to gather another couple of Moncur deliveries from the right while Hazel got round Mustapha Olagunju to see his shot diverted into the side netting at the other end as the first-half continued to be an open affair right to the whistle.

Boston looked keen to build on their equaliser in the opening minutes of the second-half and when Fleet couldn’t clear a 52nd minute approach down the left, Hazel managed to stab a shot into the side netting that had most of the home fans thinking it had gone in.

Todd Kane and Dallison made two key interceptions as Boston applied pressure again on 58 minutes and five minutes after that, Weston whipped a long-range rocket just over Cousins’ crossbar.

The second-half was more disjointed than the first but Boston edged ahead on 67 minutes when Weston raced through the middle on the counterattack. He supplied substitute Sam Osborne who was waiting out left and he took a touch to steady himself before arrowing an effort across Cousins and into the top corner.

Osborne and Weston swapped roles four minutes later as Boston countered again. Osborne’s pass got through the Fleet defence but Weston sent it over the bar as he slid in to attack the ball. Then when Alex Aoraha felled Weston on the edge of the Fleet area, Cousins got down smartly to save well on 76 minutes after seeing Cameron Green’s free-kick late.

Fleet grabbed an equaliser in fine style on 84 minutes. Moncur started the move just inside the Boston half, exchanged passes with Cosgrave and picked his spot from 25 yards to float a shot over Donaghy.

The red shirts pressed again and Moncur had another shot on target blocked before Kane’s excellent run in time added on ended up with Bingham who opted for a pass across the box that was cleared. It was an exciting final period with the visitors ending the game on top but a winner just wasn’t forthcoming.

EUFC: Cousins, O’Neill (Bingham 78), Kane, Dallison, Olagunju, Domi, Edser (Manktelow 82), Moncur, Harriott (Aoraha 60), Cosgrave, Thomas (Samuel 70). Subs: Odokonyero, Stewart, Goddard
BUFC: Donaghy, Green, Leak, Ward (Osborne 64), Rowe, Gallagher, Maguire (Woods 79), Hill, Weston (Coates 77), Adshead (Marriott 30), Hazel. Subs: Aderoju, Scott, Gregory
Attendance: 1,909 (95 EUFC)

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