Boston United only spent one hour working on new formation which saw them beat York City, boss Craig Elliott reveals

Manager labels victory ‘best result of the season’...

Craig Elliott has admitted his Boston United squad had only worked on their new formation for an hour... but the gamble paid off as the Pilgrims claimed a 3-1 victory over York City.

United first tried out their tactical change at training on Thursday night, but it was enough to see Elliott mastermind a victory against their full-time opponents.

Scott Garner and Brad Abbott returned to the starting XI at the expense of leading scorer Jordan Thewlis and club captain Jay Rollins as United lined up in a 3-5-2 set-up against title challengers York.

“I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous going into it,” Elliott said.

“I’m not one for making big changes, but watching a lot of videos this week, my gut instinct of how I wanted to press them, we couldn’t do with our recent formation.

“(David) Ferguson and (Sean) Newton are big players for them and I thought they were really quiet today, it worked.

“It’s all about players buying into that. We had a good hour on it on Thursday and it paid off in the end.”

Kurt Willoughby gave the Minstermen an early lead before Frank Mulhern, Brad Abbott and Andi Thanoj secured three points against the full-timers, drawing United to within six points of York, who are currently second in the National League North.

“I think it’s our best result of the season. I think it was a really strong performance against a team doing so well, and I’m really happy for everyone, players, fans,” Elliott added.

“It made the win even more sweeter as they don’t concede goals, they’re hard to break down.

“To come from 1-0 down to win is a great result.”

With the scores level at the break, Elliott was delighted with his side’s application in the final 45 minutes.

He continued: “The big question at half time was ‘can we carry it on and push on the front foot?’

“The idea was to press them and get onto the wing backs. I thought Alex Penny, in particular, was superb against Ferguson, who’s been a good player this season.

“Everything worked and it’s nice when it does.

“The players deserve a lot of credit as we only worked on it pretty late on Thursday.”

There was an element of fortune to Mulhern’s leveller, the ball seemingly taking a deflection as it looped over Peter Jameson.

“I saw him going in and thought ‘shoot’ but then I lost it in the sun,” the manager said.

“I couldn’t see how it went in, I’ve no idea. But I’m glad for him, he’s been terrific. He’s that physical presence we haven’t had all season.”

Abbott slotted home number two from close range before Thanoj settled victory with what appeared to be a cross which snuck into the net.

“He’s said (he meant it),” said Elliott, trying to resist a smirk.

“He’s a prolific goalscorer now so you’ve got to let him have it.

“At the start of the season I’d say ‘no’, but he’s put it in a good area and deserves the goal.”