THERE'S not much point in crying over spilt milk and fortunately for York City there is little time.

Hull City are the visitors to Bootham Crescent tomorrow, and what better opportunity for the Minstermen to wipe away the bitter disappointment of this defeat and performance?

Talk about a case of Boxing Day blues - a laboured City played like a side that had over-indugled on the Christmas pudding, and on a pitch every bit as stodgy.

The Minstermen could point to the terrible surface and a number of missed opportunities that, had they been taken, would have changed the complexion of the tie.

But Boston, short spells either side of half-time aside, were much the better unit.

Sharper and hungrier, the Pilgrims wasted a number of gilt-edged chances of their own that could have seen them repeating their 6-0 hammering of Shrewsbury just days earlier.

If the truth be known and in the second half especially, City looked and played like a team feeling a bit sorry for themselves.

In the circumstances, who can blame them? But it made the void left by the absent Chris Brass seem particularly telling.

With Brass sidelined City looked like a flock without their shepherd.

Whether barking orders or cajoling, the City skipper keeps his troops focused and concentrated from the first blast of the referee's whistle to the last.

And it was a crucial lack of concentration at the back which proved City's undoing in a fairly even first half.

Chances had been few and far between - Boston's Simon Weatherstone squandering the clearest, firing wide from 15 yards with just Alan Fettis to beat - when the hosts took the lead on the half-hour mark.

Boston full-back Ben Chapman was given far too much time and room to centre from the left and with the City defence rooted to the spot Stuart Douglas stuck out a leg to squeeze the ball in off the far post.

Strangely, the goal came just as City were starting to get a foot-hold in the match.

Michael Reddy managed to get to the by-line on a number of occasions but failed to pick out a red shirt with his pull-backs while Lee Bullock's looping header fell just the wrong side of the upright.

A goal down but in the ascendancy in terms of possession, there was certainly no sense of panic and every reason to feel confident the Minstermen could still salvage at the very least a point, particularly after a livewire start to the second half.

Reddy saw a goal-bound shot hit the heels of an unsuspecting Matt Hocking, while Peter Duffield's smart near-post drive produced an even smarter save from Boston 'keeper Paul Bastock.

But as quickly as hope and confidence had been renewed among the massed ranks of the travelling faithful so the bubble of optimism was burst.

Boston relieved the pressure with a swift break down the right, Weatherstone suddenly finding himself in acres of room.

His teasing, low centre threatened a three-way pile-up as Fettis, Jon Parkin and Richard Logan all homed in but it was the on-loan Ipswich striker who got to the ball first to poke it home from 12 yards.

Thereafter, Boston had countless opportunities to add to their tally but found Fettis in inspired form.

The City 'keeper produced a string of fine saves, from distance and close range, to keep the Pilgrims at bay - none better than his parry to deny Neil Redfearn's volley from just six yards.

At the opposite end, City prodded nervously rather than probed with any real conviction.

Their best chance to reduce the deficit fell to the usually reliable Duffield, but with what seemed the whole goal to aim at the City striker saw his side-foot from six yards cleared off the line by a retreating Boston defender.

Bullock flashed another header just wide while Graham Potter's curling effort was also headed off the line by Douglas.

But Fettis remained the busier of the two keepers and it was no real surprise when Boston added a third deep into stoppage time.

Redfearn's shot from the penalty spot was again saved by Fettis, but the City 'keeper could not hold the ball and Douglas pounced sharply to lift it into the roof of the net.

A wilted City looked every bit as tired and dejected as the York Street pitch, with the recent off-field events perhaps having finally caught up with the Minstermen.

But there's no time to lick the wounds.

Little can be done about the absence of Brass except wait, but a return to action - and winning ways - tomorrow should provide the perfect tonic after Boston's hefty blow.

Boston United: Bastock, Costello, Hocking, Balmer, Chapman, Weatherstone, Redfearn, Higgins (Thompson 75m), Angel (Gould 89m), Douglas, Logan (Battersby 90m). Subs, not used: Conroy, McCarthy.

Goals: Douglas 30, 90, Logan 52.

Bookings: Costello 17, Redfearn 69 (both fouls). Sent-off: None.

York City: Fettis 8, Edmondson 6, Parkin 6 (Smith 56m, 7), Cowan 6, Potter 6, Fox 7, Cooper 6, Bullock 6, Nogan 6, Duffield 6, Reddy 6. Subs, not used: Collinson, Mathie, Wood, Hobson

Bookings: Fettis 76 (handball). Sent-off: None

Ref: Mike Thorpe (Suffolk)

Attendance: 3,864

Man of the match: Alan Fettis. A number of fine saves at least kept City in the game and in with a chance

Updated: 11:17 Friday, December 27, 2002