Welsh fury at crucial Boston loss

Welsh (left) took over from Tommy Taylor as manager in December

Upset Boston boss Steve Welsh has challenged his players to prove to fans they have the character to stay up.

The Pilgrims slipped back into the UniBond Premier League bottom four after losing 2-0 to relegation rivals Matlock Town at York Street.

Welsh also revealed chairman David Newton took a supporter into the dressing room at full-time to talk to the players.

"We lacked everything in the match," Welsh told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

"I've never ever questioned the players' character and I won't do that, but it's now all about character.

"I know the supporters have got the bottle for it, I know I have, I know Andrew Stanhope (his assistant) has. The question which is now being asked by other people, not me, is have the players got the character," Welsh added.

Despite their dramatic fall from the Football League to the UniBond Premier - including two enforced demotions by the football authorities - the Pilgrims are still averaging gates of more than 1,000.

Welsh said: "We're getting one thousand people in the UniBond League - these boys have got to understand it doesn't get any better than this.

"It's unbelievable for this level of football and they've got to understand it's got to happen now, it's not going to happen next week or the week after because the egg timer is running out."

Boston now face a crunch clash away at bottom side Leigh Genesis on Tuesday night.