Boston 2 Ipswich Town 5WHILE you can never gauge too much in pre-season, there were plenty of things for Blues fans to be pleased about, and couple of areas for concern, as Ipswich notched up their second away win in a week.

Boston 2 Ipswich Town 5

WHILE you can never gauge too much in pre-season, there were plenty of things for Blues fans to be pleased about, and couple of areas for concern, as Ipswich notched up their second away win in a week.

Nicky Forster's sharpness, eye for goal and all round quality, which saw the free signing claim two of Town's five goals, and the effort and persistence of fellow new-boy Sam Parkin were major plusses.

Darren Currie displayed class, vision and pin-point passing, which would have given him, a man-of-the-match award if such things were given in these sort of games.

There were also good goals from Irish duo Jim Magilton and Owen Garvan, while Alan White knocked into his own net.

And there was the continuing progress of Dean McDonald, Sammy Moore and Aidan Collins, while Jimmy Juan had a tidy game.

That the goals continue to flow, even against lower division opposition, has to be a good thing and there is now doubt winning is a good habit to maintain.

But it was no tea party and, sadly, there were also warning bells, which will be heeded, and hopefully sorted out, starting against Scottish champions Rangers, who will offer a sterner test.

Boston went ahead when Jason Lee, yes, him of pineapple head notoriety, took advantage of weak defending at a corner.

The Pilgrims grabbed their second through Daryl Clare, after a serious lapse in concentration from Ipswich following the restart after scoring their fourth goal.

Defensive reinforcements are being recruited but, just as last season, it is not only the back five who are responsible.

On a pitch scarred by vandals, the League Two side went ahead on 24 minutes, slightly against the run of play, when the Blues failed to deal decisively with a corner and Lee chipped Lewis Price from eight yards.

Lee had already posted a warning, after being left unmarked at a Stewart Talbot corner, while defender Lee Canoville had also found a way through before driving a shot wide.

Town had enjoyed a bright start, with Currie, in particular, moving around the park to good effect. He cleverly dinked a ball over the defence for Forster to run on to and his chip beat Nathan Abbey but it rebounded off the crossbar and the keeper recovered to push away under pressure from Parkin.

The equaliser came on the half-hour, when Currie side-footed an 18-yard free-kick around the wall and it hit former Lincoln City defender Ben Futcher on line. The ball went in off him under pressure from Forster, who claimed the goal.

Town made seven changes at half-time and three made an immediate impact, with Kevin Horlock, at left-back, swinging a ball wide for McDonald to run on to and his cross was met by Garvan. The Irishman's first-time shot hit the crossbar but he followed up and nodded the rebound past substitute keeper Scott Howie.

Currie's movement and quality continued to pose Boston problems and he set up Town's third goal with a neat ball through for Forster.

The former Reading man cleverly allowed it to run and squeezed past a defender before clipping the ball past Howie.

United's reply was immediate, with Clare heading a Danny Thomas cross from the left past Shane Supple.

The Blues' fourth came courtesy of former Colchester United defender White, who made the switch to York Street earlier this month. A deep corner from Currie struck White and it dribbled into the bottom corner past Howie with 12 minutes left.

Skipper Jim Magilton weighed in with a rare gem of a goal, an exquisite 20-yard chip that the keeper got his fingers to but could not prevent from going in.

The teams

Boston United: Abbey (Howie, 46), Canoville (Thomas, 46), McCann, Greaves (White, 56), Futcher, Talbot (Ellender, 69) Maylett, Rusk (Edkins, 46), Lee, Clare (Norris), Holland. Subs not used: Joachim, Johnson, Whelan.

Ipswich Town: Price, (Supple, 46) Wilnis (Moore, 46), Richards (Horlock, 46), De Vos (Collins, 46), Juan (Magilton, 46), Naylor, Bowditch (McDonald, 46), Forster, Parkin, Currie, Westlake (Garvan, 46). All subs used.

Referee: Kevin Wright (Peterborough)