Chris Funnell suffered his first league defeat as Boston Town manager as his side were edged out by in-form Bourne Town.
It took a second-half penalty to separate these two teams in what was often a tempestuous derby that saw a flurry of yellow cards.
The visitors had to play with 10 men for most of the game after Richard Ford was shown a straight red for sliding into a challenge after 21 minutes.
They were already without the suspended Luke Wilson and had to reshuffle their backline again when Ford was sent off.
But despite being outnumbered, the Poachers did their fans proud and created some good chances to grab a point, notably when Lucas Dakin headed over with less than 10 minutes left
It was Boston’s first league defeat since September but Bourne march on, moving up to second with this win.
On Saturday (14 December), the Poachers have another derby, this time against Skegness at the Mortgages For You Stadium, kick-off 3pm
Town: Portas, Burdass (Beeson), Hudson, Tate, Ford, Worthington, Dakin, Maddison, Nuttell (Adams), Limb, Bayliss; unused subs: Borbely, Millar
