Boro hit the Town with powerful performance

Having fallen a goal behind, Boro showed their grit to fight back, eventually cruising to the valuable three points.

Boro started the game in lively fashion and they began to threaten as early as the third minute.

Max Wright had a sweet volley tipped away by visiting keeper Leigh Overton, then James Walshaw sneaked in behind, but his effort flew just wide.

Former Boro man Alex Peterson had a great opportunity to move Ossett ahead when the ball dropped kindly on the penalty spot, but he fluffed his lines badly, skewing a shot well wide.

On another frozen afternoon at the Flamingo Land Stadium, the temperature was nudged up a notch when Boro's Dave Merris and Ossett's Jordan Deacey clashed over a throw-in. A flurry of pushing and shoving followed that spilled into the Boro dug-out, much of which was broken up by Steve Kittrick's mountainous assistant-boss Mark Hume, who demonstrated his peacekeeping skills.

Walshaw continued to cause problems when the game re-started. His best opening saw him wriggle free in the box and smash in an effort that was deflected into the hands of keeper Overton.

Ossett's booming long-ball approach led to few clear opportunities, though Merris had to hook off his own line after a dangerous flick down in the box.

It was mainly Boro who were excelling on the attacking front, returning midfielder James Cadman having a long-distance shot fumbled wide, then Michael Coulson's free-kick was grasped by Overton.

So when Ossett took the lead in calamitous style, many faces around the ground were etched with shock.

There was a huge mix-up between defender Danny Stimpson and keeper Tommy Taylor, which allowed an overjoyed Kia Hancock in to poke home from close range.

Boro gritted their teeth and struck back immediately. Merris delivered a delightful ball to the far post and Wright met it beautifully to level the proceedings.

More excitement was to follow when the second half kicked off. It took Stimpson just a matter of minutes to atone for his earlier error when he powerfully headed home at the far post from a corner to make it 2-1.

Walshaw twice came close to extending the advantage, but his efforts's were blocked by the keeper and then a defender.

Hancock was unlucky not to restore equilibrium when he struck at goal, but the ball smashed against Ossett's former Boro striker Emile Sinclair on the line and bounced to safety.

Sinclair burst in on the Boro goal minutes later, but the covering of Sam Hewitt made sure he couldn't pull the trigger.

After absorbing this, Boro wrapped up the points soon after when Wright whipped another superb ball into the box to pick out an unmarked Coulson, who stooped to head home.

Boro threw on Bailey Gooda for his debut and he almost marked his card with a goal, but his header flew just over the bar.

The final chance of the afternoon fell to the tireless Walshaw, who should possibly have rolled into the path of a free Wright, but he opted to shoot just wide of the target.