Nathan Joynes had a debut to remember as he struck the only goal to beat title chasing Boston and stretch Matlock's winning sequence in the league to four matches, all without conceding a goal.
It was another deserved success for the Gladiators whose tremendous workrate had to be applauded on a sticky wet pitch as the high flying Pilgrims never seriously troubled another Matlock debutant, goalkeeper Arron Jameson.
The two debuts were the only changes from the side which had seen off Witton Albion after extra time in the FA Trophy four days earlier. Nick Buxton and Nathan Benger stood down, with Benger not included at all as the bench consisted of Trophy hero Mark Haran, Darren Cartwright, Stef Frost and Buxton.
Boston included Jamie Yates, son of former Matlock favourite, Lenny Yates on the right of midfield, while striker Danny Davidson, on loan at Causeway Lane at the end of last term and who played in a couple of Matlock's pre season games before opting to join Boston, was one of the visiting substitutes.
Joynes showed up well in the early exchanges creating a physical presence that had Boston's central defenders Shaun Pearson and captain Lee Canoville on the back foot.
There were early long range efforts from Gareth Davies and Steve Warne which were off target before Joynes thought he had broken the deadlock when he rose to head in a cross from the left by Ben Algar. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the challenge but fussy referee Phil Booker ruled the "goal" out.
The official would upset both teams and both sets of supporters by his refusal to let the game flow, awarding a staggering fifty four free kicks. He failed to appreciate that football is a contact sport and that fans had not paid good money to watch what appeared to be a personal ego-trip from him. In what had been a sportingly contested match on a difficult surface, he managed to brandish his yellow card five times, starting with Joynes for an arial challenge with Pearson, and then adding Boston's Pearson, Anthony Church, Canoville and Davidson, making a mockery of Boston heading the UniBond Premier Division Fair Play table.
Joynes headed over from another Algar cross as Matlock continued to ask most of the questions. United custodian Tom Evans did well to hang on to a firmly drilled Ross Hannah free kick.
All Boston had to show in an attacking sense in the opening half was a curled free kick from Danny Sleath which drifted harmlessly wide.
As the rain poured down after the interval making an already challenging pitch even more of a test, Matlock still had the better of things and they edged ahead on the hour. Boston fell asleep from a throw on the left and when the ball was played into JOYNES, the striker confidently held off three defenders before crashing a rising twelve yard shot past Evans. It was a superbly taken goal.
Now the onus was on Boston to step up a couple of gears, but with both Simon Sturdy and James Lukic colossal at the heart of the home defence, the Pilgrims seldom troubled Jameson whose main duties were to collect crosses which he did with ease.
Boston's top scorer, former Ilkeston and Rotherham striker Marc Newsham, shot wide from twenty yards and Pearson, up supplementing the Pilgrims attack drove too high from a similar distance. They found it tough going against a Town defence who looked in no mood to concede their narrow lead.
Even with Davidson thrown on, United could not make any real headway and although former Nottingham Forest striker Spencer Weir-Daley had a sniff of a chance late on, Matlock quickly closed ranks and deservedly enough gained another excellent victory.
Matlock introduced Haran again as a striker with Joynes withdrawn having not had much first team action lately. Fresh legs were most definitely needed as both sets of players would be grateful of the warmth of the showers afterwards.
This victory was as much satisfying as the recent thrashing of another top club, Ashton United. It was achieved through spirit, clearly epitomised in the last few minutes when Hannah sprinted a good twenty yards to block a Boston clearance.
After the heartache of successive heavy away defeats at Bradford and King's Lynn a couple of months ago, Matlock looked to have turned the corner. They now look a very decent side indeed, one that is prepared to battle to the end.
They made Boston look at the best ordinary, although the Pilgrims still will be highly fancied to lift the title next April.
MATLOCK TOWN: Jameson, Yates, Featherstone, King, Sturdy, Lukic, Davies, Warne, Joynes (Haran 69), Hannah, Algar (Brough 80)
Other subs: Cartwright, Frost, Buxton.
REFEREE: P Booker--Sheffield. ATTENDANCE: 409 STAR MAN: James Lukic.
