Reurning Hill can bring missing energy to revitalised Boston United believes Waterfall

Boston United assistant boss Luke Waterfall believes returning midfielder Dylan Hill can provide a spark that has been missing this season once fully fit.

Hill, 22, got his first 45 minutes under his belt since April in last night's 1-0 home win over Leicester City U21 in the National League Cup after recovering from summer shoulder surgery.

It was the first time Waterfall had seen Boston's longest serving player of five seasons in proper match action since Waterfall joined the backroom staff – and he was impressed with what he saw.

“It was absolutely fantastic for Dylan and I am really pleased for him,” said Waterfall.

“When he came onto the pitch you could see the absolute enthusiasm he brings to the team, which I love.

“He is out there and you can hear him talking, and he is running. I think he is going to bring a real energy to the team that we have maybe missed.

“I had not seen him play any minutes for us – that was the first time tonight.

“But just seeing him back in training and working closely with him over the last few weeks has been a real pleasure.

“He is a great kid who wants to do really well and work hard, and they're the type of characters you want at a football club.”

It was a third win in eight days for a revitalised Boston and Waterfall said: “It was a good performance on the whole and a good run-out.

“There were minutes under the belt for some lads who have not been getting loads lately.

“It was also pleasing to get a clean sheet as I don't think we've had enough this season, so that's a positive. And three wins in a week is always nice.

“We were unlucky to concede against Scunthorpe as I am sure most people saw their goal was handball – sometimes you get those decisions and sometimes you don't. Unfortunately we didn't

“Regardless of what competition it was, we wanted to keep the week going positively and the message beforehand was can we win three games on the spin?

“That's never easy at any level of football, so it was really pleasing to be able to do that.”

Being out of the FA Cup, Boston have no game this weekend and must instead prepare for a week on Saturday when they head for eighth-placed Carlisle United, who are eight games unbeaten and have just won four in a row, scoring 11 goals.

“Now we have a bit of free time to get on the training ground and work on a few things before we head up to Carlisle,” said Waterfall.

“We know how quickly football can turn and hopefully now the players have gained a fair bit of confidence from the last week or so.

“It's typical that Carlisle have hit a bit of form just as we are about to play them.

“But we have to look at it as a positive.

“We'd have loved to have been in the FA Cup on Saturday, but on the other hand we get extra time on the training ground to put a plan together to go up to Carlisle and hopefully get a positive result up there.”

Boston now have all 23 players in their squad fit and Waterfall added: “It's always pleasing to have everyone fit and available, so fair play to the medical and performance team on that side of things.

“But, also on the other hand, it is a headache for the manager though I think, as a manager, you would want those positive headaches of it being hard to pick a team, especially after three wins.

“It will be difficult going into the Carlisle game deciding who makes the starting XI and who makes the bench.

“Unfortunately there will be some players that have to miss out.

“But I think we've got a good group and they will all stick together, which they have done so far, and try to climb that table.”

Boston midfielder Arjan Raikhy has extended his loan stay at Marine until 6th January.