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Bo'ness squeezed through by the odd goal in this seven goal extra time thriller at a wet and windy Volunteer Park in Armadale, victors in an improbably dramatic match which had looked to be all but over, in their favour, at half time. But what had appeared to be a no contest turned into a game of goals, controversy and excitement. Kevin Thomas, with two, Gordon Abbott and Dale Ryan supplied the goals for the away side as they stretched their winning run to seven games.
The BUs got off to a flying start, taking the lead after just five minutes when Martin Mooney's corner kick was blocked by a defender but bounced kindly back to him on the left wing. At the second attempt Mooney got an excellent ball across for the wide open Thomas to nod the ball into the net from eight yards at the far post.
Five minutes later it could have been 2-0 when a punch by the Armadale goalkeeper fell to Chris Dolan on the edge of the area out on the left, but his shot, with the 'keeper stranded, lacked power and was kept out by a defender on the goal line. In any case, the second goal was not long in coming. On 13 minutes Thomas slipped the ball to the closely marked Abbott ten yards from goal, but the forward turned inside and skipped past his marker to make space for the shot before lashing the ball past the goalkeeper to double the BUs' lead.
Armadale simply hadn't got started, looking vulnerable at the back and carrying a minimal attacking threat throughout the first half. They had just one half-chance of note in the first 45 minutes, when Dougie Todd gifted Armadale's No.11 the ball on the edge of the box, but the shot across goal went comfortably wide of the far post.
Bo'ness should have been further ahead at the interval, but passed up a pair of golden chances in the space of five minutes. First, with 33 minutes on the clock, Billy Struthers found a wide open Abbott with a cross from the right wing. But Abbott, less than ten yards out, took a heavy touch and had to stretch for his shot which beat the advancing goalkeeper but hit the bar and spun behind for a goal kick. On 38 minutes another Struthers ball from the right caused problems for the Armadale defence, but David Muirhead's diving header inside the six yard box clipped off the bar on its way over. In between those two opportunities, Ryan, fed by Abbott, had forced the goalkeeper into action with a slightly scuffed shot from 20 yards.
At half time, then, this potentially tricky away cup tie for Bo'ness had turned into an unexpectedly one-sided game, and there appeared to be no prospect of a home fight back, even against a Bo'ness squad stretched to its limits by injury problems.
Six minutes into the second half, though, this suddenly, out of the blue, became a contest when Armadale's No.10 picked up the ball and ran at the BU defence before settling for a hopeful low drive from about 30 yards. Not particularly powerful, not particularly accurate, it nevertheless caught out Bo'ness 'keeper Mark Cairns, standing in again for the injured Jamie Campbell, and crept inside his left hand post.
Cause for concern, but that concern was eased just four minutes later when Dolan's corner from the right was poorly defended and turned into the net by the foot of Ryan eight yards out. The goalkeeper got a hand on the ball, but was unable to prevent it from crossing the line.
Armadale were not yet ready to surrender, however, and were a far more purposeful side in the second half as United's grip on the game was being loosened. And the home side had a second goal, with their second shot on target, after 68 minutes when the No.14, not long on the park as a substitute, hit a snap shot from 22 yards which flew inside Cairns' right hand post. The goalkeeper was not as obviously culpable as for the first goal, but the shot may not have been unstoppable.
Somehow back in the game when they should have been dead and buried by the half, Armadale's tails were up and there was a visible sense of panic among the Bo'ness players. Bo'ness were becoming more withdrawn and their passing less precise as Armadale made their push. Nevertheless, the odd bit of desperate defending notwithstanding, the visitors appeared to be hanging on for the win before Armadale struck their late equaliser with just two minutes left of regulation time. The No.10 was played in on the right side of the penalty area, beating the offside trap to produce a neat finish under pressure, squeezing the ball past the onrushing Cairns and across goal into the far corner.
Quite the turnaround, it now seemed that, in the home side, there was only one likely winner of this tie. The BUs' woes deepened in stoppage time when Muirhead was mysteriously red carded by the typically ungenerous referee Robertson, the reason for the decision unclear to the spectators. Still, though, the away side nearly snatched victory without the need for extra time when a Jamie Loney cross from the right flank was headed wide by a wide open Abbott.
With the momentum, the psychological edge and a man advantage, it appeared likely that Armadale would go on to dominate extra time, but, remarkably, the ten men of Bo'ness stepped up their game again and regained control of the match against a home side that increasingly looked like it had run out of steam after their tremendous push in the previous half hour. The Armadale threat receded, and Bo'ness should have moved ahead nine minutes into extra time when a Mooney cross from the right found the feet of Thomas fifteen yards from goal and in space. But the forward hesitated and was closed down by the goalkeeper, who stole the ball from Thomas' feet.
But United were not to be denied for long. Two minutes from the end of the first period of extra time, Thomas, with the ball at his feet, turned his man at the edge of the box to earn a clear shot on goal. Again he delayed, but this time got his shot off in time, through the legs of the advancing goalkeeper to make it 4-3.
Armadale were unable to carve out any further chances to force a penalty shoot-out. Indeed, the ten men looked more likely to add to the scoring, Loney firing into the side netting with five minutes left and then, with 119 minutes played, Loney and Thomas on the counter-attack worked the ball out to substitute Ellis on the right side, but as he tried to drill the ball home to kill the tie, the 'keeper made a superb block.
Armadale deserve credit for fighting back from what should have been the dead, but there is little doubt that despite their problems - some of them self-inflicted - the right team progressed to the next round.
Bo'ness United: Cairns; Smith, Dolan, Todd [capt], Burrows, Muirhead, Ryan, Mooney, Thomas, Struthers (Loney), Abbott (Ellis).