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After a miserable pre-season, it must have come as some relief for Bo'ness to have picked up a point on the opening day of the league campaign thanks to a late Paul McKinlay penalty - however, it might have been more had the BUs taken advantage of their second half pressure.
The first half hardly had the look of two sides excited about the prospect of a new season. It was a drab opening 45 minutes, characterised by a lack of creativity from either side. By the interval there had been only one save required, made comfortably by ex-Bo'ness goalkeeper Gavin Kirkwood for Arniston, diving to his left to keep out a tame free-kick effort by Derek Yates.
The even scoreline was definitely the right one at the break, but Bo'ness opened the second half more positively. Player-manager John Sludden might have fired his team in front soon after the restart, but failed to properly get hold of his effort from inside the box, and Kirkwood was able to dive right to gather the ball; then Irvine flashed a volley over the bar from 15 yards.
Then, against the run of play, Arniston took the lead from a penalty kick on 66 minutes. Goalkeeper Neil Binnie made a clumsy, unnecessary challenge on a forward as he seemed to have pushed the ball too far wide. The referee had no hesitation, and the penalty taker made no mistake, confidently blasting to the right beyond Binnie's reach.
With Jamie Loney then being twice denied by smart saves, it appeared not to be the BUs' day. That was until the 87th minute, when the referee controversially awarded a penalty to Bo'ness for handball, although he did not appear convinced himself until the Bo'ness players appealed. Substitute Paul McKinlay converted with the minimum of fuss.
The point was no more than they deserved, although they might have snatched all three when a Yates header in stoppage time looped onto the bar.
BUs Man of the Match: Not a match which yielded a lot of contenders, but Derek Yates did his usual solid job at centre-back, and nearly won the game in the last minute.
Bo'ness: Binnie; Smith, King, Black (Kemp), Yates, Inglis, Drew, Hodge, Loney, Sludden, Irvine (McKinlay)
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