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Two Graeme Donald goals were enough to give Bo'ness a narrow victory over Bonnybridge in this league clash at Newtown Park, although the final score hardly reflected the second half dominance of the home team.
An extraordinary succession of chances should really have allowed Bo'ness to carve out a much more handsome victory, but given their track record in similar matches recently, one suspects they will be satisfied with the three points. For a long period before Donald's 76th minute winner, it appeared likely that Bonnybridge's defence - consisting of strength in numbers, an outstanding goalkeeper, the odd tactical foul and a slice of good fortune- would deny the home side the maximum points they richly deserved despite a scrappy and insipid first half showing.
Few would have predicted such defensive resilience after just seven minutes, when an unchallenged Donald headed Bo'ness in front from a Martin Mooney corner kick. But the BUs too were in charitable mood, with sloppy defending allowing a Bonnybridge forward to reach a back pass before goalkeeper Ewan Wilson to knock in the equaliser with just twelve minutes on the clock.
That short-lived lead was almost turned on its head just a couple of minutes later, when, allowed time and space to shoot from distance, a Bonnybridge effort brushed the woodwork on its way for a goal kick.
Despite the early flurry, most of the rest of the first half was uninspiring fare. Bonnybridge offered little else in attack, but the BUs' own play lacked precision and guile, and they only seriously threatened to regain the lead with a brief period of pressure around the half-hour mark, with Mooney and Herd drawing excellent stops from the goalkeeper, and Donald nearly scrambling in a second from another corner.
As against Whitburn the previous weekend, Bo'ness were a much improved team in the second half, and pushed to make their now undoubted superiority count. Threats from Bonnybridge were now few are far between, and all reliant on the counter-attack.
Good link play between Donald, Kemp and Herd on the edge of the area nearly allowed the latter to restore the BUs' lead, but his effort was deflected over the bar. Then Kemp twice came close, a neat one-two with Herd being followed by a shot just lacking in power, before he hit the bar with an effort following a corner.
The visitors' defending was becoming increasingly frantic as it threatened to be (another) one of those days for Bo'ness. However, they deservedly went 2-1 up with quarter of an hour to play, Donald - in superb form, and proving a real threat moving forward - hitting a low drive into the goalkeeper's bottom right hand corner from 25 yards.
That proved to be enough for the win, although how Bo'ness failed to add to it in the latter stages is a mystery. Just a minute after the second, substitute Dale Ryan should have scored, but through on goal after a defensive blunder he hit his shot wide, perhaps put off by the advancing goalkeeper. Bonnybridge's 'keeper than failed to hold a well-struck free kick from Mooney, but Herd was unable to slide in the rebound. In the last minute, a Kemp header beat the goalkeeper but was brilliantly cleared off the line by a defender. (Though the referee failed to see the deflection, bizarrely awarding a goal kick instead of a corner.)
It could have - nay, should have - been much more, but most importantly Bo'ness picked up all three points. Another pleasing factor is that Bo'ness appear to be reversing their old habit of being rotten in the second half - although a more impassioned first forty-five minutes wouldn't go amiss next time.
Bo'ness United: Wilson; Smith, Loney, Dillon, Donald, Wotherspoon, Todd, Muirhead (Ryan), Herd, Mooney, Kemp [capt.].