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Surely the biggest derby meeting ever between these two rivals ended in immense disappointment for Bo'ness United, eliminated from the Scottish following a 2-0 defeat and a performance which never nearly reached the level the team has shown itself capable of this season. Linlithgow, solid but unspectacular, were worthy winners of a match which was never a classic, but owed much to an early goal gifted them by an early refereeing blunder.
If this game was to develop into the potentially great tie it might have been, the last thing it needed was an early goal for heavy favourites Linlithgow, cup holders and Super League side. That goal, however, nearly came as early as the first minute. Bo'ness, started nervously, failing to adequately defend an early corner, and had to clear the ball of the line to prevent a disastrous start. The disaster, however, was not long in coming. With five minutes gone, another corner for the Rose was partially cleared by a defender's head, and as two players chased the ball at the edge of the area, with minimal contact the Linlithgow forward threw himself spectacularly to the ground. To the disbelief of the Bo'ness support, the referee awarded a penalty kick. Unfortunately, April Fools was ten days ago. It looked a very poor decision decision; though less poor was David Beaton's confident penalty conversion to give his side an early advantage.
Bo'ness continued to look uncertain for the next ten minutes as Linlithgow threatened to add to their lead (assisted by a succession of favourable refereeing decisions, to the growing frustration of the Bo'ness support), but the BUs soon found their feet and established a foothold in the game for the remainder of the half. They came closest midway through the period when they worked a free kick down the right; David Woods' attempted cross was blocked at the first attempt, but bounced back to him at the byeline, from where a dangerous low ball found skipper Derek Yates. It had fallen to the wrong man, though - from eight yards out, the big defender swept the ball over the crossbar. Iain Ferguson also came close for Bo'ness in the first half, his header from a set-piece drawing a fine if scrambled save from Logan on the line.
Linlithgow had an excellent chance to go in at half-time with a two goal lead when, in the closing stages of the half, Flynn was played in at the edge of the box to get through on goal. BU 'keeper Neil Binnie, however, stood up well and made an excellent stop to keep his team in the game.
Bo'ness made one change for the second half, an injury enforced substitution as Graeme Donald came on for Gary Smith, who had been given a hard time in the first half by Linlithgow's impressive and pacy winger Mark Corcoran. Greig Hodge, who dropped to full back to replace Smith, rather ominously picked up an early second half booking for a foul on Corcoran, but managed to survive the rest of the half as Linlithgow failed to get the same level of supply to their winger as they had in the first period. Bo'ness began the second half in reasonably encouraging fashion, but it was Linlithgow who threatened first; Ian McLaughlin, in alarming amounts of space, given the opportunity to shoot from sixteen yards, but his effort was well blocked by a defender. Shortly before the hour mark Bo'ness had their best chance to equalise. An accurate long ball played forward from David King found the head of Ferguson at the edge of the area; his terrific knockdown fell for David Muirhead, but the midfielder's volley from eighteen yards flew just wide of the post.
It was to prove the BUs' last real chance to equaliser. For a local derby of such importance, the final half hour was an incredibly stale, drab affair. With the midfield, and perhaps most importantly playmaker Martin Mooney not on song, Bo'ness began to look totally bereft of ideas going forward; Linlithgow, for their part, looked to have little interest in scoring a second. Midway through the period, Bo'ness lost top scorer Gordon Herd to injury - the forward, whose 2003 has thus far been wrecked by injury, hadn't played since the quarter final tie against Arthurlie, and limped off to be replaced by John Jeffrey.
In the closing stages of the game, with Bo'ness pushing greater numbers forward to seemingly ever-diminishing effect, Mooney sloppily gave the ball away at halfway. The ball was played wide to Corcoran, who charged down the wing and swung a cross in past Hodge, for Flynn to head in from six yards. There were appeals for offside, but in reality Bo'ness only had themselves to blame for this one.
By this point the game was effectively over; certainly that appeared to be the verdict of the United players, who by now very much looked a beaten team. Muirhead nearly pulled one back with a header late on, but Logan was able to hold the ball on the line to maintain his side's advantage.
An unpleasant footnote was added to the game in the dying minutes as a scuffle developed between the two teams. It was no surprise when, for his part in what was a real "handbags" incident, only United's Ferguson was ordered off by a referee who had looked out of his depth.
Poor officiating aside, however, Bo'ness could only look at their own failings for the reason for defeat. Linlithgow looked ordinary for much of the contest, but their performance was not plagued by the presistent errors which had hampered the BUs; also, the lack of imagination going forward seriously limited Bo'ness' oportunities against an impressive Linlithgow back line. The Scottish dream ended in such a disappointing manner, Bo'ness must now pick themselves up to attempt to secture promotion to next year's Super League.
Bo'ness United: Binnie; Smith (Donald), King, Todd, Yates [capt], Muirhead, Hodge, Mooney, Ferguson, Herd (Jeffrey), Wood (Ryan).