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Bo'ness comfortably came through this Fife and Lothians Cup tie against Second Division Penicuik on a rain-soaked afternoon at Newtown Park, making it five wins in a row with an opening strike from Gordon Abbott and two more from full-back Chris Dolan.
The result was never in doubt, with the visitors' defensive frailties immediately obvious in a storming beginning from Bo'ness, who led after just two minutes when Billy Struthers and Dale Ryan combined well down the right wing, with the latter's low cross from the bye line turned into the net by Abbott inside the six yard box.
Four minutes later there was further space to exploit, Abbott and Kevin Thomas playing a neat one-two midway in the Penicuik half, before Abbott jinked past the last defender, only to see his shot from the edge of the area beaten away by the goalkeeper. And Abbott came close again on 11 minutes when Dolan found him 12 yards from goal with a cross from the left. However, the ball bounced awkwardly for the forward, who, in an alarming amount of space, could only volley at the goalkeeper.
A second goal certainly appeared to be on the way, and it duly came on 14 minutes when, given far too much space, Ryan hit a superb cross from deep which reached Abbott, also slackly covered, at the far post. His header down was knocked past the goalkeeper from six yards by Dolan.
Penicuik might have feared a thrashing at this point, but they managed to ride out the rest of the first half without presenting their hosts with another clear opportunity, although it may have been a different case had not the BUs' cross balls been so frustratingly disappointing, lacking in height or accuracy. Given better crosses, the otherwise successful combination of Ryan and Struthers down the right may have borne more fruit.
But if the away side were to get back into this match, they not only had to shore up at the back, but also create chances going forward, and there was little evidence that they were capable of this. Only when a controversial offside decision went against them on 43 minutes, John Burrows having misjudged a long, high ball in defence, did Penicuik threaten to do any damage.
As with the first half, the second period got off to a rip-roaring start, and also featured an early Bo'ness goal, on 47 minutes. Abbott was dispossessed inside the box but the ball broke to Dolan 25 yards from goal, whose low strike took a fortunate deflection off a defender, the ball looping over the helpless diving goalkeeper to make the score 3-0.
Penicuik nearly pulled one back after 53 minutes, but a fine strike from the edge of the box which looked destined for the corner of the net was tipped away brilliantly by Mark Cairns diving to his right. Almost 3-1. But just a minute later it could have been 4-0, when Struthers supplied Thomas with a low ball at the near post, but his flick from six yards was blocked by the goalkeeper, who can't have known much about it but was at least in the right place to make the save.
The flurry of early chances again tailed off somewhat as the BUs coasted towards the win. There was, though, a moment of concern on an otherwise pleasing afternoon when Graeme Donald had to be stretchered off with a knee injury, picked up in a nasty looking fall as he tried to avoid a tackle.
Battling against the elements and a three goal deficit, Penicuik did have one more chance of note with twenty minutes left , when a powerful shot from the left was drilled in from 15 yards, but Cairns was well positioned to make a straightforward save. But there was never any real prospect of a fightback, and indeed it nearly got worse for Penicuik when Thomas headed a Martin Mooney free kick into the net on 77 minutes, but was judged to have been offside.
Not perhaps a vintage performance from Bo'ness - although it was never going to be in such weather - but a mostly satisfying one nonetheless, and a win which keeps the momentum going ahead of the forthcoming Scottish tie against Forfar Albion.
Bo'ness United: Cairns; Burrows, Dolan, Todd [capt], McCluskey, Donald (Muirhead), Ryan, Mooney, Thomas, Struthers, Abbott (Jeffrey).