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Whitburn's two goals inside twenty minutes threatened to make this East of Scotland Cup tie a non-event, but a much improved second half showing from Bo'ness, with Dale Ryan scoring twice, enabled the home side to force a replay in an ultimately thrilling contest.
Bo'ness began in sprightly fashion, with Ryan squandering two good opportunities to open the scoring. After four minutes, he volleyed wide with the Whitburn goalkeeper out of position, then on thirteen minutes failed to control a superb David Wood cross when a better touch might have enabled him to put Bo'ness in front. In between, however, Whitburn gave notice of their intent, No.10 drawing a smart save from Ewan Wilson from ten yards out.
With quarter of an hour played, Whitburn took the lead with a fine goal. Their No.9 was released down the right wing, cut inside to beat his man, and fired a fine shot beyond Wilson. After a decent start for Bo'ness, the goal gave Whitburn a lift. Five minutes later, they doubled their lead with a freak goal, when a corner kick bounced off the post and back into the box, where former Bo'ness man Colin Campbell was able to turn the ball into the net.
The result almost had an air of inevitability about it for the rest of the first half. Whitburn worked hard, were first to the majority of loose balls, and Bo'ness, lacking invention, were limited to speculative long range efforts, with Dougie Todd (captain for the day with Derek Yates absent from the first XI and Brian Kemp injured) coming closest.
The second half, however, was an altogether more open affair. Just four minutes after the restart, Bo'ness pulled a goal back through Dale Ryan. Todd and Scott Love combined down the right wing, and after Love and Davie Muirhead had both been denied in an almighty scramble inside the box, the ball broke for Ryan to finally knock the ball in.
But the reduced margin did not last long. Within a minute, Whitburn kicked off, moved down the park, and No.10 slid a ball across for Campbell to sweep the ball into the net for his second and an immediate response.
That might have been that, but Bo'ness to their credit were undeterred, and continued to chase the game. And they were now doing so with greater incisiveness, although it took another odd goal to put them back in the game again after an hour. Whitburn's goalkeeper lost track of a high ball played across from the right wing, and the ball was deflected into the net for a bizarre lifeline. (Your humble reporter hasn't the foggiest who got the last touch, but given the lack of congratulations, is provisionally marking it down as an own goal...)
Minutes later, Bo'ness might have been level, but Herd was just unable to turn Love's ball across the face of the goal into the net. Whitburn, meanwhile, were beginning to respond to the home team's period of pressure. With fifteen minutes to play, their No.7 was correctly ruled onside by the referee, but his effort from the right hand side of the penalty area was excellently saved by Wilson to keep Bo'ness alive.
The save proved to be significant when, nine minutes from time, Ryan equalised for Bo'ness. Love appeared to be fouled during a surging run down the right, but the referee allowed play to continue as Herd picked up possession. He played a low ball across for Ryan to hammer the ball into the goal, via the crossbar, from close range.
As the game drew to a close, either side could have clinched victory and avoided the need for a replay. Bo'ness came close when their substitute No.14 headed just wide of the goalkeeper's left post, but it was Whitburn who had the best chance to settle matters in the dying minutes. A customary poor header back to the goalkeeper, this week from Gary Smith, was intercepted by Whitburn's No.9, but he was unable to score his second goal when Wilson made a terrific block.
With chances shared roughly evenly between the teams, and both clubs enjoying periods of superiority, the final score was probably fair. Whitburn, however, will surely view this as an opportunity missed and hope to make amends in the replay.
Bo'ness United: Wilson; Smith, King, Dillon, Donald, Muirhead, Love, Todd [capt.], Ryan, Herd, Wood.