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Bo'ness United's last remaining hopes of a cup triumph were extinguished with midweek elimination from the Streamline Taxis sponsored St Michael Cup in a dramatic game at Fauldhouse. The home side appeared to be well in control, cruising to a 3-0 lead before a makeshift Bo'ness side staged a remarkable fightback to make a game of it.
There were, though, few signs of the drama ahead during the first half. The BUs' Gordon Herd and Fauldhouse's No.11 both drew the opposition goalkeepers into action in the opening ten minutes, though both efforts resulted in comfortable saves. Fauldhouse took the lead with 14 minutes gone when a sweeping move enabled them to burst down the right flank. Kevin McFarlane, again in for Neil Binnie, made a fine save when the cross into the box was turned goalward by the No.11, but the big goalkeeper was unable to hold the ball and Allison followed up to put the ball in the net from six yards and open the scoring.
Bo'ness produced their best effort yet on 26 minutes when Gordon Abbott headed just wide of the goalkeeper's right hand post from a free kick; then soon after McFarlane made a superb save at full stretch to palm away a dangerous header from Fauldhouse. The home side did double their lead shortly after, however, when a free kick 30 yards out - awarded for a yellow card offence by Dougie Todd - was pushed to their No.8 at the edge of the area, from where his tremendous effort went in off McFarlane's right hand post, leaving him helpless.
Bo'ness, with at least half a first team missing, appeared to be lacking the motivation and self-belief to pull back into the contest, and were looking more and more half-whipped by the minute. By the time the referee blew the half-time whistle, the tie seemed to be all but over.
That suspicion was apparently confirmed when, just a minute after the restart, Fauldhouse made it 3-0 - their No.9 with a hard, low drive from 25 yards which flew into the net off McFarlane's left hand post .
Incredibly, however, Bo'ness were back level in a little over fifteen minutes. They clawed it back to 3-1 on 53 minutes, when Abbott was somewhat needlessly tripped at the corner of the box by the bye line. The penalty correctly given, Todd - taking over spot-kick duties in the absence of regular taker David Muirhead - comfortably converted with a low strike, sending the goalkeeper in the wrong direction.
The goal appeared to instil a new, and sorely needed, sense of belief in Bo'ness, and they had cut the deficit to just one goal four minutes later. As a brief shower poured down, Herd's effort from 20 yards was blocked at the edge of the box by a defender, but rebounded to David Wood, who scored the goal of the game with a scorching volley from 25 yards out at the corner of the box, sending the ball across the goalkeeper and inside the far post.
All of a sudden it was game on. Five minutes later, with 62 minutes on the clock, the BUs completed their remarkable comeback with a headed goal from Abbott, the long-term injury absentee latching onto a high free kick from deep to nod in from ten yards.
The next few minutes were always going to be vital to the course of the remainder of the game, and the home team, to their immense credit, responded superbly to what might have been a shattering morale blow. Two minutes later, their No.7 stole in down the right hand side of the penalty area and drew a brilliant block from McFarlane as the goalkeeper rushed off his line to close down the angle. The ball spun behind, and from the resultant corner Fauldhouse headed against the bar, and in the ensuing scramble McFarlane made another good block at his near post.
Signs, then, that the Bo'ness defence was still more than vulnerable. Yet the comeback was almost converted into a lead on 70 minutes, when Martin Mooney's brilliant long ball picked out Herd's run into the penalty area. The forward, clean through, should have shot from twelve yards but delayed his shot, and was dispossessed in the nick of time by a risky challenge from behind - which, despite the shouts for a penalty, was ruled a good tackle by the referee.
Thirteen minutes from time, Fauldhouse regained their lead following more dreadful defending. It was, nevertheless, a harsh goal for the visitors to lose - the move started when Abbott was fouled and lost the ball from a BU throw-in deep in their own half. It was something of a surprise that the referee, who had a reasonable game but had marked himself out as over-fussy and quick to blow, did not award the free kick. However, after the home side had won the ball it was quickly knocked high into the centre to send through a totally unmarked forward. McFarlane again made the block but was unable to hold, and the outstanding Allison followed in for his second close range rebound goal of the game.
In such a contest it needn't have been a killer goal, but the home side kept up their momentum and could have put it beyond doubt shortly afterwards when the No.2 put a shot into the side-netting when he should have done better. But the game was finally killed off after 86 minutes, when some good harrying by the home forwards forced David King into a bad error, his attempted ball up the wing from deep rebounding off a forward and - conveniently - right into the path of the No.9, who dribbled past McFarlane and into the net to round off the scoring at 5-3.
Not quite, overall, the equal of Bo'ness's 6-3 win at this same ground in December, but at least the second half certainly matched that game for drama and goals. But Bo'ness, whose success this season has been built on a mean defence, might have preferred a few less goals and a more solid defensive performance. The end of cup dreams for another year, Bo'ness were left needing to pick themselves up for Saturday's league decider at home to Sauchie.
Bo'ness United: McFarlane; Dillon, Loney, Todd, King, McPherson, Abbott, Mooney, Herd, Jeffrey, Wood.