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Another derby, another poor peformance from Bo'ness United, who were beaten with some ease by Linlithgow Rose at Prestonfield. Although their hosts had lost their previous two home league games this season, United never looked likely to make it a hat-trick, only briefly threatening to make a match of this for a period at the start of the second half, before the faintly ridiculous dismissal of John Burrows finished the game off.
It was another slow start for the BUs, with Linlithgow applying the early pressure and getting their reward on 13 minutes when, aided by sloppy defending (a recurring feature from the Bo'ness back line in this game), Allison's cutback found Mark Whyte surging into the box. Whyte, as ever, finished well, driving the ball into Jamie Campbell's bottom right corner from fifteen yards.
Linlithgow were mostly on top in the first half, although there were chances for Bo'ness. They came close after 23 minutes when David Muirhead, at the edge of the box, headed a high ball down for Martin Mooney, though the playmaker could only slide the ball wide from close range.
But the standard of the defending, not helped by the absence of skipper Derek Yates and the poor form of the returning Dougie Todd, meant that the Rose always looked the more likely. On 31 minutes, Gary Smith nearly presented Allison with a goal, losing the ball to the striker 30 yards from goal, but Allison's shot from just outside the box went straight to Campbell.
A let off, then, but Bo'ness were punished again four minutes later - the bounce of a long ball, and the pace of Linlithgow's No.10, catching out Todd. The defender nearly recovered, but the forward showed good composure, then, from the edge of the box, curled the ball past Campbell to make it 2-0.
Bo'ness threatened with a couple of long range efforts before the break. First, a spectacular volley from over 30 yards out from Gary Smith was tipped over the bar, then a long-range free kick from Dougie Todd nearly made amends for his earlier error, but was well saved. Still, though, the best chances fell to Linlithgow, and their No.11 should have done better with a strike from the edge of the box a minute from half-time, but, despite the lack of pressure on him, blazed his effort over the bar.
The visiting support might have been fearing the worst at half time, but at least there was some reason for optimism at the start of the second half, as Bo'ness began to turn the tables to a degree. They came closest on 48 minutes when a corner found John Jeffrey at the far post, but his shot, from the corner of the six yard box, hit fellow striker Kevin Thomas and deflected away from goal. There were further opportunities, Jeffrey and Thomas both getting in shots at goal. But the prospect of Bo'ness pulling one back and making a fascinating contest of this was ended by the referee with 57 minutes gone, with the somewhat absurd decision to send John Burrows off for his second bookable offence, a very slight tug inside the centre circle, probably the softest yellow card one will see this season (and only his second foul since picking up a yellow in the first fifteen minutes).
A big blow to Bo'ness at a point they had looked like getting back into the match, and they were effectively killed off just seven minutes later, when Whyte received the ball in acres of space on the right with a free run at goal, and produced another fine finish for the third goal, this time through the legs of Campbell.
In pursuit of the fourth, Linlithgow's No.6 then hit the post, but the home side were not to be denied for long. With ten minutes left, a seemingly unthreatening shot from the No.11 out on the left beat Campbell at his near post. A definite goalkeeping error, although by this stage not a crucial one.
Bo'ness finished brightly, however, helped by the sending off of Linlithgow's No.12, only just on the park, for an incident involving substitute Gordon Abbott. Back level on numerical terms they once again created chances, and snatched a consolation with five minutes left. Abbott won a free kick on the edge of the area which was taken quickly to Todd, catching out the defence as the wall was getting organised. Todd swept the ball past the goalkeeper with his left foot. Minutes later, the same player saw a long range drive deflected past the post by inches, with the goalkeeper rooted to the spot, but there were to be no further goals.
Bo'ness are entitled to wonder how the match might have turned out but for the unwarranted dismissal of Burrows, but ultimately there can be little argument that the three points went to the better side. Consolation for the BU supporters can at least be found in the league table, where Bo'ness still lead their rivals by a point.
Bo'ness United: Campbell; Smith [capt], Dolan (Savage), Todd, McCluskey, Burrows, Struthers (Ryan), Muirhead, Thomas (Abbott), Mooney, Jeffrey.