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Early goals from Kevin Thomas and Gary Smith helped Bo'ness on their way to their second consecutive 2-1 win and another three league points in an eventful and entertaining match in Lochee, which saw the BUs turn in an excellent first half performance before holding on in the later stages to claim the points, and make it six points from two trips to Dundee this season.
Having started last week's East of Scotland Cup win at Bathgate on the bench, Thomas and Gordon Abbott were restored to the starting line up and proved good value for their places, posing a constant threat to an unconvincing Lochee defence.
Although the BUs were two goals up before the game was quarter of an hour old, it was actually Lochee who got off to a flying start, nearly slicing open the Bo'ness defence three times in the first ninety seconds. But with the game just three minutes old, Lochee were penalised for a handball 25 yards from their own goal. Dolan's free kick effort was saved by the goalkeeper, but the ball squirmed free of his gasp and Abbott and Thomas quickly pounced on the error, with the latter poking the ball over the line from six yards.
A big blow for the home side after their ferocious start, and things got worse on 12 minutes when a free kick played into the Lochee box was collected by Abbott and laid back to Gary Smith, who, from fifteen yards, planted the ball in the goalkeeper's bottom left corner to double the score.
The outlook could have been bleaker still four minutes later, but the referee declined Bo'ness appeals for a penalty when Abbott, after cutting through the defence with a run from wide right, was clearly tripped from behind as he was about to shoot.
Lochee steadied themselves and began to create chances again, with No.6 heading over the bar and No.9 slicing a shot wide from just outside the box.
It should, though, have been 3-0 to Bo'ness on 25 minutes after Martin Mooney played in Dolan through the middle, but with time aplenty inside the box, the full back could only hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper. And there were further Bo'ness chances in the next fifteen minutes, with Thomas charging through the centre of defence and into the box only to be denied by an excellent last gasp tackle on 36 minutes; then, two minutes later, a long throw-in into the box was touched on before being headed just wide by an unlucky David Muirhead.
Lochee had rode their luck somewhat to stay in the game, then, with 41 minutes played, halved the Bo'ness lead after BU 'keeper Jamie Campbell was penalised when he came for a high ball but missed, clattering into a forward instead. The Bo'ness support were livid given that they had an earlier appeal for almost exactly the same "offence" turned down, Thomas the victim on that occasion. Dreadfully inconsistent refereeing - either they were both penalties, or neither was - but Lochee's No.5 was unconcerned, superbly dispatching the penalty past Campbell.
However, Bo'ness twice nearly restored their cushion before the interval. On 44 minutes Abbott laid the ball off for Thomas inside the box, whose shot across goal just curled wide of the far post, then a minute later Abbott stole the ball from a defender struggling to deal with a bouncing long pass, and with the goalkeeper rushing quickly off his line the forward was unlucky to see his tricky attemped lob sail narrowly wide.
Bo'ness should have been more than one goal to the good, but had been unable to fully capitalise on their chances, and so the home side still had a fighting chance going into the second half. It was the BUs with the best chance in the opening part of the second period, Graeme Donald finding Abbott just inside the box, but his left foot shot cleared the crossbar.
But the second half was to have a different story from the first as Lochee gained more of a grip in the middle of the park and began to create more of the chances. On 63 minutes a cross from the right was met by the head of the No.5 at the far post, his looping header hitting the outside of Campbell's post. At the same time as Lochee's threat was growing, that of Bo'ness was reduced when the excellent Thomas was withdrawn from the game, to be replaced by Joe Savage.
The home team had an excellent chance to even the scores after 70 minutes when a one-two on the edge of the box freed No.9, but under no great pressure he lashed his shot into the side netting. Six minutes later the same player had another clear opportunity when he again found space inside the box, but fired disappointingly over the bar.
Having survived those nervous moments, Bo'ness were making trouble for themselves three minutes later when Campbell came to collect the ball outside the box, even as it was running out for a goal kick, but slipped under pressure and had to put the ball out over the sideline. The ensuing ball into the box from the throw-in led to a panicked scramble in the box, with a defender ultimately blocking a shot from eight yards.
Those ten minutes proved to be Lochee's most dangerous, and their failure to take advantage of the three chances ultimately cost them any reward from the game. Bo'ness hung on - a little uncomfortably, but they hung on nonetheless - in the final minutes, although there was one more scare in injury time when the No.7 drilled in a low shot from 22 yards, with Campbell getting down well to his left to make a fine parry, before recovering quickly to collect the loose ball.
While their second half showing was much less impressive than their first, overall Bo'ness edged the game and deserved the three points. Thomas and Abbott surely did enough to cement their place in the first eleven, though there were numerous other impressive performers, such as Paul McCluskey (filling the role of the absent Yates) and Mooney, on a day which was not free from concern, but provided many more positives than negatives.
Bo'ness United: Campbell; Smith, Dolan, Todd, McCluskey, Donald, Mooney, Burrows, Thomas (Savage), Muirhead, Abbott.