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Bo'ness had the better of this engaging contest in Sauchie, but again could not take advantage and had to be thankful to escape with a point courtesy of Dale Ryan's headed equaliser with eleven minutes to play.
The visitors had taken the lead with just under quarter of an hour on the clock, through former Sauchie striker Gordon Herd, who joined Bo'ness in the close season (with Alan Ward, starting for Sauchie, recently heading in the opposite direction). Collecting a ball from the right flank twenty yards out, he turned to fire a spectacular effort into the top corner of the net, leaving the goalkeeper with absolutely no chance.
Herd, arguably Bo'ness' best player on the day, nearly doubled his team's advantage after 21 minutes, when he was played through on goal. However, as he stabbed the ball past the onrushing 'keeper, a defender rushed back to clear the ball off the line, colliding with the post in the process.
Painful, perhaps, but a vital contribution. At 2-0 up with a quarter of the game played, Bo'ness would have been clear favourites to go on and collect maximum points. But three minutes later, against the run of play, Sauchie were awarded a free kick thirty yards out, which was swung into the box and, with the defence unable to clear the ball, scrambled in at the far post from six yards.
Two minutes later they might have been in front, but Andy Hume was unable to keep his header down as he ran onto a high ball into the box. But Bo'ness came closest to scoring again in the first half, with Dougie Todd bursting into the box from the right wing, and drilling a low shot against the post. Derek Yates collected the rebound, but, as the goalkeeper recovered, was unable to turn the ball into the net under pressure.
Just four minutes after the restart, Sauchie put themselves in front. Bo'ness again paid for their inability to deal with balls played into a packed penalty area with pace, as a corner kick was turned in front short range.
Growing in confidence, Sauchie might well have made it 3-1 six minutes later. BUs' 'keeper' Neil Binnie came to the rescue though, making one fine stop to deny Hume when through on goal, then rescuing his team again with two fine stops from the rebound.
They were to be crucial saves. Bo'ness should have equalised with about twenty minutes to play, with a scramble from a corner kick ending with substitute David Wood somehow knocking the ball over the bar from no more than two yards out, as he stretched for a loose ball under the pressure of two defenders. But they did at last, deservedly, level the score with eleven minutes to play. Having enjoyed the majority of pressure and the better chances in the previous twenty-five minutes, it came down to another corner kick. Swung in from the right, Dale Ryan outjumped the defence to head downwards and past the goalkeeper, just squeezing past a defender's effort to clear off the line.
Neither side looked particularly likely to claim the victory after that, although Bo'ness did have shouts for a penalty kick in injury time, as a Sauchie player appeared to handle a long ball played into the box for Herd.
A well-earned point for Sauchie; Bo'ness were the better side for the greater part, but the impression was that they failed to do enough to really merit the full points.
Bo'ness United: Binnie; Smith, King, Dillon, Yates [capt], Kemp, Love, Todd, Herd, Mooney, Ryan. Subs: Wood, Muirhead, Jeffrey