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Bo'ness were convincing winners of this East of Scotland Cup tie at Newtown Park, recording their biggest winning margin of the season so far and brushing Second Division strugglers Haddington aside with goals from Kevin Thomas (two), George O'Boyle (two), Kevin Donnelly, and a little help from the visiting defence.
It took a while for this game to burst into life, however, and the first half was a mostly uninspired affair. Bo'ness took the lead after just ten minutes, though, when a Chris Dolan cross from the left, which should have been headed to safety, dropped behind two defenders to the feet of Thomas eight yards from goal. The forward took a touch to control before rolling the ball past the goalkeeper to open the scoring.
The home side were comfortably in charge but lacked something of a spark in the first period and failed to take advantage of a seemingly vulnerable defence. O'Boyle came close to doubling the lead on 22 minutes when he showed good strength and used his body well to turn on the edge of the area, but his left foot effort went narrowly wide right.
Five minutes before the break Haddington had their best chance to get level when a high cross from the right dropped over the head of the defending Martin Mooney at the far post, but a mis-hit volleyed effort back across goal went wide of Mark Cairns' left hand post.
It was to be their last real chance to get level, as the BUs hit a couple of quick goals just before the interval to establish an effectively insurmountable advantage. First, on 42 minutes, a Mooney cross from the right, again poorly defended, found Thomas at the far post where he was able to volley in from six yards, the goalkeeper unable to keep the ball out of the net despite getting a touch.
And in stoppage time Thomas went in pursuit of his hat-trick when played into space down the left flank. He cut inside and held off a defender to fire off a low shot from the edge of the area, only to be denied by the goalkeeper's fine diving save. But the 'keeper could only push the ball away to his right, and Donnelly was on hand to slide in the rebound from a tight angle and make it 3-0.
The second half was an altogether more entertaining affair - for the home fans, at least, as the BUs went in search of more goals. Five minutes after the restart O'Boyle was unlucky to see a close range effort from a corner kick fly just wide of the goalkeeper's left post. The Ulsterman was unlucky again on 64 minutes, when Donnelly did well to win the ball thirty yards from goal and take the ball out wide for a run, before laying the ball off to O'Boyle. His rasping shot from the edge of the box, however, was well beaten away by the 'keeper.
But Bo'ness were not to be denied their fourth for long. Just a minute later Mooney collected a short clearance midway inside the Haddington half and carried the ball forward before playing Billy Struthers in with a short through ball. Struthers saw his effort well blocked by the goalkeeper, but in a truly bizarre incident two defenders scrambling to clear the loose ball got in each other's way, with an attempted clearance from one rebounding off the other and bouncing back into the net for a 4-0 scoreline.
O'Boyle then had two more chances to get his name on the scoresheet. On 72 minutes a pass from Loney released him down the left, but his attempted chip was straightforwardly saved by the goalkeeper. Soon afterwards, substitute John Jeffrey did excellently on the right wing to stop a ball seemingly heading for a goal kick, allowing Mooney to whip over a cross which O'Boyle turned against the post. Just one of those days, perhaps...
Haddington, to their credit, didn't give up and pulled a goal back on 78 minutes when a free kick in midfield was swung into the box and put into the net with a precise header from their No.5, Cairns at full stretch but unable to stop the ball going just inside his left post.
Chances of a comeback remained minimal, though, and indeed O'Boyle finally got his goal with six minutes left when Jeffrey, played through on goal down the right by O'Boyle himself, was deliberately tripped just inside the box. Haddington's No.3 was justifiably red carded by the referee, and O'Boyle stepped up to convert the spot kick, his low strike going in off the 'keeper's right hand post.
Donnelly and Jeffrey had chances to add to the score in the last five minutes - the former knocking a volley over from six yards, the latter shooting weakly at the goalkeeper with a clear run on goal - before O'Boyle completed the scoring in stoppage time. Managing to stay just onside, he ran onto Loney's simple through pass, in behind the defence, and stroked the ball home, this time off the other post, to make it 6-1 to the BUs.
Very comfortable for Bo'ness, then, and although the quality of the opposition makes it hard to draw meaningful conclusions from the game, at the very least this will have restored morale after last week's defeat and keeps the club alive in the East of Scotland Cup.
Bo'ness United: Cairns; Smith [capt], Dolan (Loney), McLuskey, Burrows, Ellis, Mooney, Donnelly, Thomas (Jeffrey), O'Boyle, Struthers (Hunter).