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A game, as they say, of two halves. Linlithgow Rose dominated the first half of this derby and looked set for an easy win after Roddy Grant's opener, but Bo'ness denied their visitors two crucial points in the title race with an excellent second half display, levelling through John Jeffrey. A share of the points was about right.
It took just seven minutes for Linlithgow to get their customary early goal against the BUs, a cross from the right poorly defended, allowing Grant to plant a powerful header into the net from ten yards. It had been an unconvincing opening few minutes for the BUs and they carried on for the rest of the half in a decidedly dismal manner, unable to gain much in the way of quality possession in the middle of the park (or beyond).
The only attempt of note from Bo'ness in the first period came after quarter of an hour when a John Burrows volley from a little over twenty yards went wide right. Linlithgow looked considerably more dangerous, and were inches away from taking the lead after 25 minutes when Mark Whyte's deflected free kick from 25 yards hit the inside of Mark Cairns' left post. The ball spun back across goal, but Jim Ellis reacted quickly enough to clear the ball, under pressure, over his own bar. Two minutes later Whyte, so often the thorn in United's side, was threatening again, this time cutting inside from the left to make space for a shot, but his strike, though firm, was straight at Cairns.
But the best chance for Linlithgow's second came on 37 minutes when the pacy Colin Allison picked up the ball on the right flank and jinked past Ellis and Dougie Todd into the penalty area. With just the goalkeeper to beat, though, his shot was well blocked by Cairns, coming off his line to close down the angle.
The good news for Bo'ness, then, was that they reached half time just a goal down when, given their ineffectiveness in midfield and the nervous nature of their performance, it could have been much worse. Some sort of change was clearly needed, and Kevin Donnelly, a surprise absentee from the starting line up, was slotted into the middle of the park, with Burrows dropping to defence and Ellis withdrawn from the game.
It was surely the game's key decision. Almost immediately at the start of the second half Bo'ness looked a much brighter team and considerably more assured in the middle of the park, Donnelly playing a key role as ball winner and distributor. In the opening minutes of the half they had their best opportunity yet when Dale Ryan's header on was picked up by Martin Mooney with space to shoot on the right of the penalty area. Mooney, however, scuffed his shot and it was easily saved. With just under an hour played there was another chance for Mooney when a long kick from Cairns caught out the defence, giving the midfielder a chance to volley at goal, but his attempt was well stopped.
On 66 minutes, with Bo'ness now clearly the better team, they tried a similar approach. This time Gary Smith's high, long pass from his own half found the visitors' defence lacking, and Jeffrey, correctly ruled onside by a linesman who was otherwise frustratingly keen to raise his flag, stole in behind the last man and lobbed the ball over the advancing goalkeeper and into the net.
Linlithgow, now evidently needing to do more, raised their game in the minutes following the goal, but looked to have gone behind with ten minutes to play when a low ball driven across the face of goal was turned into the net. United's celebrations were cut short, however, by the offside flag. Seconds later there was danger at the other end, Linlithgow's No.2 cutting inside from the left and finding space to shoot on the edge of the box, but his shot was comfortably gathered by Cairns.
There was further late drama shortly afterwards when Jamie Winning was denied an excellent shooting chance by a last gasp tackle, the referee, probably correctly, waving away loud penalty appeals. Then with just a couple of minutes left, Cairns was forced into a fine tipped save from a close range Linlithgow header following a corner kick. Even in injury time the drama did not abate, Bo'ness' No.15 side stepping the last defender on the right of the penalty area to give himself a clear sight of goal, but his left footed shot, virtually the last kick of the game, was at a nice height for the goalkeeper to save.
One half each and one point each, then, but Bo'ness, having looked out of it in the first half, will likely be the happier side.
Bo'ness United: Cairns; Smith, Loney, Todd [capt], Ellis (Donnelly), Burrows, Ryan (No.15), Jeffrey (Thomas), Mooney, Winning.