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Bo'ness gave their Super League survival hopes a massive boost - and, indeed, kept their outside title chance alive - with a superb second half comeback in a remarkable match at second-placed Bonnyrigg. Trailing by two at the break, two goals from John Jeffrey and another from Kevin Donnelly gave the BUs maximum points in a game they finished with just nine men.
Bonnyrigg were certainly worth their lead at the interval, with their pacy front line looking much more likely to score than Bo'ness. They could have been ahead with eight minutes gone when a free kick on the right flank was whipped into the box and fell for the No.11 at the far post, but his effort from an angle was well blocked by Mark Cairns in the Bo'ness goal.
But it was only four more minutes until they did open the scoring. It was the culmination of a short period of intense pressure, in which the visiting defence were unable to clear the ball to safety - a cross fired in from the right, the goalkeeper coming to meet but failing to connect with his punch, beaten to the ball by Bonnyrigg's No.9 who headed home. For his troubles, the striker took a hefty knock from the goalkeeper and his marker Murray Hunter.
Bo'ness had a half-chance to equalise on 19 minutes when a long ball came off the head of a defender and fell for George O'Boyle in the box, but his attempt to chip the onrushing goalkeeper with his first touch took the ball over the bar.
The chance might have given the BUs a boost, but instead, two minutes later, they found themselves 2-0 down. A corner from the right was tipped on by Cairns but the ball was kept in play at the far post and lobbed back into the middle, where Bonnyrigg's No.11, on the edge of the area, connected with a sweet volley, placing the ball in the top corner.
Bonnyrigg could have been forgiven at this point for thinking that they were set to avenge their 5-1 defeat at Newtown back in August. The BUs did not quite look impotent in attack - besides the chance for O'Boyle, the in form Jeffrey looked capable of causing problems, and on 32 minutes, from a scramble following a corner kick, a fine angled drive from Chris Dolan was only kept out by a Bonnyrigg defender on the far post. But with the home team's aggressive attitude, goals at the other end looked far more likely. With 42 minutes played, Bonnyrigg's No.7 played through No.9 on the right side of the penalty area, but, under no real defensive pressure, his strike from the corner of the six yard box was blocked by Cairns' legs.
Bo'ness made two half-time changes, the impressive Dolan withdrawn to be replaced by Jamie Loney, and Billy Struthers taking Hunter's place. And the BUs came out for the second period with a more offensive attitude which was immediately apparent in some promising attacking moves. On 55 minutes they came closest so far, only a superb reaction save from Bonnyrigg's goalkeeper keeping out a David Muirhead header from six yards.
Denied on that occasion, but Muirhead played his part in the BUs' first goal, coming after 61 minutes, providing the neat lay off on the edge of the box for Jeffrey, under pressure, to run onto and roll past the goalkeeper into his bottom right corner.
This was the start of the six minute flurry which turned the game on its head and decided the three points. The BUs could have been finished by the half, but now had reason for optimism. Enjoying his best game of the season, Jeffrey's confidence was soaring, and on 66 minutes he collected the ball midway in the Bonnyrigg half, ran at the defence, and was promptly upended a little over 25 yards from goal. Up stepped Donnelly to take a magnificent free kick from a central position which curled just inside the goalkeeper's right post to level it at 2-2.
And it was to get worse still for shellshocked Bonnyrigg, because sixty seconds later they were behind - a high ball into the box breaking for the totally unmarked, and onside, Jeffrey ten yards from goal, and he produced a superb header which looped over the goalkeeper as he came to close down, and into the net.
Bonnyrigg responded by going back on the offensive, helped by Bo'ness adopting a more cautious approach in the wake of their third goal. But the home side struggled to forge clear chances. They did, though, have a notable one on 73 minutes when the No.11 found space on the left side of the box, but he blazed his shot wastefully over.
It was to be their best chance to salvage something from a game they seemed to have in the bag at half time. Most of the late incidents centred on referee Tom Robertson, who was turning in another dreadful, over-officious performance. (At this point I draw the reader's attention to the unofficial nature of this website.) The amount of yellow cards dished out - close to fifteen - in a game which hardly featured a bad tackle from either team was almost unbelievable. On 87 minutes Bo'ness were reduced to ten men when Muirhead received a second yellow card, apparently for something said to the linesman. Coach Jimmy Sandison soon followed, ordered from the dugout. Then, in stoppage time, Bo'ness lost another man when Dougie Todd was given a second caution for time wasting at a free kick. That decision in itself was hard to question, although one might wonder why Todd had been booked in the first place - he was carded when a Bonnyrigg player, a yard from the ball, threw his leg in front of Todd to block a free kick. And yet it's not clear cut that this was the silliest booking. Another nominee might be the yellow card for Jeffrey, who was had his name taken for objecting to being near rugby tackled while on the counter attack (the defender, incidentally, was excused).
Still, Bo'ness were able to see out the SEVEN minutes of stoppage time, and even came closest to scoring again, when Jeffrey, on another run, burst through the defence and into the box, only to be denied by an excellent last gasp tackle.
Against the odds, then, a very welcome three points for Bo'ness.
Bo'ness United: Cairns; Smith, Dolan (Loney), Todd [capt], Burrows, Muirhead, Mooney, Donnelly, Hunter (Struthers), O'Boyle, Jeffrey.