Match Preview 2024 2025
Hill of Beath Hawthorn
Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Round 2
Keirs Park
Saturday 26 October 2024

Bo’ness United received the saddest of news in hearing of the passing of BU legend Lex Shields. Lexie will be remembered by the BU Family and in the wider football fraternity as a talented footballer as well as a great character. Meanwhile Bo’ness will return to immediate football matters with the very difficult Scottish Cup tie at Hill of Beath Hawthorn

Hill of Beath ply their trade in the East of Scotland Premier Division one tier below Bo’ness though that means nothing in the context of this game. The Haws are currently fourth in the table with six wins from nine starts and are undefeated in eleven games since early August. Formidable form for a team that also benefits from home advantage.

It’s just short of five years since Bo’ness visited Keirs Park, a venue that has seen many eventful tussles between the sides. The BUs came out on top on that occasion although it had taken a long number of years for Bo’ness to chalk up a victory there. Dan Watt gave the hosts a half time lead and looked as if they might win the day until the final ten minutes when Chris Donnelly equalised before Mark McKenzie scored the winner with only two minutes remaining. (Report)

Hill of Beath have reached this stage thanks to a comprehensive victory at Fort William in the second qualifying round and a narrow win at Tynecastle in the first round proper. The BUs entered in the first round with a positive result at Deveronvale. Louis Kennedy had the BUs ahead but Harry Noble replied for the home team. Smart Osadolor and Kyle Johnston put Bo’ness in the driving seat by half time. Just before the end Michael Watson pulled one back for the now ten men, only for Smart Osadolor to complete the scoring and make the tie safe. (Report)

Last season Bo’ness made it to round three of the National Tournament where, after defeating Darvel at Newtown and Luncarty away they visited Cappielow to meet SPFL Championship club Greenock Morton. Bo’ness were giving a good account of themselves only to concede a George Oakley strike just on the stroke of half time. However, a few minutes after the break Ryan Stevenson received a controversial red card and Morton went on to score three more goals. The sending off may have not affected the final outcome but being reduced to ten men severely reduced the likelihood of a BU comeback. (Report) Hill of Beath’s run was short, going down to Tayport in the qualifying round 2. Having already gone a round further, they hope to continue their journey.

Hill of Beath also continue their interest in the South Challenge Cup, winning after extra time at Linton Hotspur and now face Newmains United in the next round. On Saturday they enjoyed a convincing league win at Haddington Athletic. Bo’ness also come into the game on a decent run, undefeated in their last seven, five of them victorious. On Saturday they came back from a goal behind to win at Cowdenbeath. Matty McDonald gave the home side a half time lead but second half goals from Ryan Porteous and Louis Kennedy gave Bo’ness all the points.

Saturday’s game at Keirs Park is just too close to call. The winner will come from the team who can deal best with the occasion and performs on the day. On top of footballing talent, determination is required with the will to win. A large crowd is certain with the tight confines of Keirs Park ensuring a cracking atmosphere. The home support is expected to be significant but a large BU contingent will make the trip and the players in blue are guaranteed a noisy vocal backing. Bo’ness manager Stuart Hunter will no doubt have his squad prepared and hopefully Bo’ness United can prevail to continue their Scottish Cup journey.

John Spowart
Friday 25 October 2024

BO’NESS UNITED MATCH REPORT SEASON 2019/2020

23/11/2019 EOS Premier Division
Hill of Beath 1-2 Bo’ness United

Score (Half Time): 0 - 1 Score (Full Time): 2 – 1
Scorer (Bo’ness): Donnelly 80, McKenzie 88
Scorer (Hill of Beath): Dan Watt 22

Mark McKenzie was the Bo’ness matchwinner after his last-minute strike sealed a comeback victory over Hill of Beath at Keir’s Park. When the BU’s struck the woodwork three times it looked like United may be in for another frustrating afternoon in front of goal, however skipper Chris Donnelly levelled the game to set up the exciting finish to the match.
The first chance of the game fell to the home side when Kinninmonth seized onto a slack Tom Grant pass in midfield and drove forward, his cutback at the edge of the area found the unmarked Reid who blasted high and wide. Leishman was next to try his luck from distance but his effort was deflected wide by an Ian Nimmo block. Midway through the half the Haws grabbed a deserved opener when Hall played a quick long ball to Adamson who beat the offside trap and got a shot away which was well stopped by Andy Murphy, the ball fell at the feet of the unmarked Watt who tucked the chance away. Hall in the Haws goal was called into action for the first time on the half hour when he had a decent double stop to deny Grant and Stuart Hunter. The home side immediately counter-attacked and Murphy again denied Adamson with a fine block to keep the deficit to one goal. In the 38th minute Bo’ness were inches away from an equaliser when Hall superbly got a fingertip to a fierce Will Snowdon effort which crashed off the crossbar, bounced on the goal-line and spun clear to safety. Elder was fortunate to escape with a yellow card after a nasty looking challenge on Stuart Hunter in the dying seconds of the half, and at the interval Bo’ness had it all to do.
Bo’ness started the second half on the front foot and had a decent chance three minutes in when Grant released Brian Morgan on the left, his excellent cross took out the defence and goalkeeper but there were no takers, Hunter managed to get a shot away when the ball came back into the box but Hall tipped it wide. It was that man Hall again to the rescue for the Haws with a world class stop to somehow palm wide a Donnelly header from a driven Grant cross. In the 72nd minute the woodwork again denied United when Hunter’s header from Snowdon’s cross struck the bar and once more it landed on the line and bounced clear. With ten minutes remaining the BU’s finally levelled the match when Grant raced onto a Morgan through ball, brilliantly flicked the ball past his marker and sent in a curler which struck the post and fell kindly for Donnelly who calmly passed the ball past Hall and into the net. Hall made a good instinctive save to once more deny Hunter and Michael Gemmell had to be alert at the back, tracking back cleverly to deny Lewis Elder a certain goal with a well-timed tackle as the game raged from end to end. With 90 seconds remaining in the game Bo’ness grabbed the winner they deserved when substitute McKenzie poked in an excellent Ryan Stevenson cross from the left to send the large travelling support into raptures. Hill of Beath appealed in vain for an offside flag which never came, and United saw out the stoppage time without incident to seal what could prove to be a vital win come the end of the season.

Bo’ness: Murphy, Jacobs (Henderson), Snowdon, Hunter, Gemmell, Donnelly ©, Morgan, Nimmo (McKenzie), Grant, Campbell, Stevenson. Unused: Adamson, Syme.
Scorers. H.O.B: Watt ’23. Bo’ness: Donnelly ’80, McKenzie ’89.
Player of the match: Stuart Hunter.

Bo’ness youngster Mark McKenzie grabbed his fourth goal of the season to grab all three points for his side and after suffering from a bout of glandular fever, the forward is delighted to be back in contention and getting on the scoresheet again. “It’s good to be back playing, I’ve came off the bench a few times and started against Blackburn last time out. It was great to come off the bench and score the winner against Hill of Beath. Max told me gamble when I got on, play off the shoulder and make runs. For the goal Ryan (Stevenson) has put a great ball in from the left and I manged to get a good touch to tap it in. It shows how resilient the boys are to lose last week and come back from a goal down today, it’s great.”

Bo’ness manager Max Christie hailed his sides ‘outstanding’ performance against Hill of Beath and believes it was a great response to last week’s surprise home loss against Blackburn. “It’s hard in football when a team sits in and defends and gets bodies behind the ball, last week we found that difficult to break down. Today, we were one nil down at half time and we hadn’t done much wrong. They scored a very good goal, but our spirit and desire to go out there and win the game was absolutely brilliant. I thought we were outstanding to a man. To come from a goal down at half time and win was outstanding. The substitutes as well did great, I could not fault anyone, it was a great team effort from a bunch of guys I trust. We had to come out today and win, we did that and it sets us up nicely for the upcoming fixtures.”

Kevin McIntosh

BO’NESS UNITED MATCH SUMMARY SEASON 2024/2025

Date – Saturday 28 September 2024
Competition – Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Round 1

Deveronvale 2
(Noble 20, Watson 90)
Bo’ness United 4
(Kennedy 12, Osadolor 37 90+3, Johnston 39)

Bo’ness United progressed in this Scottish Cup tie at Deveronvale but not without some jitters towards the end of the game. After the initial sizing up period, the BUs went ahead in twelve minutes, a cross cleared only as far as Louis Kennedy who steadied himself before curling a great shot over Deveronvale keeper Ethan Hopkinson’s head and into the opposite top corner of the net. Lucas Stenhouse had a couple of efforts on goal but in twenty it was Deveronvale who equalised, a Harry Noble freekick shot flashing past Cade Melrose in the Bo’ness goal,

Eight minutes before half time two goals in two put Bo’ness in a commanding position. Lucas Stenhouse ran onto a great JJ Henderson through ball before slipping it inside to the alert Smart Osadolor following up to slot into the net. Then Dan Irving flicked on a corner to the near post and Kyle Johnston pounced to shoot home from close in.

Into the second half Deveronvale hoped to get back and Garry Wood was unlucky in front of goal, unable to get the ball out of his feet to get in a decisive shot. The player manager’s day was to go from bad to worse as only minutes later a second yellow card saw him dismissed. Bo’ness set about putting the game beyond their hosts but their efforts were unable to find the target. Typically, on ninety minutes Deveronvale gave themselves some hope with a fine shot from Michael Watson finding the net but only a minute later the BUs sealed the win, Smart Osadolor in fine isolation to receive a pass before smashing past the exposed Deveronvale keeper.

This was a well-deserved result for Bo’ness United who played some great stuff although perhaps should have had more to show for their efforts. In the end it’s the win that important and the BUs go through to the next round,

Bo'ness: Melrose, Kennedy, Macaulay, Masson, Duffy (Travis 74), Irving, Stenhouse, Johnston, Osadolor, Porteous (Malcolm 65), Henderson (Gemmell 73), Subs (Not Used): Mitchell SG: Campbell

BO’NESS UNITED MATCH SUMMARY SEASON 2023/2024

Date – Saturday 25 November 2023
Competition – Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Round 3

Greenock Morton 4
(Oakley 45, Bearne 63, Muirhead 78p, O’Boy 89)
Bo'ness United 0

Bo’ness United’s Scottish Cup adventure is over for another year after their defeat at Greenock Morton. After a competitive first half, seven minutes after the break the game was turned on its head with a controversial decision when Ryan Stevenson was sent off. The red card changed the complexion of the game as Morton wore down Bo’ness with a goal scored with just under thirty minutes to go, another in the final fifteen and finally in the last minute of the game.
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In the first half both goalkeepers were called into action as Bo’ness matched their fulltime opponents. However just before the break the BUs were disappointed to lose the goal as George Oakley headed home from close in from a Lewis McGrattan cross. Two minutes into the second half Bo’ness came close to hitting back as a miss hit shot from Keir Foster landed nicely for Ryan Porteous but his effort from close in was tipped over the bar by Morton keeper Ryan Mullen. It was only a few minutes after that when Ryan Stevenson pulled Jack Bearne back and referee Craig Napier decided the Bo’ness player had prevented a goal scoring opportunity and showed the Bo’ness player the red card.

Bo’ness came close with a Keir Macaulay free kick shot that Mullen saved at his post but Morton gradually took advantage of their superior numbers, pressing forward on the Bo’ness goal. Another cross this time from Steven Boyd was headed in by Jack Bearne to double Morton’s lead as BU keeper Musa Dibaga made a string of fine saves to keep his side in with a chance. However, with just under fifteen minutes BU sub, Dan Irving pulled Logan O’Boy down in the box and Robbie Muirhead converted the penalty effectively ending the game as a contest. In the final minutes Morton rubbed salt in the BU wound, Logan O’Boy firing in to complete the scoring, After the whistle the large visiting support applauded the team, recognising their efforts and the players in turn acknowledged the backing they had received over the competition.

Bo'ness: Dibaga, Stevenson, Rutherford (Macaulay 46), Hawkins, McArthur, Gemmell (Johnston 64) Stenhouse, Henderson (Malcolm 69), Dalziel, Foster, Porteous (Irving 57).
Subs (Not Used): Kennedy, Mooney Grant SG Ritchie

BO’NESS UNITED MATCH SUMMARY SEASON 2024/2025

Date – Saturday 19 October 2024
Competition – Park’s Motor Group Lowland League

Cowdenbeath 1
(McDonald 34)
Bo’ness United 2
(Porteous 60, Kennedy 70)

Bo’ness United enjoyed a good day in Fife, coming from behind to take all the points at Cowdenbeath. In the first half both teams created chances but it was the home side who got the all important goal in thirty four minutes. Greg McPherson saw his shot blocked but it rebounded for Matty McDonald to fire home from close in.

BU manager Stuart Hunter made a couple of changes at half time, Ryan Stevenson and Louis Kennedy replacing Lewis Hawkins and Tom Grant. That was not the only change as referee Andrew Craven who had been knocked to the ground in the first half was required to swap with one of his assistants for the second period.

Determined to get back into the match Bo’ness surged forward and equalised in sixty minutes, a Lucas Stenhouse corner to the near post finding Ryan Porteous whose glancing header landed in the opposite corner of the net. Ten minutes later Bo’ness completed the comeback as Louis Kennedy disposed a Cowdenbeath defender outside the box before hitting an early shot that flashed past Cowdenbeath keeper Ruaridh Lynch. In the final minutes Cowdenbeath made a determined effort to get a share of the points and a Jamie Docherty shot looked bound for the top corner of the net until Bo’ness keeper Cade Melrose magnificently touched the ball over the bar.

A good win for the BUs who look forward to another trip across the water next week, this time a Scottish Cup tie at Hill of Beath Hawthorn.

Bo'ness: Melrose, Hawkins (Stevenson 46), Macaulay, Duffy, Travis Irving, Stenhouse, Johnston, Osadolor, Porteous, Grant (Kennedy 46). Subs (Not Used): Gemmel, Malcolm, Henderson, McLinden. SG: Campbell