Match Preview

By John Spowart.

Bo’ness United once again had to come from behind to win all the points against

Musselburgh Athletic. BU keeper Andy Murphy was making his one hundredth
appearance for the club in what was the first competitive match at Newtown Park
under the lights. The BUs went ahead through a spectacular Devon Jacobs effort but
Musselburgh responded with two goals from the very quick Nathan Evans. Just
before the break Bo’ness were even, Stuart Hunter heading in straight from a Jacobs
throw in. In the first minute of the second half Bo’ness were behind again as ex BU
Darren Downie scored from close in and with seventy-five minutes on the clock they
lost the services of Brian Morgan, shown his second yellow card of the game. Having
not played so well up to that point the BUs rallied almost right away, Fraser Keast
scoring an equaliser, and just before the end Stuart Hunter headed in the winner
from a Ryan Stevenson corner. A great fightback in an exciting encounter although
manager Max Christie will be looking improve the overall play to add to the
determined streak that clearly runs through his team.
The Division leaders now travel the sizeable journey along the A1 to meet Dunbar
Untied in the league, a place they have not visited in over seventeen years
That was a St Michael’s Cup tie and the BUs scored three goals without reply, Alan
Aitken bagging two and David Muirhead getting the other one. More recently,
although still more than seven years ago, Dunbar visited Newtown Park in the Fife
and Lothians Cup but again lost out. Bo’ness scored eight that day with braces from
Scott Gibb and Lee Duffy. Kevin Watt, Chris Hamilton and Jamie Hay each scored
one with an own goal from Garry Lothian.
Dunbar have clearly improved greatly from that time, illustrated by winning a place in
this season’s Premier Division. Unfortunately, their league campaign is not going so
well this season so far, losing their last three matches, and they are currently fourth
from bottom of the table. In saying that the results have been close and they clearly
have ability, knocking Tranent Juniors out of the Alex Jack cup at Forresters Park.
In a very tight division, both at the top and bottom Bo’ness want to maintain their
good results while Dunbar must start winning games to avoid a relegation battle. A
tough game is in prospect and hopefully a sizeable number of the BU Faithful can
make the trip to continue their great support for the team.