Bo’ness United fell eight points behind rivals Linlithgow Rose after a 3-1 derby day defeat at Prestonfield last Saturday.

Gordon Herd’s side, who top the Scottish Lowland Football League table on 24 points after nine outings, are one point clear of second-placed Clydebank.

Stuart Hunter’s team on the other hand are fourth on 16 points having played the same number of games.

It was the Newtown Park visitors who came out of the traps early on but they found themselves a goal behind after 25 minutes when Connor McMullan took advantage of Ben Fry’s awkward clearance from a corner kick.

Linlithgow Rose players celebrate as Connor McMullan manages to bundle the ball home to hand his side the lead during last Saturday’s derby clash with Bo’ness United (Pics by Michael Gillen)

placeholder image — Linlithgow Rose players celebrate as Connor McMullan manages to bundle the ball home to hand his side the lead during last Saturday’s derby clash with Bo’ness United (Pics by Michael Gillen)

Bo’ness looked for a leveller, and were on top when the sucker-punch came just after the hour mark.

Jamie Watson’s effort crashed off the bar and Rose cleared the ball for a corner kick. From that resulting corner, the hosts broke up the pitch and made it two when Dylan Paterson was free at the back post to finish.

Paterson then grabbed his second and Rose’s third after 87 minutes when he linked up with Cameron Thomson again, this time collecting a lofted pass and firing home on the angle.

Shuan Brown grabbed an injury-time consolation for Bo’ness but by that point the derby was well over as a contest.

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald, BU assistant boss Michael Gemmell admitted it was a frustrating afternoon for his side.

“Upon reflection, there wasn’t much in the game,”he said. The goals we conceded were really frustrating. The first one comes from a corner, and in a derby against a team with so much quality, you are hoping that if they do score then it comes from a moment of magic.

"The first goal comes from a corner that could have went the other way too. It could have been a foul. The second goal is frustrating because we were in the ascendancy at that point. We actually created lots of big chances in the game. We hit the bar and within a minute or so they have went up the park and scored.

“Those are the fine margins and at that point it is close to game over. It just didn’t go in our favour the last couple of goals for either team at that point in the game don’t really count for much.”

It’s been a tough week for the BU with trips to the Lowland League’s top two back-to-back. And Gemmell is looking forward to getting the likes of Rose and Clydebank back to Newtown Park later in the season.

He added: “We emphasised that to the boys, that it was a tough ask going Tuesday, Saturday. We’ve played back-to-back the two teams at the top who many are fancying to go on and win the division.

"Clydebank and Linlithgow Rose away from home is a bit of quirk in terms of having them one after the other. We still have both to play at home and we will fancy our chances against them.”

Speaking to LRFC TV, Rose manager Gordon Herd hailed his side’s quality.

He said: “It is always good to win a derby. It was a nervy occasion as they always are but our quality shone through in the end. We rode our luck at times but our defensive play was solid, we threw bodies on the line when we needed to do so. It was disappointing to lose the goal at the end because I think the players deserved a 3-0 scoreline and I don’t think Bo’ness deserved that goal.”