Bo'ness United boss Max Christie hails hat-trick hero Alassan Jones after 3-1 win

The Newtown Park boss hailed the performance of former Dundee United midfielder Alassan Jones on Tuesday night after he scored a hat-trick in BU’s 3-1 win over Cowdenbeath in the Scottish Football Lowland League.

Jones, 21, joined the Bo’ness side in the summer after shorts spells at Haddington and Tranent. Before that, he was let go by United in the summer of 2020.

“He is a very good player,” boss Christie said. “Alassan was full-time at Dundee United and he never really got a look in. In my opinion he was unlucky not to have been kept on and I think he was overlooked if I am being honest. Even after that at others club I still don’t think he got a fair shot.

“Sometimes young players go to the bigger clubs and they get ignored. It is something that happens a lot up here in Scotland and I have witnessed it so often. These young guys need a jersey and someone to believe in them. That is what he is getting here.

“The lad should be a full-time footballer and he will go to be a star for someone else. He showed what he can do once again against Cowdenbeath and he deserved the match ball for his overall performance, not just for the goals he scored.”

BU now sit in ninth spot in the table on 31 points, leapfrogging Caledonian Braves after the win. However, they are still ten points off the top three and Christie says his squad have underachieved.

He said: “After the match I told the group that we have a long way to go and a decent amount of games to play before the season is over. We can still get to where we want to be but it will be harder now because of our up-and-down nature in the opening half of the season.

"The truth is in my eyes that we have underachieved massively. When I look at the players we have I now we can do better than mid-table in this division.

“We’ve came off the back of a head run of course, playing Rangers twice and Celtic too isn’t easy and we actually played well in all three matches, but if you lose all of them then that doesn’t really matter.”

Meanwhile, BU have signed Camelon captain Lewis McArthur. The defender’s move was confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.