Bo'ness United boss Stuart Hunter explains why club agreed to 'manic' fixture schedule

“I was frustrated by having to play on Sunday,” Hunter - whose team have been drawn at home to Ardrossan Winton Rovers in round three on Saturday, October 19 - told the Falkirk Herald. “But we got invited into the Scottish Junior Cup and I think it is a fantastic competition. The rewards are significant for the team that wins it.

"I asked who won it last season and I was told it was Darvel, who we beat in last season’s senior Scottish Cup. So I said: ‘We can win this then’.

“People might look at this and say: ‘It’s all about money’. But clubs need money to stay afloat which seems to be escaping some people.

"If the club needs anything done, if there’s any infrastructure costs. Like everywhere else in the world, the cost of us playing at Newtown Park’s gone up, the cost of electricity’s gone up.

"And if you’re not successful and you don’t have good revenue streams, then of course you’re going to feel the pinch and that ultimately has to come at the sacrifice of the playing squad.

"Bo’ness don’t have one huge benefactor standing behind them so we need to be successful on the park to generate a lot of the revenue.

"Quality Lowland League players cost around £5,000 each so you’re probably looking at me being able to sign three or four players if we did win the Junior Cup.

"It’s also about retaining good players you’ve already got who you’re trying to develop so you try and give them an improved deal.”

Hunter also discussed the ‘manic’ nature of playing Kilsyth in the Junior Cup – with BU goals in the first half for Lewis Duffy, Harry McLinden and Fin Malcolm – just 24 hours after the Celtic B league match, where Bo’ness netted late on through Michael Travis, Smart Osadolar and Duffy to earn a sensational point.

"The Kilsyth game was meant to be two weeks prior,” he said. “But we were playing Gala Fairydean and they didn’t want to move the game which was entirely fine.

"So we asked Kilsyth if they wanted to play us midweek instead and they didn’t which again is fine.

"But we were always under the impression that if we could get a Lowland League member club to agree to move a fixture then there was not any problem. We had agreed for Celtic to move the fixture from Saturday to a Tuesday in February but it got rejected by the Lowland League.

"They said it was too far out but it would still have been within the season. So I asked: ‘What would happen if a game was postponed for any reason?’ The decision didn’t really make sense.”

United, seventh in the Lowland League with 18 points from 11 matches, face a South Challenge Cup tie at Eglinton this Saturday, kick-off 2pm. They also have a home league fixture against Broxburn Athletic next Wednesday, October 16 with kick-off at 7.45pm.

United’s escapades at the weekend came in the wake of them winning 1-0 at Berwick Rangers on Tuesday, October 1, a fixture scheduling which Hunter sounded mystified by.

He said: “I think that’s the last two or three seasons that we've played Berwick on a Tuesday night.

"I know it’s not easy for anybody to get to Berwick. It’s a long haul for people going down there after their work.

"A lot of our boys were working until 5 o’clock and saying they weren’t going to get to Berwick until 7.

"Some boys weren’t getting there until 7.15 and then they were kicking off in 30 minutes. You are risking injury, boys not warming up properly, boys coming straight from their work not having had their dinner and going straight into a game when you’re trying to get three points.”