Bo'ness United net total of eight goals in two friendly wins

A new-look Bo’ness United netted a total of eight goals in two home friendly victories over the past few days.
BU skipper Michael Gemmell (1st right) leads celebrations after triallist goal against Vale (Pics by Scott Louden)BU skipper Michael Gemmell (1st right) leads celebrations after triallist goal against Vale (Pics by Scott Louden)
BU skipper Michael Gemmell (1st right) leads celebrations after triallist goal against Vale (Pics by Scott Louden)

The BUs battered East of Scotland Premier Division outfit 6-0 at Newtown Park on Saturday thanks to goals by Tom Grant (2), a pair of triallists and Ryan Stevenson's double.

And Bo'ness also prevailed in an incident-packed encounter against Dunbar United on Tuesday night, with the final scoreline of 2-1 telling only a fraction of the story.

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Despite having Darren Smith and Ben Bathgate sent off in the first half, Dunbar led 1-0 at the interval thanks to James Redpath’s 25th minute strike.

Tom Grant netted twice for United in comfortable winTom Grant netted twice for United in comfortable win
Tom Grant netted twice for United in comfortable win

Bo’ness – who themselves had Jamie Hamilton dismissed just before the interval – won it in the second half courtesy of goals by a triallist and Declan Hughes.

BU gaffer Max Christie had taken charge of Saturday’s success but holiday commitments meant Christie was absent for the Dunbar game, which saw the team taken by assistant boss Ian Little.

On the three red cards in Tuesday’s match, Little told the Falkirk Herald:"I think there was a bit of over eager refereeing.

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"There were a couple of scuffles but the sendings off sort of spoiled the game.

Ryan Stevenson was also at the double for BUsRyan Stevenson was also at the double for BUs
Ryan Stevenson was also at the double for BUs

"For the first red card, there was a scuffle on the halfway line between Mikey (Bo’ness defender Gemmell) and one of their players.

"I think both got booked and I think one had already been booked.

"And I’ll be fair to Dunbar, the tackle was made, the play moved forward, their boy put the ball in the top corner and the ref stopped the play to send someone off. And to be fair it was a legitimate goal so really they should have been 2-0 up.

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"Their second red card was for a tackle from behind and it wasn’t pretty. Did it merit a red?

"Maybe in a friendly you need to say: ‘That wasn’t a red mate, there's the yellow’ and they can maybe take him off.

"Our player (Hamilton) has reacted, put his hands on his chest and it just became a free for all with everybody on the pitch.

"Jamie probably realises now he shouldn’t have reacted like that, but that’s what players do.

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"It wasn’t great, it wasn’t pretty, we’d have been happy for both players to be substituted if the ref wasn’t happy.

"I think all the guys who got sent off are now suspended for the first two league games which isn’t great.

"Of course it’s a blow losing Jamie. It’s a blow losing anybody because we’ve still got a few boys coming back from bad injuries.”

Little – who managed Berwick Rangers between 2019 and 2021 – is still acclimatising to his new role with the BUs.

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"It’s hard for me because I’m just back from holiday myself,” he said.

"I have only done a couple of training sessions so I was really just observing a game but the boys moved the ball quite well.

"We had a few chances. In the last two games we could have scored more goals.

"It’s not great playing 10 v nine. I think Dunbar did really well for the fact that they were down to nine men.”

Bo’ness United have another pre-season friendly at Broxburn Athletic this Saturday with kick-off at 2pm.