Bo’ness United 2 - 1 Whitehill Welfare: Juniors go through but Whitehill boss feels aggrieved

Bo’ness boss Paul Ronald was delighted with the result, saying: “Whitehill proved to be an excellent side, much as I expected.”

In front of a crowd around 800, Bo’ness took the field without several of their key players, John Stewart and Stuart Devine failing to make the starting XI with injuries, and Whitehill started better. They were first to every ball, but after only eight minutes they were behind. A long ball played to Bo’ness winger Nicky Walker saw him outpace the full back and his low, driven cross was knocked out to Chris Donnelly. His effort was blocked out to Tarditi who made no mistake, slamming it home from eight yards.

Whitehill didn’t let the goal disappoint them though and they pushed forward creating several chances without really troubling Scott Christie in the Bo’ness goal.

The second half saw Scott McCulloch introduced for the visitors in a forward role and the switch almost paid off within the first five minutes of the restart. They played some great football up the left wing before pulling it back for Wayne McIntosh who was in on the keeper. He delayed slightly allowing the keeper to dive at his feet before dinking the ball up and over the bar. A great chance and one they would regret missing as the game wore on.

Referee Brian Braidwood then had a rush of blood to his head. Whitehill were pushing forward when the far side linesman flagged for offside. The referee continued to play eventually awarding Whitehill a free-kick just outside the box. Bo’ness’s Scott Gibb protested about the offside decision and was promptly red carded. However the referee than changed his mind and only yellow carded him.

Bo’ness then looked to have sewn up the tie when they scored a second, which owed much to the creative talents of Walker and Tarditi.

Walker outpaced the static defence before cutting inside on his way to the bye-line and his pin-point low cross was met by Tarditi again who took his time before rifling the ball past the keeper from 12 yards.

Whitehill continued to push forward and were rewarded with a penalty after 80 minutes as Tarditi was judged to have pushed William Kidd in the box following a free-kick. Andrew Kidd stepped up to score easily and give the visitors hope they could at least draw level. Whitehill then had a great chance for the equaliser with a free-kick just outside the box. Sub Dayne Robertson’s effort though went wide of the far post.

In the end Bo’ness did just enough to take their place in the hat for the next round.

Whitehill manager Rab Paget said: “I’m bitterly disappointed we lost that tie. We were the better football team by the length of Princes Street. Two individual errors cost us the tie. When you play a team of Bo’ness’s stature they will punish any mistakes you make.”

Bo’ness boss Ronald said: “They were a good disciplined side who knew what they were doing. We found it difficult to play against them. They were probably playing around 100 per cent while we scarcely getting above 60. Tarditi added: “The goals are good but it’s the team performance that matters. We had to battle out.”

Bo’ness United: Christie, Snowdon, McLaren, Gibb, Hunter, Nimmo, Walker, Shields, Tarditi, Duffy, Donnelly. Subs: Reilly, Hay, Watt, Bennett, Allen.

Whitehill Welfare: Walker, Hall, Thom, W Kidd, Bruce, Herd, Sproule, A Kidd, Manson, McIntosh, Sommerville. Subs: Robertson, McCulloch, Sinclair, Moffat, Tansey.