Bo'ness United defender Jamie McCormack 'predicted' his first ever hat-trick

Bo’ness United hat-trick hero Jamie McCormack joked he will be putting on a lottery ticket this week after his mystic pre-match prediction came true.

The 30-year-old former Morton, Brechin, Stenhousemuir, East Stirlingshire and BSC Glasgow player, who join Bo’ness last summer, netted his first career hat-trick on Wednesday night as his team thrashed Edinburgh University 5-0 to go top of the Lowland League on goal difference.

Marauding full-back McCormack revealed he had told a team-mate before the match that he would score a treble.

“That was my first ever hat-trick, so it was special – two is the most I had ever scored,” said a beaming McCormack. “I actually texted one of the boys before the game for a laugh saying ‘I will score a hat-trick’ just for a bit of banter, and it happened.

“I will need to put the lottery on this week, hopefully I win that as well and I won’t be back here!

“It’s a good start from us, we will just take each game as it comes. We’ve got Caley Braves next so onto them, it’s going to be a tough league this year, we just need to keep chipping away and hopefully we can do something good.

“It’s a strong league this year, but hopefully we can just keep winning games and maybe go under the radar a wee bit and see where we get to. It’s good that people aren’t talking us up, it’s what we want, we will just keep doing our own thing and see where we are come Christmas time and take it from there.”

McCormack spent almost a third of last season on the sidelines after an eight-match ban, and admitted he owes managed Max Christie for showing faith in him.

Bo'ness United right-back Jamie McCormack scored the first hat-trick of his career in the 5-0 win at Edinburgh University. Picture: Scott Louden

He continued: “It was a disappointing season last year, we didn’t do well enough, I thought we would be better, but we got a few bad injuries and I got suspended for a while stupidly. I got an eight-match ban as I got sent off from the bench when I was already suspended, so that was stupid, but I’ve got to learn from that.

“I wanted to start well this season to repay the gaffer for standing by me. If we can keep our squad fit then I think we can do alright. It’s a good squad we’ve got, we’ve made some really good signings in Declan Hughes, Jamie Hamilton, Alassan Jones and Musa Digaba.

“Musa looks like a top signing. He’s some size in that goal, he’s good with his feet, and commanding in the box. We are trying to play out from the back this season, so he fits in well. It’s very hard to get a good keeper at this level.”