Sneddon double in derby win secures hero status for Linlithgow Rose

Linlithgow Rose striker Alan Sneddon was pleased to follow in the footsteps of boss Gordon Herd after hearing all week about his gaffer’s derby heroics.

Sneddon struck twice as Rose came from behind to down Bo’ness 2-1 in the first competitive meeting between the two clubs in three years as they advanced to the fourth round of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.

Alassan Jones had given the Lowland League visitors the lead with a curling strike in the first half, as Sneddon revealed there were a few home truths delivered in the Rose dressing room at half-time.

“To be fair, we were pretty off it in the first half and we came in at half-time and we got a wee bit of a bollocking,” said the 32-year-old. “We came out in the second half and we played more like ourselves, fortunately the result went our way in the end. Overall, I thought we deserved the result, we certainly did enough to win the game.”

Alan Sneddon was the derby hero for Linlithgow Rose. Picture: Scott Louden

Sneddon hit the equaliser from the penalty spot, before heading in the winner with 15 minutes remaining from Mark Stowe’s pinpoint cross to cement his tag as a fan favourite with the Rosey-posey faithful.

He continued: “Mark has done brilliantly with scoring goals for the full season, but when it comes to penalties he has missed the last couple, so then it got passed on to Alan Docherty last week and he missed one.

“Fortunately, it rolled on to me and I managed to take it and score, thankfully. It was a close one, their keeper did well and when I looked up he looked massive in the goal, I thought to myself ‘Just hit it low and hard, and hopefully he doesn’t manage to get down to it.’

“Stowe did brilliantly for the second goal, he made it. Mark put in an unbelievable ball and I didn’t really have to move, all I really had to do was make a good connection on it and keep it away from the goalie. In the last few years, I have probably scored more headers than what I have done in the last ten years of playing,

“It's always nice to get a couple of goals no matter who you are playing but Saturday was a bit more special playing against your biggest rivals and it being the competitive game in three years.

“Herdy was telling us all week how he used to score winners against Bo’ness. He was at Linlithgow for years, so he has played in a fair few. I think John [Millar] and Eamonn [Fullerton] both played with Bo’ness so they were talking all week about what the games are like and what to expect, because a lot of the guys hadn’t played in one before.”

Elsewhere, Musselburgh Athletic advanced to the second round of the League Cup thanks to Nathan Evans’ 93rd minute winner as they returned from Glenrothes with a 2-1 victory. Leith Athletic were 2-1 winners over Bathgate away from home, while Haddington Athletic put five past Craigroyston without reply.