Bo’ness United v Bonnyrigg Rose on 21st August

SIX IN A ROW AS ROSE DEFEAT BO’NESS
BY SEÁN MCGILL

A Callum Connolly header and Lewis Turner’s sumptuous strike gave Bonnyrigg Rose all three points against Bo’ness United, despite a late penalty from Zander Miller.
Following Wednesday’s impressive victory in trying circumstances at East Stirlingshire, there was just once change to the Rose team sheet for the trip to a drizzly Newtown Park. Kerr Young dropped out the squad entirely, replaced by Neil Martyniuk in the starting eleven. Scott Gray and Nathan Evans re-joined the squad, both as substitutes.

It’s fair to say the game didn’t enjoy the thrills and spills of our last encounter with the BUs. On New Year’s Day, a hattrick of Lee Currie penalties and a George Hunter brace saw the Rose through to the second round of the Scottish Cup in a 5-2 victory at New Dundas Park.

Bo’ness frontman Zander Miller opened the scoring that day, and nearly did the same in the opening stages on Saturday afternoon. A long ball over the top found the striker, who rifled the ball at goal, only to be denied by a strong stop from Mikey Andrews.

As Rose struggled to really get a foothold in the game, Miller gave up an even better opportunity on 18 minutes. Nick Locke, who was the hosts’ best attacking outlet throughout the game, delivered a wicked cross towards his teammate’s head, but Miller couldn’t react quickly enough to send the ball goalward.

Fresh off scoring two goals in his last two games, Keiran McGachie looked in the mood to make his mark again. A powerful run saw the big man drive past the Bo’ness backline, before squaring across goal. Dean Hoskins burst a gut to try and meet the pass, but saw his effort blocked by an onrushing opponent.

Andrews again produced a smart stop on 28 minutes, this time showing his acrobatic side as the Rose number 1 tipped the ball over the bar after Jamie McCormack found himself free at a corner and sent a thumping header towards goal.

It was a set piece from the visitors, however, that would open the scoring. High on the left-hand side, Currie’s curled delivery from a free kick found the head of Callum Connolly, who expertly steered the ball down into the bottom right corner to give the Rose the lead six minutes before the break.

Half-time saw Evans come on in place of Hunter, with the Rose’s latest recruit very nearly getting himself on the scoresheet within a matter of a minutes. A beautiful crossfield ball from Currie was taken perfectly into the stride of Dean Brett, the wing-back quickly looking to square the ball to the striker, but saw his pass turned behind for a corner.

The Rose began pushing for a second goal, and it looked like it would come from McGachie as the striker found himself through on goal on 64 minutes. A great save from Andy Murphy meant that McGachie would have to try again on the rebound, but his volleyed attempt flew well wide of the Bo’ness goal.

With 78 minutes on the clock, Bonnyrigg got the goal that doubled their advantage. And what a goal it was.

Neat interplay on the right featuring Currie, Jonny Stewart and Scott Gray concluded with the latter in space, getting his head up to pick out fellow substitute Lewis Turner. The midfielder was not for messing about, zinging the ball into the top corner from 25 yards out, much to the delight of the travelling Rose faithful.

Those supporters were not in for a comfortable conclusion to the game though, as the referee pointed to the spot after adjudging that Connolly brought down Locke in the area. Having spurned some decent chances earlier in the game, Miller showed his composure in slotting the ball past Andrews from the spot with four minutes of the 90 left to play.

A few set piece situations followed, but the Rose backline stood firm to seal Robbie Horn’s side’s sixth consecutive league victory and maintain their status as league leaders.

Stirling Uni will be the next side looking to upend Bonnyrigg’s unbeaten run, as they head to New Dundas Park next Saturday for the first time since November 2019.