Looking ahead with John 13th May

Bo’ness United Premier League Championship Award

Saturday’s home game against Newtongrange Star will see Bo’ness United receive the tangible reward for their efforts so far this season when they will be presented with the East Region Premier League Championship Trophy.

Although Bo’ness still have an interest in the Dechmont Forklift Cup a quick return to the Super League was the number one aim for this season and all BU supporters will want to be at Newtown Park to witness the presentation. There is no doubt that after the ceremony, celebrations will continue into the Saturday night and rightly so as it is well deserved in a campaign where Bo’ness dug in to win the prize with two games to spare.

However the match itself is significant particularly as Newtongrange are desperate for the points to keep them in the race for the second promotion place which is still up for grabs. Forfar West End are favourites to go up with Bo’ness but any slip on their part will allow Star in with a chance.

Newtongrange will be hoping that Bo’ness will be more concerned about picking up the silverware rather than playing a game of football but the match is still important to the BUs for various reasons. Bo’ness have an unbeaten League home record to defend as well as wanting to top Glenrothes’ title winning points tally for last season. The Glens won the championship last season on 45 points, the same amount that Bo’ness are on at this time and the BUs want to beat that total this season.

There is also the fact that the Bo’ness players will already be thinking of next season and looking to impress the coaches to stake their claim for a place in the Super League campaign starting in August. Players also want to win games and on Saturday a BU victory will make the presentation ceremony that much sweeter.

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Season review from the website match reporter: JOHN SPOWART

The season 2006/07 has come to an end and the website must thank John Spowart for the devoted time to his beloved Bo'ness United and helping the website to achieve the credits it has from supporters home and abroad who regularly visit the site to find out how their team has performed at the weekend. Also a thank you to the visiting supporters from other clubs who have said the site has been a great help to them. John has finished of his season with a review and here is how he sees it.

Bo’ness United Season Review 2006/2007

After the trauma of the previous season it was hoped that Bo’ness United would get onto an even keel, but the 2006/2007 season was to prove just as dramatic as the BUs were relegated from the East Region Super league. There was some cheer in the form of a St Michael’s Cup win but overall the season will be seen as a disappointment

Willie Irvine was installed as coach late in the preceding season and when the new campaign began there were no less than seven new faces in the side that lined up at Carmuirs Park for the opening match against Camelon. Twelve players had left the club during the close season and the BU faithful were keen to see what the incoming batch of players had to offer.

The pre season friendlies had been far from convincing and a defeat at Camelon saw the start of a disappointing League Cup run. Two victories against bottom division Sauchie could not make up for another defeat by Camelon and already there was concern regarding the season ahead.

Three early Super League defeats confirmed that Bo’ness were going to struggle and the loss at Lochee in mid September saw Irvine’s tenure brought to an abrupt end. The ex Sauchie coach reacted with a verbal attack against the men in charge at Newtown in the local and national press but most people connected with the BUs agreed that this early action was justified.

Defeat at home to Bathgate was followed by a rare victory against Linlithgow, and by the time Bo’ness lined up against Bonnyrigg in the Dechmont Forklift Cup there was a new coaching team in place in the form of Eric Sinclair and all time BU top scorer Paul McKinlay.

There was to be no dream start for the new men in charge, as defeat at Bonnyrigg was followed by League defeats against Carnoustie and Bathgate. The performance at Bathgate showed signs of some spirit returning to the side and Bo’ness went to Glasgow in Round 2 of the Scottish, winning a victory against Benburb.   

Sinclair started to introduce new faces to the squad but the experienced coach was aware that he had a big job on his hands to turn things around for a side that lacked conviction and belief. The League form continued to be poor and Bo’ness saw an early exit from the Fife and Lothian’s Cup and defeat in the next round of the Scottish at Tranent. Gradually many of the players brought in by Irvine found themselves out in the cold as Sinclair and McKinlay tried to get a winning formula.

Ironically after going out of the National tournament Bo’ness managed three League victories in a row but a New Year defeat at Hill of Beath meant that Bo’ness had played more league games than anyone else without a good return for their effort.

The next few weeks saw mixed fortunes with heavy defeats against Whitburn and Bonnyrigg but a resounding victory at home to Kinnoull. The BUs struggled to a home draw against Hill of Beath but deserved more than the solitary point won against Lochee. There were a few more points on the board mixed in with victories against Edinburgh and Carnoustie in the Dem Master Demolition and East of Scotland Cups respectively. The victory against Carnoustie was particularly impressive and three points won at Oakley the week before gave some hope of avoiding the drop. The team was now starting to show some consistency with performances that saw the smiles returning to the faces of the BU faithful.

However the problem was that Bo’ness were rapidly running out of games and their final two League matches involved visits to high flying Linlithgow and their bogey team Camelon. After two idle Saturdays the BUs lost narrowly at Prestonfield but there was cup success with victories at Newtongrange and Penicuik providing some hope for success for the club.

Bo’ness were now in the situation where having played so many games, the allocation of fixtures were erratic, making it difficult to keep the players sharp. A convincing Dem Master Cup victory at Camelon was followed by another gap before the final League match again at Camelon. With Kinnoull already relegated, Bo’ness were favourites to join them but neither Camelon or Oakley were safe though both had games in hand.

Bo’ness went into injury time a goal to the good but a soft penalty award when Willie Irvine, playing as a trialist for Camelon, went down easily in the box saw the Carmuirs side salvage a precious point. Camelon went on to secure their Super League status with a victory over Whitburn but the West Lothian side did Bo’ness a turn, beating Oakley to keep the BU's hopes alive. However Oakley won at Camelon and now only a heavy defeat against Lochee United would see the Fifers take Bo’ness’s place in the relegation position.

Monday 28 May proved to be a significant evening as Bo’ness won the Dem Master Demolition Cup with a convincing victory against Bathgate but on the same night Oakley beat Lochee to confirm Bo’ness’s fate of relegation.

The final match of the season saw Bo’ness lose out to Rosyth on penalties in the East of Scotland Cup and it’s now time to take stock before looking ahead to next season. Performances took a decided turn for the better towards the end of the campaign and with many of the existing squad having already committed their future to Bo’ness, things are looking positive. No doubt Eric Sinclair will be striving to add to the squad and when the BU's kick off the 2007 2008 campaign, promotion will be the goal for the season, with anything less unthinkable.