Game of two halves as Bluebell are knocked out of the cup

Jason Dair was forced to shuffle the Bluebell squad for this game with Walton suspended, Wilson unavailable and Hendry cup-tied.

The starting 11 had a further blow early in the first half when Forbes was forced off injured to be replaced by Meikle in a move that saw the influential McKenzie having to move back to centre back.

The first st half is one the Bluebell will want to forget as it produced an inept display.

As Bo’ness continued to attack, an Archie Campbell swerving free-kick saved by Murphy was the only notable effort on the home side goal by the visitors in the first half and it was no surprise at all when United took the lead in the twenty-sixth minute. A deep Scott free-kick fell to Prentice whose shot was diverted past Lennox by Wright.

Bo’ness were on top now, and with seven minutes remaining in the half finally doubled their advantage after a clanger in the Dundonald defence.

An innocuous long ball fell to Lennox, but his clearance cannoned off the face of Wright and fell perfectly for MacKenzie to roll the ball into the unguarded net.

At this point the large visiting support would possibly be fearing the worst however changes were made at half-time and a far more positive and determined Bluebell came back out for the second half.

Dundonald flew out of the traps at the start of the second half and they pulled a goal back after 22 seconds of the restart. Archie Campbell danced past two defenders then slammed an unstoppable shot low past Murphy.

The ever lively Campbell then had another two efforts saved by Murphy as Dundonald pushed for an equaliser.

At this point the game looked to have been turned on its head with Bluebell dominating however midway through the half Wright came extremely close to netting his second of the afternoon, but his header from a Scott corner went narrowly over the bar with Lennox well beaten.

Thirty seconds after this near miss Dundonald were level.

A Will Snowdon pass was intercepted by Meikle and a quick through ball sent Campbell clear to yet again confidently drive the ball past Murphy in the home goal.

United manager Kerrigan then introduced Ryan Stevenson to the fray and it took the youngster two minutes to make an immediate impact.

Wright laid the ball to the substitute at the edge of the penalty area he hit a lovely left foot strike past the goalkeeper.

The Bluebell were visibly shaken at this point as all their effort and hard work to get back into the game meant little as again they were forced to chase again.

To their credit they did just that and on 90 minutes Campbell was denied his hat trick when Murphy blocked his goal bound effort.

Dundonald were going for it now and had United pinned back in their own box but they were hit with a sucker punch counter attack in the last attack of the game.

Kay gave the ball away to Wright who played in Stevenson up the left hand side, the teenager raced forward and unselfishly squared to Wright who notched his second of the match.

The Bell must be disappointed, especially with their first half showing. However, they should take confidence in how they played in the second half and can feel aggrieved they never at least forced the match to penalties.

Team: Lennox, Durie, Drummond, Wedderburn, Forbes, Moffat, Bell, Campbell, Smith, McKenzie and Penman. Subs: Kay, Sibanda, Meikle, Payne.