Crossgates Primrose 1-6 Bo'ness United
Humbug Park, Crossgates
EOSFL, Premier League
A hat-trick of Brian Morgan penalties helped Bo’ness United turn over a disjointed looking Crossgates at Humbug Park.
Former Primrose striker Mark McKenzie heaped further misery on his old team mates with a first half double on his return to his Fife.
It went from bad to worse in the second half, when two red cards in the space of five minutes saw Primrose finish with nine men.
United were off to a flyer in Fife, McKenzie putting the visitors ahead after just seven minutes when the ball rebounded off keeper Grant Henderson and ended up in the net. United kept the early pressure up, pressing high up the park and forcing Crossgates to rely on the long ball out from the back.
It wasn’t long before the away side doubled their lead, the home defence failing to deal with the ball into the box, the ref spotting a foul on Keast and blowing for a penalty. Morgan made no mistake from the spot kick, slamming home past Henderson for 2-nil.
Primrose we’re struggling to get much supply to the front men, the visitors wining the battles in midfield and enjoying the lions share of possession. After half an hour, the hosts got themselves back into it though, Scott Lawrie scoring penalty number two of the day after most blatant hand ball you’re likely to see.
The visitors restored their two goal cushion just a couple of minutes later, McKenzie coming back to haunt his old side again and bagging his second of the match. The young forward was clearly enjoying first visit back to his old stomping ground, his pace causing real problems for the home defence. That pace caught Primrose out again in the 39th minute, Forbes pulling him down for penalty number three of the afternoon. Once again, Morgan took the kick, and once again stroked it confidently beyond the keeper to make it 4-1 at the interval.
Primrose needed to change something at half-time and gaffer Alan Campbell made the tactical switch, withdrawing Sawers from the forward line and adding Gavin Ross as an extra man in defence. Primrose continued to look shaky at the back however and United were looking more and more confident. The visitors were pretty much in control with Nimmo pulling the strings in midfield and the back four looking rock solid.
United got number five just before the hour with yet another penalty, which Morgan dispatched for his hat-trick. Job done, McKenzie was immediate replaced by Mooney as the visitors looked content to see the game out.
Bo’ness were much sharper in the tackle, Crossgates losing out on virtually every 50/50 and unable to retain possession for any length of time. It wasn’t exactly a dirty game, but it was keenly contested and the card count was beginning to rack up, ref Jordan Curran seemingly unable to let anything go.
Substitute Campbell put the game beyond doubt, grabbing number six with sixty five minutes on the watch. The scoreline was bad enough, but worse was to come for the Fifers though, the ref flashing a straight red card at sub Ross for a innocent looking foul on the right edge of the box. Forbes followed him into the dressing room five minutes later after a second yellow as Curran began to look like losing his grip on the match. He then had a long discussion with the Primrose bench, before waving another yellow card at the gaffer Campbell.
United were having it all their own way by now and really should have added to the scoreline, but the visitors squandered chance after chance and were guilty of trying to walk it into the net on a couple of occasions. Nimmo came closest to adding number 7, his acrobatic scissor kick was flying straight into the top corner before Henderson somehow got a hand to it. At the other end, Primrose didn’t have too much to offer, the worst Murphy had to deal with was a misjudged headed pass back that had him scrambling to keep out.
6-1 was plenty for Bo’ness though, their first win of the season after two draws, enough to lift them into fifth spot in the EOSFL Premier League table. Crossgates on the other hand stayed rooted to the bottom of the table with two defeats from their opening two games.
Man Of The Match: It’s hard to overlook Morgan after a hat-trick, and McKenzie was a constant thorn in the flesh of his old side, but I have to give it to Ian Nimmo. The silky midfielder cruised through the game, picking passes at will, and was only denied a goal by a top drawer save.
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