Bo'ness United 1 - 1 Hill of Beath Hawthorn: Bo'ness boss laments more points dropped

For the second time in a week, the league leaders failed to hang on to a lead and McGonigal said: "It's the same as last week when we got our heads in front but failed to hold on. To give away another cheap goal and drop another two points is poor."

Bo'ness faced a Hill Of Beath side many home supporters regard as their bogey team and indeed they have a poor record against the team from Fife.

But with home advantage, McGonigal felt his side should have taken the full three points.

The opening quarter of the game was pretty even with Bo'ness having the best of the chances, though neither side found a route to goal.

But whatever a frustrated McGonigal said in the dressing-room at the break had a very quick effect. Within two minutes of the restart Bo'ness were ahead.

Will Snowdon, playing at right back, picked the ball up in his own half. He ran at a retreating Beath defence before slipping a low cross to Chris McFadyen who dispatched it into the back of the net with a clinical finish.

Hill Of Beath, though, weren't about to give up. Within five minutes they were level.

Bo'ness gave away a soft free-kick out wide left. Barry Smith took it and sent over a teasing cross into the heart of the home defence. The defenders failed to get a firm boot on the ball as it bounced around the penalty box and Benny Paterson slammed the loose ball past the keeper from 12 yards.

Hill Of Beath took a lot of confidence from this goal and, only a couple of minutes later, could have gone ahead but Fraser Beveridge's free-kick from 25 yards out hit the post.

This, though, was the fright Bo'ness needed and soon they were camped around the visitors' penalty box. They created chance after chance, putting keeper Stuart Hall under a lot of pressure. He held firm, though sometimes with a huge slice of luck with the ball bouncing awkwardly off his chest on occasion.

Boss McGonigal used his subs in an attempt to break down a resolute visiting defence and it almost paid off when Darren Gribben turned and shot from 20 yards only to see his effort slide past the far post.

They forced corner after corner but Derek Fleming's efforts were being dealt with desperately at times. Then with almost the last kick of the game, substitute Paul Shields stuck his leg out at a shot from Snowdon but luck deserted them again as the ball struck the base of the post and was cleared.

McGonigal said a month ago that 45 points would win the title. His side are just one point from that target with two games remaining but Linlithgow, who still have five games to play, remain a real threat.

"We had the bulk of the game and most of the pressure but didn't hold on to our lead," added McGonigal.

The same as last week against Bathgate and, with our last two games coming up against Camelon away and Linlithgow at home, we wanted to get the points before these ones. There are no excuses for missing so many chances.

"If you don't take them then you don't win games. The goal we gave away was soft. We should have defended better than we did and once again there are no excuses. I didn't want to go in to these last two games looking for the points to take us over the line. Our last game is at home to our fiercest rivals, Linlithgow, and that one has its own agenda for the supporters."

Bo'ness missed their midfield playmaker Andy Shirra badly and, without his prompting, lacked a cutting edge for most of the game. They scored a super goal but luck deserted them on almost every other chance that fell their way.

They now approach next week's game against a Camelon side finding form, with a lot more pressure on their shoulders than they wanted.

Bo'ness United: Longmuir, Snowdon, Fleming, Forrest, Duffin, Morrison, Ballantine, Hay (Gribben), McFadyen (Shields), Walker, Donnelly. Subs: Brown, Churchill, Kiczynski, Main, McGurk.

Hill Of Beath: Hall, Byle, Gray, Paterson, Ri Dair, Morrison, Smith, Beveridge (Rydair), Westwater (Adamson), Bathgate, Haddow. Subs: McNealy, Stuart.