Hearts B played out a thrilling 3-3 draw against Bo’ness United at Newtown Park on Saturday afternoon.
Liam Fox made three changes to the side that drew with East Stirlingshire last weekend. Ethan Drysdale, Macaulay Tait and Makenzie Kirk returned to the side as Bailey Dall, Harry Gordon and James Wilson dropped out.
It was a fast start from the men in maroon and they were ahead inside three minutes, thanks to Makenzie Kirk. The Hearts number 10 was adjudged to have been brought down in the penalty box and as he so often does, he dusted himself down to dispatch the penalty and open the scoring.
As the rain continued to pour down, the conditions meant it was very much shoot on sight territory and Kirk did just that to double his tally for the afternoon. He let fly from 20-yards and the ball slipped through the fingertips of Musa Digaba as the Wee Jambos doubled their lead after just seven minutes.
Hearts continued to dominate the first half and perhaps could’ve added to their tally had it not been for some good saves from Digaba, who made amends for his earlier error.
Into the second half and there was always going to be a reaction from the home side. They pulled one back eight minutes into the second half when a looping header came back off the post and Michael Travis bundled home on the rebound.
Eight minutes later, the hosts were level. Another high ball caused confusion in the Hearts box and Ryan Porteous was on hand to restore parity after 64 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for Hearts three minutes later as Ethan Drysdale was shown a second yellow. However, the men in maroon weren’t at a numerical disadvantage for long as just two minutes later, Bo’ness’ Michael Gemmell was shown a second yellow of his own and it was 10 v 10 for the final 20 minutes.
The second half had turned into a rollercoaster ride and after Macaulay Tait’s cross was blocked by a hand, Hearts were awarded their second penalty of the afternoon. Kirk again stepped up and kept his cool to slam home his hat-trick goal and restore Hearts' lead.
The Wee Jambos couldn’t hang on however and four minues from time Bo’ness rescued a point. Again, it came from a cross ball as Tom Grant’s free kick found Travis, who glanced his header into the far corner.
Kirk had enjoyed quite the afternoon, and he almost won it with the final kick of the match, but his downward header was well saved by Digaba, who ensured a share of the spoils.
Bo’ness United: Digaba, Travis, Hawkins, Macaulay, Henderson, Stenhouse, Johnston, Porteous, Daziel, Gemmell, Irving
Subs: Fullerton, McArthur, Grant, Mooney, Kennedy, Malcolm,
Hearts B: McFarlane, Tait ©, Sandilands, Kirk, Thomas (Gordon, 80), Nair, Drysdale, Forrester, Duncan, Rathie, Ross (Dall, 70)z
Subs: McConnell, Dall, McLuckie, Stevenson, Gordon, Smutek, Gillies
