Gala Fairydean Rovers up for cup next after first back-to-back victories since start of August

Those wins, by 2-0 at home to basement side Dalbeattie Star last Tuesday night and 2-1 at United Newtown Park home ground on Saturday, have lifted player-manager Martin Scott’s Galashiels side up to 12th place in the Scottish Lowland Football League table, on 17 points from 13 games.

Two goals from captain Gareth Rodger earned the Borderers all three points against a United side reduced to ten men by a 58th-minute red card for ex-Stenhousemuir defender Jamie McCormack.

The first, cancelling out Lewis Hawkins’ 36th-minute opener for the hosts, came from the penalty spot for the handball that also led to McCormack’s sending-off and the second was a 63rd-minute header from a corner.

United were awarded a controversial penalty of their own in the first half, after visiting goalkeeper Ryan Goodfellow was deemed to have brought down Lennon Walker in the box, but Jamie Hamilton hit it against the post.

Rovers assistant manager Stevie Craig, watching from the sidelines as a substitute, was impressed by his team’s second-half recovery after a shaky start, saying: “Like the old cliche, it was a game of two halves really.

“I thought Bo’ness came out of the traps in the first ten to 15 minutes really on it, aggressive and on the front foot, and we kind of took our time to get a foothold in the game, and when we did and tried to make two or three passes, we actually got some success.

“We had two or three warnings prior to their goal going in – obviously a great save from Goody and the boy hitting the post from a penalty went for us – so, from the side of the game, I was wanting that half-time whistle.

“When we got in at half-time, we reiterated that what we are strong at and the things we do really well, we just weren’t doing in the first half.

“We started the second half really well. Quinn Mitchell sparked it by intercepting a pass and then getting into the box and there’s a wee ricochet and it results in a penalty and they go down to ten men. It gives us a wee lift scoring from the penalty obviously.

“As soon as it went to 1-1, there was really only going to be one winner, but, to be fair, you’ve got to give credit to Bo’ness because Max made really positive changes and he went for it.

“In the last week, we’ve learned a lot about the boys.

“Their performance level against Celtic B was excellent and we probably didn’t deserve to lose that game. Last Tuesday against Dalbeattie, we put in a reasonable performance and we could have won five, six, seven, eight, nine-nil and nobody would have complained, and then we came here, put in a poor first-half performance and we asked a question of them at half-time and they answered it, so they’re answering questions now and we’re getting positive feedback from the boys.

“The pleasing thing from mine and Jimmy’s point of view is that we demanded character from them because it’s our third game in a week and they were feeling fatigued and they definitely answered that call.”

Rovers’ next game is a South Challenge Cup tie away to East of Scotland Football League premier division side Musselburgh Athletic this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 2.30pm.