Hearts of Midlothian B suffered their third loss of the Lowland League campaign as Bo’ness United ran out 2-0 winners at Ainslie Park on Friday night.

A goal in each half was enough for the visitors to take home all three points. Overall, a disappointing evening for Liam Fox’s side and a fairly uncharacteristically poor performance from his side.

Lack of end product

This Hearts B team have become synonymous with being an attacking threat and scoring goals. Last season’s campaign finished with Hearts scoring 92 goals, the second most in the Lowland League. However, this wasn’t the story against Bo’ness. With attack-minded players like Finlay Pollock and James Wilson out of the squad, with the latter on international duty, it would always raise the question of how well Liam Fox’s side would cope. The early period of the game saw the Wee Jambos have the majority of the ball. Although chances were created it certainly didn’t look as free-flowing as we are used to seeing from the team. This was demonstrated at the half-hour mark when wingers Dom Plank and Bobby Mcluckie would swap wings with Plank coming to the left and Mcluckie over to the right. This seemed to have the desired effect, as Plank began to flourish throughout the game going on some fantastic runs with the end result just missing.

Faded out

As Bo’ness doubled their lead on the hour mark, it felt slightly harsh on the Wee Jambos to be two goals down. They had strong spells throughout the game and, overall, it felt like they were the better team. However, for the final third of the match, it seemed like Hearts lost their way, offering little in the final third and becoming sloppy with the ball throughout the park. If any team was going to score the third of the match, it would be Bo’ness, but a great last-ditch tackle from Adam Forrester and a one-on-one save from Jamie MacDonald helped spare Hearts blushes.  

Alfie Osborne impressed on first start

One of the key positives from the night was 16-year-old Alfie Osborne. The teenager can take real pride in his first Lowland League start. It was big shoes to fill as Osborne came in for the absent Macaulay Tait but he took to the challenge really well. He instantly stood out due to his stature but also looked very comfortable and composed on the ball all evening. It was clear to see his role was to just sit in front and protect the back four. When playing out from the back, Osborne also looked confident showing for the ball and had no problem playing the passes to help the team progress up the field. Overall, a very solid first start and it is clear to see why he is so highly rated within Hearts and will be exciting to see how he develops with more minutes in the B team.

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Set piece troubles

As we have pointed out this season, the team have struggled to keep clean sheets, last week's against Cumbernauld Colts being the first of the season. The Wee Jambos will be disappointed with how the goals were conceded. A first-half free kick was fired straight at Jamie MacDonald but the veteran keeper could only parry it as far as the Bo’ness attacker who put the visitors ahead. In the second half, a corner kick from the visitors was flicked into the path of the unmarked Bo’ness captain who fired into the back of the net. In the end, it was a frustrating way for Hearts B to lose the goals.