Goals either side of half-time for each team were enough to take the teams back down the road to Auchinleck next week and hopefully a repeat of Saturday's fare.
Bo'ness boss Eric Sinclair was delighted with his side's performance. He said: "We sho
wed enough to merit a replay and I'm disappointed that we didn't take the chances we had.
"They possibly had more of the game, but we created far better chances than them. We could have had the game dead and buried before half-time if we had taken them. But we're confident we can go down to Ayrshire next week and do the same."
In front of big crowd, both sides made little of the bitterly cold conditions. Auchinleck started the game better and for the first 15 minutes Bo'ness could hardly get out of their own half. The visitors had chances to take the lead but headers high and wide meant that the teams were still level.
Then, against the run of play , Bo'ness took the lead. They broke down the right hand side with Jon Mitchell. He hit the byline and cut the ball back for David Morrison, who laid it back to Andy Scott.
His volley took the slightest of deflections to slip below the outstretched hands of keeper Adam Strain. Auchinleck couldn't believe it. They had all the pressure with nothing to show for it.
Back they came and soon Bo'ness were again under pressure. Keeper Gregg Logan twice raced from his goal to dive bravely at the feet of the Talbot strikers.
Then, just before the half-time whistle, they almost doubled their lead. Scott Brown, who was a constant threat to the visiting defence all afternoon, played a super ball clean through to David Morrison. He raced in on goal but the keeper came out to block his effort brilliantly.
After the break Bo'ness settled quickly and attacked the Talbot defence from the start. In the 47th minute Scott Brown raced fully 40 yards straight at the goal, but again keeper Strain blocked the effort. Three minutes later and the same two players were involved again.
This time Brown raced down the left wing before firing in a shot which once again the keeper saved brilliantly. Auchinleck survived but their defence were being caught out by long balls played into the channels.
Back they came and in the 69th minute their pressure was rewarded with a penalty. Sub Danny McKelvie was needlessly brought down in the box and Sean McIlroy stepped up to blast the ball down the middle.
The teams were now level but it was Auchinleck who looked more dangerous. The Bo'ness goal had some scary moments with keeper Logan producing a tremendous save to keep them at bay.
The last chance for Auchinleck almost produced a winner. McKelvie made space down the left wing. His driven cross beat the keeper and with an empty goal in front of him Sean McIlroy headed the ball against the back of Ryan Fullarton and out for a corner.
It was that kind of day for Auchinleck. In the end Bo'ness could so easily have won this one but Auchinleck never gave up and deserved to take them back down the road next week.
Boness boss Sinclair said: "If you don't take your chances, the game can come back and bite you. That's what happened. Everyone gave their all for the club and the supporters can be proud of them. I'm disappointed we didn't win it here but at this level you have to take your chances.
"We've had a lot of injury problems and next week hopefully they will have cleared up. We didn't score more but that's football for you.
"If we had scored a second they would have found it hard to get back. But the players did their best today and that's all we can ask from them. They didn't let anybody down.
"We're going to Ayrshire next week confident we can play the same way and get the right result. We know we can play good football. We're going there to win."
Auchinleck manager Tommy Sloan said afterwards: "We did enough to win the game. Only a mistake by the keeper let them in but to be fair to them they had some super chances to win the game.
"We had them under pressure for most of the game but we have to take our chances. We never looked like losing and after we scored we were the only team who looked like winning the game, but it's all to do next week again. This time with home advantage we'll finish the job."
Bo'ness striker Scott Brown was disappointed he hadn't scored a winner. He said: "I didn't get on the scoresheet although I'd enough chances. But next week we'll go there and still be looking to win it.
"We showed enough today that we can win this tie. I should have scored but their keeper had some great saves. On another day they would have gone in.
"On today's performance we have nothing to be worried about. They know we'll be working just as hard as this week."
Bo'ness: Logan, McCafferty (G Brown) Fullarton, Gaffney, Tully, Mullen, Mitchell, Snowdon, S Brown, Scott( Mauchline) Morrison. Subs: Allison, Wells, Kirkwood.
Auchinleck: Strain, Latta, McVey, Pettigrew, Collins, Spence, White, Slaven, Doolan, McIlroy, Young (McKelvie). Subs: Phillips, McRae, Robb, Evans.
The full article contains 929 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
