The University of Stirling men’s football team continued their defence of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup, beating Bo’ness United 3-1 in the third round.

Goals from Ben Heal, Shea Scally and Thomas Vonk were enough to dispatch the fellow Lowland League side at Newtown Park.

Head Coach Chris Geddes said: “I’m delighted, that was an excellent win against a top Lowland League side.”

“It’s always a tough place to go to and we had to dig in after their goal, but the boys defended really well and deserved the victory in the end.”

After sealing the BUCS league last week, The Uni were full of confidence and took the lead after seven minutes. An inch-perfect pass from Ciaran McAninch found Heal, who cooly slotted past Musa Dibaga in goal.

Bo’ness grew more comfortable in the game but could only create openings from distance, none of which troubled Yan Gromov Godik.

Scally doubled the Stirling lead on 24 minutes. A corner was punched away by Dibaga, but fell kindly for Scally to fire home with the help of a deflection.

The hosts continued to shoot from distance and were desperately unlucky not to find a way back into the match before half-time. Lucas Stenhouse drove through the middle and fired at goal but was denied by the inside of the post.

Whilst Bo’ness showed some early signs of pressure in the second half, it wasn’t until after the hour mark before they created chances. Substitute Ryan Porteous first fired wide then Tom Grant could only find the side netting from Kieran Mooney’a cross.

Porteous wouldn’t have to wait long to make up for his miss though as he halved the deficit on 71 minutes, converting a Grant pass to bring his side back into the game.

Into the final 10 minutes of the game, Bo’ness began to exert a lot of pressure on the Uni defence.  A superb save from Gromov Godik kept Grant out and then a succession of corners saw the ball cross the line but it was ruled out for a foul.

Despite the pressure, Stirling were able to seal victory in stoppage time. James Stokes countered well, finding Vonk in the box to finish.

Full-time saw Stirling safely through into the fourth round. They will now turn their attention to Saturday when they host East Stirlingshire in the Lowland League.