East Fife v Bo'ness - Head to Head analysis:

Total goals scored in Scottish League and Scottish Cup:

East Fife and Bo'ness first met in the Eastern League at Newton Park in November 1904 and went on to meet on several occasions in Central League matches and cup competitions before both clubs were admitted to the Scottish League in 1921. The most significant encounter between the sides has to be the Qualifying Cup Final played at the neutral venue of Central Park, Cowdenbeath, on 18 December 1920. A bumper crowd of 18,603 saw the Fifers beat their more fancied opponents 3-1 to lift their first major trophy. Wilson, Currie and Moffat were the East Fife marksmen.

There is an amusing story regarding one East Fife trip to play Bo'ness at Newton Park. When the pair first met on 12 November 1904, some of the East Fife players were supposed to alight from the Edinburgh to Glasgow train at Polmont, where they were to meet up with club officials James Gray and Jock Mann. Unfortunately, the players boarded the Glasgow express by mistake and went through Polmont without stopping! The result was that volunteers had to be sought in the Bo'ness club house to take their places. East Fife lost the match 2-1. When East Fife next played Bo'ness at Newton Park five years later, the West Lothian club contacted East Fife and offered to send a tug boat over the Forth to Methil to pick up the players, presumably in order to avoid a repeat of the previous fiasco!

The rear of the Grandstand at Newton Park

Bo'ness were members of the Scottish League from 1921 until 1932. The club even managed a season in Division One after winning the Second Division Championship in 1927 and, on 28 April 1928, held League Champions Rangers to a 1-1 draw in a league match at Newton Park. Bo'ness retained their senior status after dropping out of league football in 1932 until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The club turned junior after the war and still play at Newton Park as Bo'ness United.

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