Duns undone by Bell strike.

The Shipyard secured their first league victory of the season with a narrow but deserved win over Duns at Recreation Park. Given that six players were missing through injury and suspension that made it all the more pleasing to the Shipyard management team. Kevin Masson and Stuart Blake served the suspensions they picked up at Ormiston while long term absentee Ewan Fotheringham was joined on the injury list by Stevie Connor, Alan Clark and Dale Robertson who all picked up injuries on Scottish Cup duty last week. Captain Craig Lowe returned and he was joined in the starting eleven by Andy MacDonald, lee Henderson, Blair Smart, Adam Doig and Renato Sartarello.

The Shipyard were the better team in the early stages and had more of the possession but neither team created a clear cut chance in the opening twenty five minutes. It was Lowe of the Shipyard who created the first decent opening when he showed good skill to beat his marker out wide but his driven shot was blocked by the Duns defence. Mike Robinson had Duns first attempt on the half hour mark but he did not trouble Jordan Mushet in the Shipyard goals. The game had sprung to life now and Napier blasted over for the home team and Henderson did well to block a Duns effort at the other end. Big Scott Lumsden then dived to his right to push away a Doig header that was sneaking inside the post. Napier burst forward for the home team but his shot did not match the quality of his run and never troubled Lumsden. Duns then enjoyed a spell of pressure but the Shipyard defence stood up well and blocked any attempts before they got near Mushet. Lumsden then pulled off a tremendous save a minute before the interval. Doig found himself through on goal after a ball dropped kindly to him but Lumsden read his intensions and saved the well hit shot.

The second half saw a lot more goalmouth action and Lowe was not too far away after latching on to a Sartarello knock down. Daniel Pattenden then just failed to make good connection with a ball across the face of the Shipyard goal. The home side took the lead in the 61^st minute with a superb strike from Pete Bell. He was set up by good work from Lowe and his powerful strike flew into the net with Lumsden helpless. The Shipyard only held that lead for seven minutes and it was another fine strike that drew Duns level. A free-kick was headed out of the Shipyard box and Mark Weatherburn showed fantastic technique to volley the ball into the net from 22 yards. Within a minute Weatherburn almost put Duns ahead but his left foot shot from 10 yards smashed back of the post. Doig then broke through into the visitor’s area but his shot was blocked at the expense of a corner. From that kick the Shipyard regained the lead. Lumsden again produced a good save, this time from Lowe, but the ball dropped to Craig McKay and he rammed it home from close range. Substitute Mikey Morrison then burst down the right and with his first touch brought out a fine save from Lumsden. Lowe got onto the loose ball and his shot appeared to hit the grounded defender’s hand, however, the referee had deemed that the ball had already gone out for a corner. Duns pushed hard for an equaliser as the Shipyard seemed to drop deeper and Andy MacDonald was on the line to clear a header that had reached the unmarked forward at the back post. Duns forced a series of corners that the home defence were just about coping with though Steven Burns should have done better with a close range header in added time when he looked certain to score but unfortunately for him he headed over the bar.

Manager Myles Allan reflected after the game “It wasn’t a great game but I’ll take the three points. I’d imagine that Duns will be disappointed to go back down the road empty handed but we’ve definitely played better than that and lost, so maybe we were due a wee bit of luck. However, not every game can be a classic and sometimes you’ve just got to dig in and grind out a result which is what we saw today. I thought we probably shaded the first half with their keeper pulling off a wonder save from Doigy as well as Renato having one disallowed for offside. I think we were maybe a bit unfortunate to still be at 0-0 at the break. However, if I’m honest, they had the better of the chances in the second half and a combination of the woodwork, poor finishing and a great save from Jordan near the end kept them out”.
When asked about the depth of his squad  Myles said “A real positive that I can take from today is that due to injuries and suspensions we made six changes to the starting eleven from last week and the guys who came into the side today didn’t let themselves down. We’re starting to build a competitive squad now which can only be a good thing.”

Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; A. MacDonald; L. Henderson; B. Smart; C. McKay; P. Bell; A. Doig (M. Morrison); C. Lowe; R. Sartarello; B. Napier (G. Bridges); G. Blyth (J. Crombie).

Duns: S. Lumsden; M. Weatherburn; A. Renton; R. Burns; G. Renton; S. MacGregor; G. Waddell; K. Lee; M. Robinson; S. Burns; D. Pattenden. Subs: C. Falconer; S. Dixon.

Referee: B. Reid.