Shipyard win despite poor start.
The Shipyard recovered from an extremely shaky start, in which they conceded a goal, to run out 3-1 winners against Eyemouth United in this Central Taxis league match at Recreation Park. Myles’ options were limited with both Gavin Bridges and Jamie Fyfe ruled out through injury. Blair Smart returned in central defence with Andy MacDonald moving to right back to replace Bridges in the only change to last week’s starting eleven.
In the opening minutes the Shipyard defence was all at sea as Christopher Falconer hooked an early opportunity wide and then Mikey Couser held a shot from Ryan Raeburn. In the 6th minute Alan Jess was next to try his luck but his attempt was of target. Jeff Collin had a shot saved as it seemed only a matter of time before Eyemouth scored. That goal came in the 11th minute when Smart was adjudged to have impeded the Eyemouth forward as the ball was played through the middle of the Shipyard defence. Although Couser safely gathered the ball the referee brought play back for the infringement. Couser was only able to parry the free-kick and Kieran Bullen was on hand to turn the loose ball home. The Shipyard recovered from this setback and drew level with their first attempt at goal. And what a goal it was, as firstly Adam Doig made ground down the left and squared the ball to Dale Robertson who laid the ball into the path of Keith Buckley and his thunderous drive crashed in off the woodwork with Paul Tansey in the visitor’s goal absolutely helpless. Eyemouth were back on the attack and Couser had to look lively to parry a shot before his defence cleared the danger. A couple of minutes later there was controversy when Doig won the break of the ball around 30yards from goal. He pushed the ball past Connor Lough, however, the defenders swipe at the ball missed and caught Doig. The referee deemed it was a goal scoring opportunity and harshly sent Lough packing. From the resultant free-kick Tansey pushed Kevin Masson’s effort away for a corner. Eyemouth were still pushing forward and looking dangerous but they fell behind in the 27th minute when Doig again was involved in the build up as he played in Craig Lowe. Although Lough blocked Lowe’s initial strike the ball broke back to Lowe and he knocked home the rebound. Couser saved well Raeburn in the 33rd minute but after this the homesters got a grip on the game and looked more likely to score. After a quick break Robertson shot over from the edge of the box, and then Lough did well to halt Buckley. Again centre forward Buckley had an opening but from around ten yards he sliced his shot just wide of the post.
The Shipyard continued to dominate at the start of the second half and there were appeals for a penalty when a Robertson corner might have struck an Eyemouth hand. Masson saw his powerful volley held by the keeper and then a Pete Bell shot ended up wide of the target. A delightful MacDonald cross was headed over by Buckley as the home team continued to press and a Doig drive was saved by the keeper. Eyemouth were almost level in the 54th minute when Falconer got away from the Shipyard defence but his left footed effort drifted wide of the post. The Shipyard more or less sealed the points on the hour mark with a fine goal from Doig. Played in through the inside left channel he was able to burst forward and he drove the ball beyond Lough from a tight angle. Next to try his luck was MacDonald and his fierce drive from distance was superbly tipped over by Lough. Doig shot over in the 68th minute before the Shipyard should have sewn it up two minutes later. Joe Samson was clearly tripped inside the box and MacDonald stepped up to take the resultant spot kick. However, as he admitted afterwards he was in two minds where to put the ball and ultimately Lough save his kick easily. Bell got on the end of a Samson cross only to see his header gathered by Lough and after that neither team really looked like adding to their respective tallies as the game drifted to a conclusion.
Obviously he was happy with the win but Myles did not go overboard with his praise for the performance when he said “It wasn’t pretty but it was a deserved win in the end. We started the game very poorly though and seemed to learn no lessons as we kept giving the ball away in dangerous areas and let players run off us too easily. However, after about 30 minutes we sorted ourselves out a bit and probably just about deserved to be 2-1 up at that stage. The second half could and should have been a bit more comfortable. I don’t think our goal was under much threat but even after we got our third, one mistake from us could have let them in and then left us with a nervous finish”.
He was enthusiastic about the performance of his strikers as he added “The really positive thing that I’ve seen in the last couple of matches is the partnership that Doigy and Bucks have struck up in a short space of time. I’m honest enough to say that we were forced to change the shape at Duns last week due to injuries and it was the first time that the two of them had started together for us. They are linking up really well and creating chances for each other too. They are both pretty intelligent with their movement and their respective strengths look like they complement each other well”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: M. Couser; A. MacDonald; P. Bell; B. Smart; A. Clark; K. Masson (S. Blake); D. Robertson; C. Lowe; K. Buckley (G. Blyth); A. Doig; C. Samson. Unused Subs: C. McKay; J. McCrindle; M. Morrison.
Eyemouth United: P. Tansey; G. Burrell; A. Spiers; C. Lough; S. Phillips; S. Adamson; J. Collin; K. Bullen; C. Falconer (S. Campbell); A. Jess; R. Raeburn (M. Scott). Unused Subs: A. Mutch; G. Scott; J. Waugh.
Referee: B. Reid.