Agonising defeat for Shipyard.
The two teams served up a thrilling cup tie that went all the way to the wire, with Crossgates eventually triumphing 4-3 on penalties after the game had finished 3-3 after extra time. The 196 in attendance were thoroughly entertained and even a brief stoppage following a floodlighting issue did spoil the evening, albeit the heavy rain that arrived late in the match did put a dampener on proceedings. The Shipyard starting eleven showed one change from last week’s win at Peebles with Kris Murphy replacing the suspended Shaun Keatings. Craig Watt returned from injury and took a place on the subs bench.
The Shippy got off to a disastrous start as they conceded a goal in the 3rd minute. A thrown in was deflected into the path of Cammy Muirhead and his shot with the aid a deflection that took the ball away from Mikey Couser in the Shipyard goals. Shippy almost responded immediately, however, Michael Gibb’s shot was well saved by Macaulay Jarrett at the expense of a corner. Archie Campbell might have done better for the visitors when he received the ball in the centre of goal but he blazed over from around the penalty spot. An error at the back proved costly for the Shippy as Craig Henderson capitalised, drilling the ball past Couser and into the corner of the net. Shipyard got back into the match four minutes before the interval when Jarrett failed to gather the ball giving Dan Thomson the opportunity to lash the ball home.
Murphy fired an effort just wide in the 49th minute but the equaliser was only delayed three minutes. Sam Glancy gathered the ball and drove into the box and as he bore down on goal, he calmly put the ball beyond Jarrett to make it 2-2. The Shippy defence had to be on its toes when a corner was delivered into the box with Crossgates were claiming the ball was over the line, however, the assistant was well placed to indicate the ball was cleared off the line. In the 64th minute a powerfully hit Murphy free kick whistled narrowly past the post with Jarrett rooted to the spot. Crossgates regained the lead in the 70th minute from the penalty spot after Gibb had fouled his opponent he drove into the box. Campbell netted to make it 3-2 with twenty minutes remaining. Jarrett produced an outstanding save to deny the Shippy when he somehow got a hand to Watt’s header, however, from the corner the Shipyard levelled it up again as CJ Thomson fired the ball through a forest of legs and into the net. It was no more than the Shippy deserved as they took the game to extra time.
CJ lobbed over in the 94th minute and Crossgates sub Blair Paterson shot into the side netting after ninety nine, however, the main talking point in extra time was the floodlights going out. The match was delayed for nine minutes before it was discovered that a timer had kicked in and switched the lights off. Neither team could force a winner in the remainder of the extra time so it was down to penalties. D. Thomson, Murphy & Matty Robertson scored for the Shippy however, Scott Costello & Mikey Moodie failed to hit the target. Although Couser saved Crossgates’ second spot kick the other four were converted to see the visitors progress to the next round of the League Cup. Manager Lee Richardson was able to take positives from the match and he said “We more than matched a Premier League team for 120 minutes and gave as good as we got. We showed tremendous character to come back from two down to draw level and then once again after we fell behind to the penalty.” He went on to add “I thought we played some good stuff particularly in the second half; however, we were guilty of giving away avoidable goals. We have had a lot of injuries to deal with recently though it was good to see Big Kris and Rooney back in the fold.”
We are back in cup action on Wednesday night, this time the King Cup, as we welcome Stoneyburn to Recreation Park. Kick off is at the usual time of 7.30pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: M. Couser; E. Bauld (S. Costello); M. Robertson; I. Millar, M. James (M. Moodie); D. Thomson; M. Gibb; CJ. Thomson; E. Stanfield (C. Watt); K. Murphy; S. Glancy (K. Beard). Unused Sub: E. McQuade.
Crossgates Primrose: M. Jarrett; P. Brown; C. Reid; A. McDonald; L. Kellichan; C. McGuire; C. Muirhead; A. Campbell; C. Henderson; D. Smith; A. Barnett. Subs: M. Komacki; B. Paterson; J. Kinninmonth.
Referee: T. Ormiston.