Sloppy defending costs Shippy dearly.
The solid defensive display in Saturday’s cup win over Dunipace seemed like a distant memory last night as West Calder United were gifted three goals and let’s be honest, it could have been a couple more with the Shippy defence all at sea. The visitors were two ahead within ten minutes and only the referee’s whistle denied them a third with barely twenty minutes on the clock. The Shippy did rally and when Liam Taylor pulled one back before the interval the game was back in the balance, however, another defensive lapse enabled United to restore their two-goal lead shortly before the hour mark. Daniel Brockie who was injured on Saturday dropped to the bench with Craig McBay filling in for him and with Mark James unavailable Mikey Gibb dropped back into the defence with Taylor starting up front.
The Shipyard fell behind in the sixth minute when they failed to clear the ball and James Mccullagh was on hand to score. Four minutes later it was two as a hooked shot beat Ryan Couser and hit the post and Jamie McAllister knocked the ball over the line. In the 18th minute a free kick from wide on the left found the United player in acres of space and he would have been disappointed to hit the bar given such a good opportunity. Taylor drove a just over the bar with West Calder keeper Ryan McIndoe beaten. The big keeper then parried a low Darrell Anthony drive round the post at the expense of a corner. Taylor got his side back into the match with a fine goal. He beat the offside trap, pushed the ball past McIndoe, gathered it again and knocked it into the empty net.
Brockie replaced C. McBay for the Shipyard at the start of the second half. Dan McBay headed a Ben Anthony free kick wide in the 56th minute as the Shippy looked to get back level, however, they gifted the visitors another just seconds later as Jason Gregory netted following another mistake. Kris Murphy had great chance in the 60th minute as he broke clear of the united defence, but he could not get the ball out of his feet as he rounded McIndoe. The ball broke to substitute Blair Kerr, but Kerr’s shot was blocked. Murphy saw his free kick held while at the other end Couser denied the visitors with a great save. With ten minutes remaining Gibb, who had been moved forward saw his strike whistle just past the post. With three minutes remaining Shippy keeper Couser was shown a red card for something he said to a West Calder player. After the match, the referee informed the Shipyard manager and a committee member why he had shown Couser the red card.
Manager Lee Richardson was perplexed after the game when he said “I can’t believe how badly we defended tonight, particularly in those initial stages. When Liam got us back into the game, I felt that we had a decent chance to take something out of it but the third goal, from another mistake, killed us.”
O Saturday we make the short trip to Treaton Park as we face Kennoway Star Hearts in a league match. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: R. Couser; C. McBay (D. Brockie); K. Crielly; E. Bauld; M. Gibb; D. Anthony; A. McAndrew (B. Kerr); D. McBay; K. Murphy (M. Robertson); B. Anthony (F. Russell); L. Taylor. Unused Subs:
West Calder United: R. McIndoe; G. Fallon; J. Laing; H. Maguire; J. Mccullagh (S. Hay); J. Gregory; G. Livingstone (L. Clark); J. McAllister; A. Jackson (A. Morgan); M. Zata; S. Jackson. Unused Subs: C. Chilton; G. McQuillan.
Referee: R. Bowie.