Shippy knocked out after penalty shoot out.
Huge credit had to be given to all the players who took part in this enthralling contest, as they overcame the horrendous conditions and served up a cracking cup tie that wasn’t settled until after the eighteenth penalty kick was taken. The gale force wind seemed to ease slightly as the game progressed, however, the squally showers still made the conditions extremely difficult for the players. The Shipyard starting eleven showed four changes from their heroic performance last week against Tweedmouth with Daniel Brockie, Ethan Bauld, Darrell Anthony and Kris Murphy coming in for Craig McBay, Cammy Bell, Blair Kerr and Tony McAndrew. There was a home debut in goals for Kacper Okupnik.
Shipyard had the elements behind them in the first half as they looked to pin Bathgate back in their own half and they almost broke the deadlock in the 9th minute through Mikey Gibb, however, he was denied by a good save from visitor’s keeper Craig Saunders. Thistle were getting forward, passing the ball well along the ground and they went close in the 19th minute when Shippy conceded a free kick at the edge of the box. Glenn Thomson’s set piece went just wide of the post with Okupnik scrambling across his goal. Shipyard got the goal they craved in the 20th minute when Murphy drove the ball high into the net from around twelve yards following good work from Gibby. Thomson was involved in most of Bathgate’s openings and he saw a shot go wide and looked on at a similar outcome from a headed attempt. Jordan Rodger drove over from distance after Okupnik had to leave his area and did his best to avert the danger after the ball had hung up in the wind. Shipyard missed a glorious chance to double their lead just before the interval when Gibb used his pace to break clear of the visitor’s defence but looked on in anguish as his attempt cleared the crossbar.
Gibb was causing the Bathgate defence all sorts of problems and when he broke into the six yard box, he might have won a penalty kick had he gone down when he was clipped rather than stumble on. Gibb did get a strike away but Saunders was able to block. There was a remarkably brave piece of defending from Thistle’s James Macadam when he got his face in the way of a ferocious Anthony drive from all of six yards, saving a certain goal, and after a couple of minutes treatment he was good to go again. Bathgate equalised in the 72nd minute with what appeared to be a wind assisted goal. A left footed free kick from Lennon Smith wide out on the right hand side found its way into the far top corner with no one able to get near it. In the 83rd minute a Gibb cross found Murphy at the back post; however, it looked more like his hand than his head that put the ball wide in any case. Shipyard spurned a fabulous chance to win the tie when Gibb and Murphy combined again but from a similar position to which he scored his goal the big striker could only find Saunders with his effort.
As the game moved into extra time Murphy saw his shot deflected wide and at the other end the Shipyard defence stood firm as they scrambled the ball away. In the 9th minute Thomson saw his hooked attempt go off target and a minute later Anthony saw his shot saved by Saunders. As the extra time drew to a conclusion the last chance saw Thomson again involved in the action as he saw his shot deflected. So, to penalties!!
The first five for each team were expertly converted with neither keeper getting near them, indeed that pattern continued until Okupnik got a good hand to the seventh, however, the ball had enough on it to trickle over the line. The drama was not done there though! Saunders saved Kieran Crielly’s kick, Shipyard’s eighth, however, the referee deemed that the keeper was off his line and ordered a retake, much to the disgust of the Bathgate technical area. Crielly smashed the retake into the net. Finlay McKay converted Thistle’s ninth kick and when Daniel Brockie stepped up for Shippy to keep the shootout going, his attempt was wide of the target meaning Bathgate had won 9-8 on penalties.
Manager Lee Richardson said after the game “I was very pleased with the boys again today. They showed the same application as last Saturday and I can’t fault any of them. It was a game that could have gone either way, though we might have won it towards the end of the ninety minutes. When it goes to penalties it’s a lottery as someone is inevitably going to miss one and I feel for Disco and also Kacper who was very unlucky not to keep one out.”
Next Saturday it’s back to league business as we welcome Kennoway Star Hearts to Burntisland. Kick-off is a 2.30pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: K. Okupnik; D. Brockie; K. Crielly; M. Robertson; E. Jowitt (I. Millar 105’); D. Anthony; E. Bauld; D. McBay; K. Murphy; J. Galloway (C. McBay 80’); M. Gibb. Unused Sub; K. Beard.
Bathgate Thistle: C. Saunders; K. Moonie; L. Peggie (R. McGill 22’); R. Stevenson; J. Macadam; J. Tapping (F. McKay 59’); J. Rodger (M. Campbell 59’); F. Cormack; A. McInnes; G. Thomson; L. Smith. Unused Subs: C. Thomson; S. Thomson; G. Dryden.
Referee: K. Martin.