Bowhill knock Shipyard out of cup
A severely depleted Shipyard side had no answer to the hard working and well organised Bowhill team that ran out comfortable 3 – 0 winners at Wallsgreen Park. With regular keeper Andy Martin suspended along with Tam Williams, Owen McCue injured and Kieran Marsh unavailable, Billy Whitehead had to shuffle his pack and decided to go with Stuart Gray in goals. Gordon Grieve moved back to centre half with Bryan Cook and Steven Dow gaining starting slots. Kenny Gear made his debut from the bench and Lee Small returned again after his long injury lay off.
In the opening minute Mellon fired a yard wide from the edge of the box as Bowhill started the better. Russell had a shot at goal for the Shipyard after Dow laid the ball off to him. In the 12th minute Ferrier cut in from the left hand side but could not beat keeper McFarlane at his near post. Bowhill then went very close the following minute when from a corner the Shipyard defence twice managed to scramble efforts off the line. Bowhill were on top and Paterson hit a shot into the side netting before they took the lead in the 25th minute. Gray did well to touch a header onto the bar, but Darren Doyle was sharpest to the rebound and bundled the ball over the line. Ferrier again got in behind the Bowhill defence, this time on the right hand side, but he shot into the side netting. A 30yard strike from Whyte forced McFarlane to tip the ball over the bar but, as half time approached Bowhill missed a couple of good chances when Paterson headed over when he should have at least hit the target. Another free header was just off target as Bowhill sought to double their lead.
Bowhill were dominant in the air and Gray did well to hold another headed effort in the fiftieth minute. Gray was again in action five minutes later when he held Paterson’s shot above his head. Bowhill scored their second in the 58th minute when the Shipyard could only clear a corner to the edge of the box and Craig McGuinness was on hand to smash the ball into the net. The Shipyard missed two great chances to get back into the match within a minute when firstly, Dow engineered himself space in the box but rather scuffed his shot which McFarlane easily gathered. Seconds later Brough laid the ball into Grieve’s path and his powerful shot was brilliantly saved by the keeper. Bowhill tied the game up in the 77th minute when a cross from the by-line on the right hand side was headed into the net at the near post by Conner Paterson to make it 3 – 0.
Billy Whitehead was very disappointed after the game and said “That was a poor performance today. We were outfought for most of the game and rarely threatened”.
Teams: Bowhill Rovers: McFarlane; Martin; C. McGuinness; Oliver; Kirkham; Gay; Doyle; Kinnell; Paterson; Mellon; Byrne. Subs: Hodge; Ritchie; Hindley; Digman; S. McGuiness.
Burntisland Shipyard: Gray; McAndrew; Brough; Grieve; Whyte; Wilson; Hamilton (Lamont); Cook; Ferrier; Russell (Gear); Dow (Small).
Referee: R. Meikle.