No festive cheer for below par Shippy.
Shipyard suffered a sobering defeat at the hands of a rampant Kennoway Star Hearts at Recreation Park on Saturday going down by five goals to one. It could be argued that it might have been a heavier defeat had some decisions went the visitor’s way. A red card for Darrell Anthony only added to Shippy’s woes on a day they will quickly want to forget. Manager Lee Richardson’s preparations were disrupted when Elliott Jowitt pulled out due to illness and Kris Murphy became unavailable in the build up to kick off. Ben Anthony, Tony McAndrew and Cammy Bell missed out through suspension, while Ryan Couser, Liam Taylor, Kierren Ritchie, Mark James and Jordan Galloway were all sidelined. There was a long awaited Shipyard debut for Jordan Hunter.
Shipyard started well and were ahead within three minutes when Anthony delightfully turned in Michael Gibb’s cross. Kennoway maybe should have been level in the 7th minute when Declan Nugent intercepted a poor pass back but he shot weakly at Kacper Okupnik when he had other options. It came as no surprise when Kennoway drew level in the 13th minute as Dylan Walker lashed the ball high into the net from inside the box. Shippy might have regained the lead within a minute when a raking ball found Matty Robertson inside the area, however, his effort went wide of the target with no teammate able to get on the end of it either. There was no question that a couple of offside decisions against Kennoway were harsh and they could have been in the lead before they eventually did get ahead in the 31st minute. A corner was cleared but when the ball was returned to the back post Andrew Cameron was all alone and had plenty of time to head the ball beyond Okupnik. Shipyard had a big let off minutes later when Walker found some space in the box and looked certain to score, however, Okupnik saved his shot and he was grateful to pounce on the loose ball after it broke off Ethan Bauld. The visitors were awarded a penalty in the 42nd minute after what seemed like an innocuous challenge just inside the six yard box. Walker made no mistake from the spot to make it 3-1.
Shipyard enjoyed a good spell of pressure in the opening fifteen minutes of the second half with Gibb going close with a head flick at the near post and on the 60th minute Gibby chested the ball into the path of Blair Kerr, who was unlucky to see his shot hit the top of the bar and go over. Shipyard’s hopes of getting back into the match diminished in the 65th minute when Anthony was shown a red card for a very poor challenge on Walker and no one in the Shipyard camp had any complaints. The reaction of the Kennoway cameraman charging some fifteen yards onto the pitch accusing Richardson of asking his player to “nail” Walker was ridiculous and the Shippy manager’s reaction to this, led to him seeing red too. Unfortunately, neither the referee or his observer, who was close to the incident on the stand side, seen or heard what had happened. Remarkable!! Lewis Black added a fourth just a couple of minutes later and Walker completed his hattrick when he scored Kennoway’s fifth in the 90th minute.
Next Saturday (04/01/2025) we first foot Oakley United with the match at Blairwood Park kicking off at 2.00pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: K. Okupnik; D. Brockie; K. Crielly (K. Beard 72’); E. Bauld; I. Millar; D. Anthony; M. Robertson; D. McBay; J. Hunter (O. Farley 79’); B. Kerr; M. Gibb (C. McBay79’).
Kennoway Star Hearts: O. Martin; C. Barney; A. Cameron (R. McGill 68’); L. Young; L. Black; G. Allan (B. Mair 68’); D. Walker; S. Johnstone; D. Nugent (L. Bennett 78’); D. Meldrum; J. Lawrie. Unused Subs: D. Prattis & B. Duffield.
Referee: K. Gibson.