Fyfe goal wins the points.
A goal from Jamie Fyfe just before the hour mark secured a vital three points for the Shipyard as they look to climb away from the bottom end of the table, and indeed a win at Duns next week would see them level on points with current third placed team Berwick Rangers. Myles chose to pick the same eleven that started against Hibernian last week giving them the opportunity to redeem themselves after last week’s poor show. Joe Samson who has joined the club from Lochgelly Albert took a place on the subs bench.
Keith Buckley had a chance to give the home side the lead in the sixth minute but his volley at the back of the six yard box from Dale Robertson’s corner flew over. Robertson then had a chance of his own when he got the break of the ball but Ormiston keeper David Simmonds was sharp off his line and got a slight touch to the shot and diverted it away for a corner. As the half wore on the Shipyard were seeing a lot more of the ball without doing too much with it while Mikey Couser in the Shipyard goal was a virtual spectator. A long free-kick played in to the Ormiston box was just missed by Craig Lowe in the 32nd minute and four minutes later Robertson linked well with Fyfe but the latter’s effort was deflected over by a visiting defender. A minute before half time Andy MacDonald and Lowe combined to set up a chance for Robertson but his strike was of target.
Ormiston came out for the second half seeming more determined and almost took the lead within two minutes. Scott Wright latched on to a flick on and saw his left foot effort come back off the bar though Couser may have got a faint touch on the ball. After a bit of pressure from Ormiston it was the home side who took the lead in the 59th minute when Robertson played a delightfully weighted pass to Fyfe and he coolly despatched the ball into the net from eighteen yards. The Shipyard went close twice in as many minutes when firstly Lowe set up Fyfe for a shooting opportunity and Simmonds did well to stop the shot with his foot. Then Simmonds got lucky and almost very unlucky in the one incident when he dived to save Buckley’s shot and pushed it onto the post. The ball then hit him on the head and looked to be going in but he recovered in time to gather the ball and avert the danger. Buckley then shot wide as the match entered the last quarter of an hour. Darryl Wilson got on the end of an Ormiston corner though his header was well off target. Ormiston threw caution to the wind and pushed players forward in the closing stages but Couser was never really troubled as the Shipyard saw out the match comfortably.
After the match Myles gave his thoughts on the match when he said “I was pretty sure that it would be a tight game based upon our previous matches with Ormiston. Obviously that is the way it turned out but I think it was a deserved win in the end. We started the game reasonably well and did most of the attacking for the first half hour without creating too many clear cut chances. We got into good areas in the attacking third but our final ball wasn’t quite good enough. In saying that, there were one or two opportunities that we could’ve done better with. I don’t think we played as well in the second half but again we had the better of the chances and tested their keeper a few times although mostly from distance. The goal came from a situation that we’d spoken about at half time so credit to Jamie for making the run that he did and also for a composed finish. Mikey didn’t really have much to do other than deal with cross balls. Although they threw a lot of high balls into the box, I can’t remember them creating too many chances other than the one that hit the bar”.
Asked about how he thought things were shaping up Myles added “The win was more important than the performance though as it gets us right in amongst the teams in the middle of the table. Easthouses and Hibs are obviously quite a distance ahead at the moment but almost all the other teams are within touching distance of third. We’re on a reasonable run of results in the league just now and we’ll need to work hard to continue that at Duns next week”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: M. Couser; G. Bridges; P. Bell; B. Smart; C. McKay; K. Masson; J. Fyfe (J. Samson); C. Lowe; K. Buckley (A. Doig); D. Robertson. Unused Subs: A. Clark; S. Blake; J. Mushet.
Ormiston: D. Simmonds; K. Riding (S. Ferguson); D. Keane; M. White; D. Wilson; R. Weir; S. Miller; I Adams (S. McKenzie); C. Ramage; S. Wright; G. Nisbet (C. Fisher). Unused Subs: A. Morgan & M. Lynch.
Referee: B. Cooper.