Jamesy strike rolls back the years
A mistake by Peebles keeper Asher Tufail gifted the Shipyard the winner in this closely fought Image Printers East of Scotland Cup match at Recreation Park. The match was re-arranged to Burntisland after the pitch at Peebles was deemed unplayable during the week. The Shipyard were without three strikers with two ruled out through injury and one through unavailability. However, the man drafted in was an able replacement. Liall Robertson did not recover from the injury he picked last week, while Lee Small made his first start of the season.
With a very strong wind behind them Peebles made the early running and Melia gathered a low ball that was played across his box. Craig Edgar headed over for Peebles from a good position in the sixth minute before James had the first effort for the Shipyard when he shot from distance but was off target. A free-kick was played into the Shipyard box and when it was headed back across goal Edgar headed over the crossbar. Edgar was proving to be the main threat for Peebles and he again went close in the 20th minute. Good work by Wilson down the left created an opportunity for Brough but Tufail was able to gather easily. The Shipyard defence managed to copy with what Peebles threw at them with the strong wind behind them and must have been happy to go in all square at the interval.
Callum Bissett came on at the start of the second half to replace the injured Blair Grubb with Gordon Grieve dropping back to right-back. Peebles started the second half as they did the first and Paul Power should have done better when he was clean through on goal, however, he dragged his shot wide. Peebles were made to rue that miss as the Shipyard took the lead with a sensational strike from veteran Mark James. From fully 30 yards he smashed an unstoppable shot that beat Tufail all ends up, going in off the inside of the post. Not to be out done Peebles replied in the 59th minute with a fine goal of their own when Michael McKenzie gathered a throw in, turned and fired a great shot beyond Melia. Peebles were boosted by that and Melia had to parry a shot that Gray was on hand to mop up. The Shipyard regained the lead in the 78th minute when Stuart Gray’s powerfully hit 30 yard free-kick was fumbled by Tufail and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Edgar was still proving to be the main threat for Peebles and twice in the closing minutes he went close. Firstly, his left foot shot was just wide of the post and then he nodded a free-kick from the left into Melia’s hands. Shipyard manager Billy Whitehead was happy with the victory and said “The conditions made it extremely difficult to play football today. So with that in mind, I am happy to progress to the next round. We were missing a few boys today for various reason but the guys that came in done very well. Peebles new manager Graham Chadwick, who only took the job on Thursday night, said “It was a close fought game and we did well with the limited resources we had today. I have brought three players in already and will assess things in training and the next few games to see what needs to be done”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: Melia; Grubb (Bissett); Brough; Gray; Whyte; Small; Hamilton; Lamont (Drury); James (Hatton); Wilson; Grieve. Unused Sub: Houston.
Peebles Rovers: Tufail; McKenzie; Lennie; Fleming; Williamson; Cairns; Conaghan; Shortreed; Edgar; Power; Cree. Subs: Chadwick.
Referee: A. Hogg.