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Burntisland Shipyard 3-7 Thornton Hibs

Shippy slump to heavy defeat

Ten goals and two sets off “ultras” drumming and signing their hearts out certainly kept the very healthy crowd royally entertained in this first fixture of 2024. Sadly, for the Shipyard, it seemed like they were still in a festive mood as they gifted Thornton goal after goal after goal. Some of the defending could only be described as horrific, because as well as Thornton played, they did not have to work hard for the majority of their goals although Andrew Adam’s 20th minute strike was out of the top drawer. Manager Lee Richardson would have been happy that his team scored three goals, however, the concession of seven will have given him major headache.

Shipyard were more or less at full strength with only talisman striker Ben Anthony missing due to the injury he picked up against Edinburgh South last month. There was a home debut for Kris Murphy who started up front with Shaun Keatings. The morning frost has thawed out making the pitch playable, however, it was very soft underfoot with the pitch cutting up as the match progressed. Shippy got off to a dream start as they opened the scoring in the first minute when Dan Thomson scored from close range after being set up by Murphy. It was big Dan’s first goal for the Shipyard. Andrew McCallion equalised in the 16th minute with a low shot into the corner before Adam’s strike gave the visitors the lead. McCallion scored his second in the 42nd minute despite looking suspiciously offside, albeit the ball should have been cleared long before it got to him.

Hibs scored their fourth in the 53rd minute when the ball from a corner was allowed to find Jamie McNeish unmarked at the edge of the box and his volleyed effort beat Scott Costello in the Shippy goals. Keatings pulled one back two minutes later when he latched onto a through ball, dummied the keeper and rolled the ball into the net. Any hope of a Shipyard comeback was extinguished immediately following some calamitous defending, gifting the ball to Harris Duffy who netted. The goals kept flowing and Murphy pulled the Shippy back into it again when he rolled the ball into an empty net. With 29 minutes remaining there was plenty of time for more goals but a flurry of substitutions seemed to take the momentum out of the match and it was not until the 87th minute Lee Horsburgh was gifted Thornton’s sixth and a minute later it was seven when Garry Thomson lobbed Costello following another horrendous mistake.

Next week (13/01/2024) it’s another Fife derby as we head to Treaton Park to face Kennoway Star Hearts with the kick off at 2pm.

Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; L. Ross (M. Gibb); I. Millar (M. Robertson); E. Bauld; K. Hicks; C. Watt; D. Thomson (R. Watt); M. James; K. Murphy; S. Keatings (C. Lewis); S. Glancy (CJ. Thomson). Unused Subs: H. Kay & B. Dickson.

Thornton Hibs: C. Sutherland; N. Laird; D. McMillan; S. Drummond; S. Cunningham; K. Allan; M. Black; A. Adam; A. McCallion; G. Thomson; J. McNeish. Subs: C. Doctor; M. Coleman; H. Duffy; J. Soutar; R. Hain; L. Horsburgh; R. Crichton.

Referee: G. MacDonald.