Shippy march on in Scottish Cup
The Shipyard progressed to the 3rd round of the Scottish Amateur Cup after overcoming a good Cabrera Athletic side at Recreation Park. After being three goals ahead, then pegged back to 3 – 2, a late goal from Craig Russell sealed the victory. New signing Paul Ferrier made his debut but, the Shipyard were without the services of Grieve and Marshall, also missing were the long term injured Small and Johnston.
The Shipyard were under pressure in the first few minutes as the big and strong Cabrera took the game to the Shipyard, causing a bit of panic in the Shippy defence. Andy Martin was forced to make the first of a few good saves when he had to dive to his left to turn an effort away. The Shipyard’s first chance fell to Ferrier in the 10th minute, but he saw his header drift wide from a cross from the left-hand side. The Shipyard took the lead in the 21st minute, slightly against the run of play when McAndrew and Lamont combined well to see the former play a cross into the box, which was swept home by Craig Russell from around six yards. Cabrera bounced back straight away and Martin had to be on his toes to gather a ball that bounced across the six yard box. The Shipyard doubled their lead in the 27th minute and again it was good play from Shaun Lamont. He made ground down the right hand side and his cross found Steven Dow in the middle, 15 yards from goal. Dow showed good composure to sweep the ball low into the corner of the net. The Shipyard almost scored a third two minutes later when they were awarded an indirect free-kick just inside the Cabrera box after the referee had adjudged keeper Brown had handled a pass back. When the ball was laid off to Hamilton his shot was headed off the line with the keeper beaten. A strike from Ferrier after he turned well on the edge of the box went narrowly wide, before Cabrera were offered a chance to get back into the match in the 34th minute. Lamont was penalised for clambering over the striker and the referee awarded a penalty. For the second match in a row Andy Martin pulled off a great save when he dived low to his left to keep out Wood’s kick. Whyte had to produce a timely block to keep Cabrera at bay in the 42nd minute and the last chance of the half fell to the Shipyard when Russell shot from the edge of the box, but his shot was easily gathered by Brown.
There was controversy in the 49th minute when Ferrier broke through and as he rounded the keeper some 25 yards from goal, he appeared to be tripped. However, the referee waved play on and took no action against Ferrier, suggesting that he never dived. A Dow cross in the 53rd minute took a deflection and almost caught Brown out, as he had to grab the ball just before it crossed the line. Paul Ferrier opened his Shipyard account to make it 3 – 0 in the 54th minute with a sensational goal. Gathering the ball on the halfway line he drove past the Cabrera defence, leaving several players in his wake, before sliding the ball beyond Brown and into the corner of the net. Cabrera now threw caution to the wind and put an extra forward on and in the 57th minute Martin pulled off a good save from Proven. Martin then held a header in the 66th minute and in the 70th minute he was relieved to see a ball across the face of goal drift harmlessly wide. Cabrera were given a lifeline back into the game when the referee failed to spot that substitute McCall was at least six yards offside, however, he strode forward and produced a fine finish to beat Martin. A free-kick into the Cabrera box in the 83rd minute fell to Cook, but his effort on the stretch was well over the bar. McCall had an opportunity in the 88th minute when the referee seemed to change his mind about a throw in and caught the shipyard defence unaware. His fierce shot was brilliantly touched away for a corner by Martin. From the corner McGhie was unmarked at the back post and headed home from a few yards out. With the referee indicating that there would be five minutes of added time Cabrera were sniffing an equaliser and they almost got it when Martin saved well from Wood. It was to be the Shipyard who scored again, when in the 94th minute McCue’s free-kick into the box found Russell all alone and his hitch kick effort found the roof of the net from 12 yards.
After the match a delighted Billy Whitehead said “Bringing in another striker certainly worked with both Russell and Dow scoring and what a fantastic goal from Ferrier. Andy Martin showed again today what he can do with another good penalty save”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: A. Martin; McAndrew (Wilson); McCue; Williams; Whyte; Lamont (Brough); Hamilton; Cook; Russell; Ferrier; Dow. Unused Subs: Doyle; C. Martin; Houston.
Cabrera Athletic: Brown; Flockhart; Campbell; Allen; McGurk; McGhie; Palmer; Wurr; Wood; Proven; Hornig. Subs: Dodds; Taylor; McCall; Cunningham; MacDonald.
Referee: D. Chapple.