New year cheer as Shippy hit eight
The Shipyard kicked off the New Year in fine style beating Balgonie Scotia by 8 goals to 2 at Recreation Park after a five week layoff due to the weather and festive shut down. Another big plus for the Shipyard was the return of Lee Small who made his competitive debut for the season as a second half substitute, after suffering a bad leg break in a pre season friendly. The pitch was in good condition after the recent wet spell, with the strong wind that had blown over part of the perimeter fence, now drying out the pitch.
It did not take the Shipyard or indeed Paul Ferrier long to blow off the cobwebs as he had the Shipyard 2 – 0 up inside two minutes. With the clock just passed the minute mark Ferrier gathered a through ball, rounded the keeper and hit the ball towards goal. A defender got back onto the line but made a hash of trying to clear the ball and it ended up in the back of the net. Before we had reached two minutes, Ferrier scored again when he gathered a poor clearance and lobbed the ball over Eadie in the Scotia goal to double the lead. Scotia did not let their heads go down and by the twentieth they were level. Firstly, in the 16th minute Martin did not get to the ball at the edge of the box and Docherty was on hand to roll the loose ball into the empty net. Three minutes later it was all square as Johnston raced into the box with Grieve in hot pursuit, as Martin advanced Johnston put the ball behind him, though it seemed to be a strange connection, no one from the Balgonie ranks were complaining. Brough replied with a shot just wide for the Shipyard and then a corner from the Shipyard left was caught in the wind and had to be headed off the line. In the 27th minute Ferrier gathered the ball in the box, turned and shot narrowly wide. Hamilton and Ferrier both tried to get a shot on target as the ball bounced around the Scotia box which was eventually cleared for a corner. The Shipyard regained the lead in the 35th minute when Mark Brough’s free-kick from 20 odd yards took a wicked deflection off the wall and wrong footed Eadie and nestled in the corner of the net. The Shipyard scored again two minutes later, this time from the penalty spot after Dow had been brought down. Mark Brough stepped up and fired the ball into corner of the net giving Eadie no chance. Ferrier was striving to get his hat-trick and twice in a minute he had chances, however, both attempts did not cause the keeper too much trouble. Andy Martin in the Shipyard goal had to look lively to push a snap shot round the post for a corner.
Wilson came on for the injured Russell at the start of the second half as Balgonie had the first chance of the half. A McCue pass back was way short and the Balgonie forward latched onto the loose ball, initially Martin did not see the danger as the low sun seemed to be in his eyes, however, he stood up and then pulled off a good save. Good play down the Shipyard left from Dow and Brough ended with a cross from the former that McCue could not head on target. The Shipyard scored their fifth goal in the 54th minute after great work by Ferrier in the box, he unselfishly squared the ball to Paul Wilson who had the easy task of knocking the ball over the line. Shortly after this everyone connected with the shipyard were heartened to see Lee Small return to action after his long layoff. In the 65th minute McCue was again given a heading opportunity from a Dow cross, this time his effort was held by Eadie. Balgonie were still threatening with long diagonal balls over the shipyard defence, however, on each occasion Martin was up to the task holding the shots fired at him. A sixth goal arrived for the Shipyard in the 75th minute and again it was Ferrier who provided the killer pass. This time he held the ball up before feeding Owen McCue who drilled the ball low into the net from around six yards. Balgonie were still testing Martin from long range, but it was the Shipyard who scored again with another penalty. Ferrier was unceremoniously brought down in the box and Mark Brough completed his hat-trick by blasting the ball high into the net. The best was saved till last however, as Owen McCue smashed a loose ball at the edge of the box right into the postage stamp for a fantastic goal to finish the scoring. Billy Whitehead was delighted after the match saying “Obviously we were a bit rusty on occasions after not playing and hardly training for weeks, but I can’t complain about the result or overall performance”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: A. Martin; McAndrew; Brough; Grieve; Cook; Lamont (Small); Hamilton; McCue; Russell (Wilson); Ferrier; Dow (J. Williams). Unused sub: Gavin.
Balgonie Scotia: Eadie; Gourlay; Kerr; Sword; Donaldson; McKay; B. Martin; Docherty; Johnston; Thomson; Perrie. Subs: Valente; Kennedy; T. Martin McBride; Buist.
Referee: G. MacDonald.