Lions tamed by super Shippy.
The Shipyard U/20’s took a major scalp on Sunday afternoon with a well deserved 3-2 win over Livingston in the SFA Youth Cup 2nd Round at Recreation Park. The Shippy youngsters more than matched their SPFL Championship opponents and despite keeper Craig Richardson pulling off a fabulous save at the death, it was Livi keeper Andrew McNeil who impressed more as he kept his side in the match with some fine saves as the Shipyard looked to build on their 3-1 lead at the start of the second half.
It took the Shipyard only two minutes to break the deadlock when Ross Watt slotted the ball home at the second attempt after breaking clear of the visitors defence. Livi had a chance in the 11th minute but Jack Ogilvie shot over from the corner of the six yard box. Livingston did get level in the 16th minute through Levi Kinchant, who scored from the penalty spot after the Shippy defender was harshly penalised for a tackle just inside the area. The home team were back in front in the 28th minute when a Kyle Walls cross cum shot beat Livi keeper McNeil all ends up as it flew into the roof of the net. Richardson pulled off a great save to deny Kieran Campbell as he got on the end of a corner, while McNeil matched him at the other end with an outstanding save from a Kieran Annandale free-kick. Annandale was not to be denied though as he put his side 3-1 ahead when he knocked home the loose ball following a corner.
Ross watt scores the first goal for the Shipyard
McNeil made another great save as he blocked a headed effort from a corner as the Shippy looked to close the match out, however, his team were back in it in the 67th minute when after Richardson saved well, the loose ball was headed home by the Livingston forward. Livingston pressed for an equaliser but the Shipyard defence kept them at bay, none more so than when Richardson dived full stretch to push away a thunderbolt from 22 yards.
Naturally everyone at the Club was delighted with the result but perhaps none more so than proud coach Chris Maxwell when he said “I just want to start by saying a massive thank you to everyone who came along to support the lads today! I was very pleased with the way we handled the game and showed great character to see the game out. Livingston became stronger as the game progressed and we started to tire but we kept our shape and stuck with the plan and defended well in the later stages. There were some very good individual performances and we worked well as a team and that is good to see”. Chris reserved praise for his young keeper when he added ” A special mention to young goalkeeper Craig Richardson who had a Man of the Match performance with some cracking saves late on in the game”.
Shippy players celebrate Kyle Walls’ goal.
Burntisland Shipyard: C. Richardson, K. Annandale, K. Walls, L. Thompson, B. McCann, C. Fisher, R. Brown, C. Watt, R. Watt, F. Gallagher, Johnny Galloway. Subs: K. Akbar, Jordan Galloway, S. Dunsmore. Unused Subs: J. George & S. Cusick.
Livingston: A. McNeil, J. Gregory, W. Romanes, K. Campbell, D. White, M. Knox, L. Kinchant, J. Ogilvie, J. Hamilton, C. Henderson, K. Sampson. Subs: R. Hamilton, J. Dunn, L. Chiwara, J. Fullerton, S. Hay.
Referee: B. Dickson.