Points dropped as mistakes prove crucial.
How the Shipyard contrived to throw this one away is anyone’s guess but throw it away they did, with the now all too familiar horrendous mistakes, as 10 man Kelso fought back to secure a 2-2 draw. It would be no exaggeration to say that the Shipyard had 75% of the possession and territory but chance after chance was missed and they were made to pay for it big style. Kevin Masson, Joe Samson, Andy MacDonald and Alan Clark were all unavailable and that meant starts for youngsters Todd Arthur and Ethan Anderson.
A Dale Robertson corner in the 7th minute hit the near post before the danger was cleared, however, the visitors took the lead three minutes later when good build up between Pete Bell, Craig Lowe and Ewan Henderson set up Adam Doig and he made no mistake from 18 yards. Kelso keeper Elliot Turnbull pushed a Shaun Keatings free-kick away for a corner before Kelso were dramatically reduced to 10 men in the 32nd minute. Dean Boyle seemed to barge or push Brendan Napier in the upper body and the referee immediately produced his red card. Napier then went close a minute later with a drive from the edge of the area and he then supplied the second Shipyard goal four minutes later. His low cross into the six yard box was turned home by Keatings from close range.
The Shipyard looked to press home their advantage in the second have and a Robertson shot was blocked in the box with the visitors appealing for hand ball. In the 52nd minute Henderson burst forward and set up Robertson but the latter’s strike cleared the bar. Robertson was continually in the action and on the hour mark he worked his way across the edge of the Kelso and fired an effort just wide of the target. The Shipyard were stunned two minutes later when Kelso pulled a goal back after a calamity of errors. Rather than clear their lines the Shippy defence tried to pass their way out as they found it difficult to control the bobbling ball, when the ball was played back to keeper Jordan Mushet he sklaffed his clearance and then handled the ball resulting in a free-kick to Kelso inside the box. The ball was laid off to ex-Shipyard player Dean Clark who rifled the ball into the roof of the net. Again Robertson was in the thick of the action when good play from Henderson set him up for a chance but again his shot was blocked. Robertson then became the supplier when he crossed to Keatings but his header was off target. In a rare Kelso attack the Shipyard defence scrambled a corner kick away to safety. Lowe almost made the game safe for the Shipyard but his left footed effort drifted agonisingly wide of the far post. Keatings then set up Doig inside the Kelso box but Turnbull pulled off a great save to deny Doig his second of the match. Then disaster struck for the Shipyard with a minute of normal time remaining. Kelso were awarded a free-kick out on the touch line around half way. The ball was fired into the box but although Mushet shouted for the ball he got nowhere near it and Steven Tait headed in from close range. In added time the Shippy had one more chance to win the match but Keatings saw his shot fly wide of the target.
Caretaker manager James Lock was naturally unhappy after the match when he said “It’s hard to take the positives out of that after seeing us throw away a two goal lead and drop two points. I’m really disappointed in the manner of it to be honest. At times we were naive in the way we played all over, and once again silly mistakes has cost us goals. We ask the guys to raise their standards each week and try to play football that we think is the right way. Once again we saw flashes of that today and the goals we scored came from good passing football. Once the second goal was scored though, we stepped off the gas, allowing Kelso a route back into the game and that’s not good enough. We did create chances towards the end of the game, but we need to be more ruthless in our play, creating chances and finishing chances when we’re in the lead to kill a game off, rather than what we’ve seen in the last couple of games. While we’re all still pretty sore from this, we’ll look to learn from it and be determined to improve from it going into preparation for next week’s game”.
Kelso United: E. Turnbull; B. Herdman; S. Angus; T. Hazlett; D. Bowie; S. Tait; F. Rankin; R. Beveridge; I. Cowan; L. O’Rourke; D. Boyne. Subs: D. Clark; O. Benzies; J. Ngoa;
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; E. Anderson (B. Rogerson); P. Bell; B. Smart; T. Arthur; B. Napier; D. Robertson (JP McPhail); C. Lowe; E. Henderson (D. Watt); A. Doig; S.Keatings.
Referee: D. Graves.