Late goals sink Shipyard.

This was a match where the Shippy gave as good as they got against their League One opponents for the best part of seventy five minutes but when the assistant never raised his flag for what looked to be a simple offside decision, the stuffing was knocked out of the Shippy boys as the Rovers went 2-0 ahead. The Shipyard conceded the predictable early goal after six minutes, however, they quickly put that setback behind them and went about their business in a determined fashion and played some good football.

There was a healthy crowd inside Recreation Park for this Fife Cup tie as both sets of fans were a bit more enthusiastic than some about the game taking place. Michael Gibb was called into action after five minutes when he saved from one of the Rovers trialists, a young Burntisland boy as it happens, but was beaten by the same man a minute later as his teammate got away from the Shipyard defence and set him up for an easy finish. There wasn’t too much in the way of goalmouth action for the rest of the half with both sides’ defences standing firm.

The Shippy had a great chance to draw level two minutes into the second period when Ross Lennie did not get enough on a Jason Finlay cross to turn the ball home. With there still only being one goal between the teams the Shipyard were far from out of it but unfortunately that changed with 14 minutes remaining. Another of the Raith trialists appeared to be yards offside as he chased a through ball, however, he remained composed and ignored the appeals for offside and finished well. The visitors scored two late goals that was harsh on the Shipyard and did not give a true reflection of the match. That being said, Grant Anderson produced a sublime finish after the ball broke to him at the corner of the box and there was nothing Gibb could do as the ball nestled in the top corner. The fourth goal did not lack controversy either as Grant Skinner went down holding his face after tangling with a Rovers trialist. The referee and his assistant saw nothing untoward and allowed play to continue and while the Shipyard players stopped expecting to hear the whistle, the Rovers players didn’t and after a bit of a scramble Dylan Tait knocked the ball home.

The Shipyard welcome Leith Athletic to Recreation Park on Saturday as we get back to league business. Kick-off is 2.30pm.

Burntisland Shipyard: M. Gibb, C. McQuade (Jor. Galloway), G. Skinner, R. O’Donnell, I. Millar, S. Strang, R. Brown, Jon. Galloway, E. Stanfield (R. Crawford), J. Finlay (A. Trialist), R. Lennie. Unused Subs: A. Cooper, P. Bell & R. Connor.

Raith Rovers: R. Munro, F. Mendy, D. McKay, J. Watson, J. Smith, D. Tait, A. Trialist, B. Trialist, C. Trialist, D. Trialist, E. Trialist. Subs: D. McGurn, M. Millar, K. MacDonald, G. Anderson.

Referee: S. Lambie.