Shippy lose out in scrappy encounter.
Reece Brown scored from the spot.
The Shipyard’s indifferent start to the season continued as they went down 2-1 to Preston Athletic on Saturday at Recreation Park. Neither team showed much in the way of quality in a game littered with mistakes and it was also very stop-start as the referee blew time and again for infringements. Taking all this into account, it was no surprise that the winning goal summed up the entire ninety minutes as it was somewhat scrappy and controversial to say the least. Once again manager Grant Brough had to shuffle his pack as injuries, suspension and unavailability curtailed his options, however, it gave him the chance to have a look at a couple of trialist.
It was the visitors who had the better of the early exchanges as Nathan Stokes slashed wide in the 2nd minute and Macauley Woodcock fired a free-kick over the bar. The Panners took the lead in the 20th minute when a deflected cross looped to the back post and with the Shippy defenders guilty of ball watching, Robbie Carter stole in to bundle the ball home. Rab Kinnaird had the Shippy’s first effort but he was well off target with his first-time strike. Preston had two good chances in as many minutes but Stokes shot wide and the same player was denied by good save from Ryan Connor who was making his first start of the season. Jordan Galloway shifted the ball across the box and he was unlucky to see his left foot shot hit the outside of the post and bounce to safety. The Shipyard were awarded a penalty as the half moved into added time when Reece Bernard was tripped in the box and Reece Brown stepped up to send Craig Pennycuick the wrong way and level the score.
Pete Bell showed great skill as he skipped past a couple of players but no-one was able to get on the end of his cross when it came in. Connor got down well to push a Lewis Turkington drive round the post, however, neither team was creating much in the way of chances in a drab second half. Kinnaird was off target as he connected with a Johnny Galloway cross before the visitors struck the winner. Following a long throw, the ball dropped at the front post and in the ensuing scramble the ball bounced down off the bar and was knocked over the line. Despite vehement protests from the Shipyard players who were adamant there was an offside the referee awarded the goal. As the game drew to a close a speculative cross caught out Connor and the keeper was relieved to see the ball bounce back off the woodwork.
The road to Hampden starts on Saturday (11/08/2018) for the Shipyard as they head North in a near 400 miles round trip to face Golspie Sutherland in the William Hill Scottish Cup Preliminary Round.
Burntisland Shipyard: R. Connor, A. Trialist, R. O’Donnell, P. Bell, T. Graham, S. Strang (C. Simpson), Jor. Galloway, R. Kinnaird, R. Brown, Jon. Galloway, R. Bernard (B. Trialist). Unused Subs: S. Powrie & C. Trialist.
Preston Athletic: C. Pennycuick, R. Carter (K. Austin), D. Ndiweni, M. McFarlane, D. Liddle, C. Innes (A. Dimitrov), M. Woodcock, L. Turkington, J. Cochrane, M. Law (M. Reid), N. Stokes. Unused Sub: J. Jardine.
Referee: K. Kennedy.