Penalty miss proves costly.
The Shipyard were made to rue a missed penalty as they more than matched their Premier League opponents in this King Cup clash at Recreation Park. The home team dominated the match for long spells and restricted Coldstream to few chances but they did convert two that ultimately won the match for them. With Blair Smart suspended Alan Clark replaced him in centre defence and Myles opted to go with Jordan Mushet in goals rather than the on loan Mikey Couser. The pitch was soft in places but was passed playable despite early morning rain that caused concern at the time.
The Shipyard started the game strongly and had the better of the early exchanges, however, it was the visitors who had the first chance when John Crawford fired in an angled drive that Mushet was able to block. At the other end visiting keeper Jimmy Taylor had to be sharp off his line to deny Adam Doig. At quarter hour mark Craig Lowe headed towards goal and when his effort was directed back to him his right foot volley was just wide of the far post. The Shipyard players and management were angered when after the referee blew for a foul committed by Pete Bell Coldstream’s Conor Devaney decided to seek his own retribution and his straight legged, foot over the ball, studs up knee high challenge on Bell went unpunished. Coldstream then took the lead through Devaney, who really should have been in the shower by this time, when his hooked volley after the ball fell to him near the angle of the box flew over Mushet into the back of the net. Coldstream then went on to dominate the final ten minutes of the half with Josh Hebdon rattling the bar with a wind assisted long range strike. Just on the half-time whistle Taylor got down low at his post to keep out a Dale Robertson drive.
Five minutes into the second half saw a Kevin Masson free-kick held by Taylor and at the other end a Crawford snap shot sailed high over the bar. Two minutes later Coldstream doubled their lead when Michael Allan found space on the right hand side of the box and his angled drive beat Mushet at his near post. The Shipyard were almost back in the match immediately when a Lowe header from a corner hit the bar and then Clark blasted the loose ball over. A minute later the homesters had a strong shout for a penalty turned down when Lowe burst into the box but was denied by a last ditch tackle. Afterwards Lowe said “ The guy definitely caught my right leg as he tried to get the ball. It was a stonewall penalty”. The Shipyard did get a penalty in the 62nd minute though this one was of the soft variety. The referee deemed that the defender had his arms around Robertson and pointed to the spot. Unfortunately for the Shipyard Taylor guessed which way Masson was putting his kick and dived low to his right to save. Masson was determined to make up for his miss and Taylor held his volley in the 78th minute. Masson did set up a grandstand finish with seven minutes remaining when his shot from the edge of the box was diverted into the net by substitute Keith Buckley. Coldstream broke up the park in the 86th minute and Mushet pulled off a fine stop when he denied Crawford with his foot. After a clash between Taylor and Shipyard sub Grant Blyth the keeper went down and seemed to let the ball go. With the referee not blowing Masson felt he was entitled to go for the ball and caught Taylor on the head as he tried to get to the ball. After a bit of handbags, Masson was booked for his challenge and Taylor was able to continue after treatment. Those two came face to face again in the closing stages when Masson burst into the box and looked certain to score, however, Taylor stuck out a leg and diverted the ball to safety.
After the match Myles could not hide his disappointment when he said “Congratulations to Coldstream as they are in the next round and we’re not. However, I don’t think we got what we deserved today. In my opinion we played the better football and had the better chances.
However, we gave away at least one goal that was sloppy from our perspective and didn’t take the chances we had, so that’s what happens. I’d say we’ve won a couple of games recently by not playing as well as we did today. I couldn’t really have asked much more from the guys this afternoon as they all worked so hard to get a result and they were gutted in the changing room at full time”.
Looking ahead Myles said “Moving forward, we’ve got two massive matches coming up in the league. As a team, we have a point to prove against Hibs next week. We let ourselves down there a few weeks ago in the League Cup. I’d like to see an improvement on that as we have already taken a point from them this season and I’d like more next week”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; G. Bridges: P. Bell; A. Clark; C. McKay; K. Masson; J. Fyfe (S. Blake); C. Lowe; A. Doig (K. Buckley); A. MacDonald; D. Robertson (G. Blyth). Unused Subs: M. Couser & J. Crombie.
Coldstream: J. Taylor; G. Wales; L. Cannon; J. Birkett; K. Ainslie; A. Douglas; M. Allan (A. Hunter); J. Hebdon; J. Crawford; C. Devaney (F. Myers); G. McCrudden. Unused Sub: Mark Walters.
Referee: J. Curran.