Shippy lose to Kelty in King Cup.
The Shipyard more than matched their Fife neighbours for almost an hour but once Kelty edged two goals ahead they never looked back and ran out comfortable winners. The first half was a typical end to end cup tie with the Shipyard twice ahead only to be pegged back on both occasions, however, the loss of John Martin to injury, scorer of the opening goal, was a huge blow for the Shippy. The weather was a great deal warmer than it was for last week’s Groundhop fixture as a healthy crowd again congregated at Recreation Park.
The Shippy stunned the visitors by taking the lead before two minutes were on the clock and it was top scorer Martin who was on hand to knock the ball home after the persistence of Brodie Hamilton paid off. The Shipyard had another opportunity after five minutes when Kelty keeper Scott Christie went walkabout finding himself yards outside his area, however, when Sam Glancy gathered the ball some 40 yards out, he could not find the unguarded net as his strike cleared the crossbar. The visitors replied with Sean O’Neil’s header from a corner not too far away before equalising in spectacular fashion. Scott-Taylor MacKenzie’s perfectly flighted free-kick from around 22yards beat Shippy keeper Ryan Adamson all ends up as it flew into the top corner. The Shipyard players though were somewhat aggrieved as a blatant push on Brian Breen seconds earlier went unpunished by the referee. The Shippy then suffered a major blow as Martin limped off after only 18 minutes to be replaced by Sean Johnstone. Stuart Cargill missed a chance for Kelty as he headed wide in the 26th minute and 4 minutes later the Shipyard were ahead again. Johnstone saw his shot blocked by Christie and the loose ball was then cleared off the line as far as Reece Brown who was then fouled as he looked to get a shot away. Breen confidently stroked the ball home sending Christie the wrong way. Errol Douglas drove a shot across the face of goal in the 34th minute and seconds later it was Kelty’s turn to be awarded a penalty as Pete Bell fouled the Kelty player as he drove into the box, though many thought that the contact occurred outside. Cargill netted despite the best efforts of Adamson. The Shipyard almost took the lead again as Glancy thundered in a drive from 25yards but he was left holding his head in his hands as the ball crashed back off the bar.
Sam Glancy was unlucky to see his strike come back off the bar.
Kelty started to gain the upper hand in the second half and went ahead for the first time in the 54th minute when Douglas capitalised on a defensive mistake and he slotted the ball passed Adamson. Kelty were awarded another penalty in the 59th minute and Cargill stepped up once again, however, Adamson stopped the shot with his leg but the keeper was left disappointed as Brian Ritchie was the only man following up and he scored easily to give his side a two-goal lead. The visitors were now in total control and Douglas slotted home the fifth in the 66th minute. Glancy saw his drive well held by Christie as the Shippy sought a lifeline and as both teams used up their quotas of substitutes the match drifted towards its conclusion before two late goals from Douglas, as he completed his hat-trick, and one from sub Scott Dalziel took Kelly’s tally to seven.
Burntisland Shipyard: R. Adamson, P. Bell, B. Breen (R. O’Donnell), D. Anderson, S. Strang, S. Glancy, C. McAulay (T. Graham), R. Brown, J. Martin (S. Johnstone), Jon. Galloway, B. Hamilton. Unused Subs: Jor. Galloway & R. Connor.
Kelty Hearts: S. Christie, E. Ford (N. McCabe), S-T. Mackenzie, M. Carstairs, S. O’Neil, S. Husband, B. Ritchie (R. Philp), S. Greig, E. Douglas, S. Cargill (S. Dalziel), C. Courts. Unused Subs: G. Leighton, I. Nimmo, M. Gibb.
Referee: C. McNab.