Unlucky Shippy lose in Fife Cup.

The holders of the Fife Cup were knocked out of this season’s competition in unfortunate circumstances as a freak goal was all that separated the sides. The Shipyard deserved to take the tie to penalties or indeed win it inside the ninety minutes as they more than matched their League two opponents. This was a far stronger Cowdenbeath team than the one that was thrashed in last season’s final, nonetheless, the Shippy were as good as the opposition and for spells played the better football. Reece Bernard was the only regular squad man missing and there was the welcome return of Sam Glancy.
Cowdenbeath had the initiative in the early stages, however, the Shippy were defending well and not allowing any chances to be created and Keeper Ryan Adamson when called into action, held a low shot comfortably. Rab Kinnaird had an attempt on target before the Shipyard were dealt a major blow in the 17th minute when Ross Lennie limped off with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Charlie Simpson. Robbie Crawford had two strikes at goal in as many minutes, one on target and one off as the Shippy shrugged off the loss of the influential Lennie. There was a scare for the visitors as a scramble developed in their box but the ref blew for an infringement by a Cowden player and the danger was averted. Crawford was just off target with another strike as the Shippy played some good football before it was Cowdenbeath’s turn to suffer an injury blow as Martin Scott had to be replaced by Blair Malcolm. Cowden took the lead in the 31st minute and it was one that keeper Adamson will want to forget in a hurry. He took a passback but dithered on the ball and his attempted clearance hit Josh Kelly and spun into the unguarded net for truly freak goal. This setback did not deter the Shippy and they deservedly got back on level terms on the stroke of half-time with a fine goal. Reece Brown showed his pace down the right-hand side and when he delivered an excellent cross Kinnaird was on hand to knock the ball beyond Ryan Goodfellow from close range.
The Shippy started the second half on the front foot and Brown forced Goodfellow into a fine save. A Crawford cross couldn’t find a Shippy touch and a thunderous half volley from Simpson brought out the best in Goodfellow. Adamson held a Skelly shot and Jordyn Sheerin twice went close as Cowden enjoyed a spell on top. The Shipyard almost went ahead in the 79th minute when what looked like a combination of the bar and Goodfellow’s glove kept out Kinnaird’s cross cum shot. Cowdenbeath scored what turned out to be the winner with seven minutes remaining after Malcolm worked his way down the left-hand side and his cross beat the diving Adamson and fell to Robbie Buchanan who hit the ball into the roof of the net at the back post. The Shippy pushed for a late equaliser that would have taken the tie to penalties, however, it was not to be as the Shipyard’s dream of retaining the Fife Cup perished in the rain at Central park.

Cowdenbeath: R. Goodfellow, K. Sneddon (J. Talbot), H. Swann, J. Pyper, P. Scullion, H. Kay (K. Miller), J. Skelly, G. Fraser, J. Sheerin, M. Scott (B. Malcolm), R. Buchanan. Unused Subs: K. Renton, F. Mullen, D. McGurn, D. Marsh.
Burntisland Shipyard: R. Adamson, R. O’Donnell, S. Glancy, S. Strang, D. Anderson, R. Lennie (C. Simpson), R. Crawford, Jon. Galloway, R. Brown (Jor. Galloway), C. McAulay, R. Kinnaird (S. Powrie). Unused Subs: P. Bell, A. Trialist, M. Jarrett.
Referee: C. McNab.