Blairgowrie JFC 1 Burntisland Shipyard 1.
The Shipyard came away from Perthshire with honours even after a 1-1 draw against Blairgowrie Juniors. The game was played in the midst of a thunder storm as lightening flashed around and the heavens opened for a good twenty minutes. Again the shipyard squad had a young look to it as Myles looks to get his team ready for the big kick-off next week. Joe Samson, Andy MacDonald and Connor McManus returned to the squad though Craig Lowe was a noticeable absentee due to work commitments.
After some early pressure from the hosts it was the Shipyard who took the lead in the 12th minute when Ewan Henderson latched onto a though ball, rounded the keeper and stroked the ball into the unguarded net. That lead was only to last a minute as after good build up play, Gary Axworthy produced a fine finish as he shot across Jordan Mushet and found the far corner of the net. Mushet had to be on top form early in the second half as he produced two instinctive blocks as Blairgowrie looked certain to score. As the second half wore on the Shipyard began to dominate and had several chances in the last quarter to win the match with Henderson Billy Rogerson and Shaun Keatings all going particularly close.
Again Myles was not too worried about the result when he spoke after the match as he said “That was a far better performance today. We really could, and should, have scored 2 or 3 goals in the last 15 minutes or so which would’ve given us a deserved win. However, as I’ve said after all the friendlies, the result is not important in these games”. Myles had looked for improvement after Wednesday’s performance and he felt he got it as he added “The passing and movement was a lot better today and we played some decent football at times. We started a wee bit sloppily though and it took us 10 minutes to get into the game. We’ve got one more friendly now and it’s a last chance for the guys to show that they should be starting next week”
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; B. Rogerson; C. Samson; T. Arthur (A. MacDonald); B. Smart (C. McManus); K. Masson (P. Bell); JP McPhail; S. Keatings (E. Anderson); E. Henderson; D. Watt (K. Buckley) D. Robertson (J. Crombie).