Shippy sunk in early onslaught
The match unbelievably only got the go ahead to take place ten minutes before the scheduled kick off as the referee deemed a very small area of one goalmouth unplayable. A new piece of turf finally did the trick. The Shipyard starting eleven was the same as the previous week against Tynecastle. Lee Small returned to the fold to take a place on the bench.
The Shipyard made a shocking start to the match losing two goals within a minute inside the first ten as firstly, Ross Anderson shot home at the near post and then Paul Campbell scored with a low shot. A good run from Whyte set up Brown for the Shipyard’s first attempt but he shot over. Turriff scored again in the 13 minute as Campbell ran onto a long ball and slotted it passed the helpless Martin in the Shipyard goal. Hatton headed over for the Shipyard, however, Turriff continued to dominate and missed a couple of decent chances. Midway through the half the Shipyard started to get into the game and good play between Hatton and Lamont set up McAndrew, whose shot was tipped wide by Coutts. Robertson then shot wide before he sent a great ball through to McAndrew but his shot lacked the power to trouble Coutts. The Shipyard then conceded a poor goal when a weak header back to Martin fell short and Gary Harris nipped in and finished easily. It should have been five in the 34th minute but somehow the ball stayed out as it pinged around the face of the Shipyard goal. The Shipyard gained a foothold three minutes later when a great ball from Neish sent Craig Hatton through on goal and he rounded the keeper and stroked the ball into the empty net.
The Shipyard made a double substitution at half-time with Mark Hamilton and Lee Small replacing Shaun Lamont and Steven Dow. Within a minute Hatton was sent through on the keeper, however, he shot straight at him and the ball was cleared. Hatton again had a chance when he intercepted the ball and tried to flick it beyond Coutts but the keeper stood tall and blocked with his chest. The promising start the Shipyard had made to the second half evaporated in the 51st minute when Harris gathered the ball inside the six yard box and was able to turn and shoot, with his effort finding the corner of the net. Neish had an effort disallowed for offside a few minutes later and then saw a drive deflected for a corner. A Gray shot was pushed away by Coutts for a corner as the Shipyard stuck to their task. Great play by Liall Robertson saw him break free of the defence and fire in a great cross that Hatton just failed to reach. Turriff scored a sixth in the 83rd minute when sub Stephen Gauld was played in on goal and coolly finished from ten yards. Andy Martin made two good saves in the dying minutes as turriff kept pressing looking for more goals.
All in all it was a very poor day for the Shipyard as expectations had been high before the match but they gave themselves a mountain to climb after such a poor start against very good opposition. It must be mentioned that Turriff have a superb modern stadium with fantastic facilities and a very good playing surface which is a great credit to them.
Teams: Turriff United: Coutts; L. Davidson; Bowden; Anderson; Simpson; Young; Fraser; Mackenzie; Harris; Campbell; Muirhead. Subs: Pennet; Chalmers; Gauld; Davidson; Ligertwood.
Burntisland Shipyard: Martin; McAndrew; Brough; Gray; Whyte; Brown (Wilson); Robertson; Lamont (Hamilton); Hatton; Neish; Dow (Small). Unused Subs: Drury; Melia.
Referee: G. Ritchie.