Depleted Shipyard sunk by Tweedmouth.
Once again, the Shipyard travelled south with a hugely depleted squad thanks to injury, illness and unavailability. Nonetheless, all those who travelled can be pleased with their performances on the day, as a couple of mistakes that were punished and a horrendously bad offside decision resulted in the 3-1 loss to Tweedmouth Rangers at Shielfield Stadium. The pitch survived a morning inspection, though it was very soft and it cut up badly as the game progressed. There were debuts for the recently signed Declan Turner and for young trialists Ryan Sharp and George Burke.
A healthy contingent of “Shippy Ultras” all wearing their new hoodies, travelled to the match and they gave their usual vociferous backing to the team.
The Shippy fell behind in the 8th minute following an uncharacteristic mistake from Mikey Couser and Craig Bell knocked home the loose ball. The Shipyard were getting forward and had some attempts at goal, however, none of them troubled Niall Frampton in the Tweedmouth goals. In the 20th minute Dan Thomson drove forward and got into the box but the angle narrowed on him and he was unable to hit the target. Scott Costello had a shot saved while at the other end Couser had a couple of comfortable saves and catches to deal with.
Bell passed up a decent chance at the start of the second half but otherwise the Shippy defence were untroubled and as confidence grew the equaliser arrived. After good build up the ball was worked to Shaun Keatings at the edge of the area and he found the net with a fine strike. All the good work was undone by two decisions in the next few minutes. One correct and the other absolutely shocking. Rhys Bloomfield was yards offside when he ran onto a through ball and knocked it beyond Couser and into the net. Even the Tweedmouth manager was embarrassed by the decision saying his player was “Miles offside”. The next decision in the 77th minute was an easy one for the referee as he showed Keatings a second yellow card for another foul, just as the Shippy looked to get back level again. Undoubtedly, the Shipyard heads dropped and when possession was easily conceded just outside the box it gave Bell another chance and he drilled into the net. Thomson had a chance in the 90th minute, however, he was closed down before he got his shot away.
Manager Lee Richardson didn’t have much to say after the game other than “I can’t fault the boy’s effort and commitment today.”
The next match is on Wednesday night (20/03/2024) when we welcome Kennoway Star Hearts to Recreation Park for another league match. Kick-off is at 7.30pm.
Tweedmouth Rangers: N. Frampton; R. Dixon; E. Smith; C. Heath; R. Aitchison; C. Bell; S. Straughan; G. Sabitini; R. Lightfoot; C. Temple; R. Bloomfield. Subs: R. Dunn; O. Adebayo; R. Turner; J. Gibson; C. Howden; B. Smith; J. Baverstock.
Burntisland Shipyard: M. Couser; M. Gibb; M. Moodie; E. Bauld; M. James; R. Sharp; K. Beard (F. Lockhart); D. Turner; S. Keatings; S. Costello (G. Burke); D. Thomson.
Referee: R. Kay.