Two late goals seal victory
The Shipyard put Tuesday’s poor performance behind them to record a 4 – 1 victory over Scotia at King George V park, although it was not until the final few minutes that the points were secured with two late goals. Cook and Grieve dropped out of the starting eleven and were replaced by T. Williams and Russell.
The Shipyard were shooting up the hill and into a strong wind in the first half and were almost a goal down after only 2 minutes. With the Shipyard defence appealing for offside the Balgonie forward carried on and saw his lob over Houston hit the bar and go out for a goal-kick. The Shipyard hit back and J. Williams just failed to connect with a corner at the back post. A minute later Russell beat Scotia keeper Glasgow to a through ball, however, a defender was back to clear his shot away. In the 12th minute good build up between Russell and Small saw the latter’s cross cleared for a corner. It was Balgonie who took the lead in the 28th minute when a long ball over the top of the Shipyard defence was gathered by Gillies, he slipped the ball beyond Houston and it went into the net off the post. The Shipyard levelled in the 38th minute when small burst into the box, only to be upended by the Scotia defender. Owen McCue took the resultant penalty and made no mistake tucking the ball low into the net. In the 40th minute the referee missed a clear handball by Russell, which angered the Scotia defence, but his shot was well off target anyway.
With the wind and slope now with them the Shipyard began the second half strongly and Russell turned at the edge of the box but somewhat scuffed his shot. Russell was in the thick of the action again and he glanced his header from a McAndrew cross wide of target. In the 66th minute Leishman had a shot from the edge of the box that also went wide. A minute later the Shipyard should have taken the lead when Russell played in Johnston. His shot beat the keeper but with it going wide, substitute Dow just failed to connect at the back post. The Shipyard finally took the lead in the 69th minute and it was captain Mark Hamilton who scored with a drive from 30 yards that bounced in front of the keeper. The bumpy surface no doubt deceived him. Straight away Scotia almost equalised but, Houston pulled off a fantastic diving save to deny the Scotia forward. In the 74th minute Russell out muscled his opponent to make room for a shot, but his left-foot effort was wide of the goal. Russell was continuing to be prominent in the game and after Dow had set him up he again shot wide. Scotia were not out of the match and after McAndrew was dispossessed McIlhatton saw his shot go wide. The Shipyard wrapped up the points in the final minute when Steven Dow found himself free in the inside left position and tucked his shot between the keeper and his near post to make it 3 – 1. Deep into injury time a great run by Small down the right saw him cut the ball back to Craig Russell and he lashed the ball high into the net for the goal his overall game deserved. After the match Billy Whitehead was pleased with the outcome and said “I thought we would get the goals in the second half as we would be able to keep them under pressure and have most of the play, although I did not expect to have to wait so long to clinch it. Jason made a great save to keep us ahead at 2 – 1 and he has filled in well while Scott has been out”.
Teams: Balgonie Scotia: Glasgow; Fisher; Kennedy; Donaldson; Wilson; Sword; D. Sheppard; McBride; Gillies; Payne; McIlhatton. Subs: J. Sheppard; Cullen; Melville.
Burntisland Shipyard: Houston; McAndrew; McCue; T. Williams; Whyte; Small; M. Hamilton; Leishman; Russell; Johnston (S. Hamilton); J. Williams (Dow). Unused subs: Cook; Hutt; Grieve.
Referee: G. MacDonald.