Shoot out agony for Shipyard
The Shipyard lost out in the cruellest of fashions, going out of the Scottish Brewers Cup on penalties to Lumphinnans after dominating the 90 minutes, only being denied by some excellent goalkeeping. Manager Whitehead made two changes to the team from last week with Cook and Russell replacing T.Williams and Dow. Lumphinnans had their usual array of ex- Shipyard players in their squad, all no doubt with something to prove in their minds.
The Shipyard started the better and had a strong penalty claim after 5 minutes when Leishman was bundled over in the box but the ref waved play on. In the 17th minute a rehearsed free-kick almost broke the deadlock for the Shipyard but, the Lumphinnans defence scrambled the ball clear. Any attacks that Lumphinnans had were being well dealt by the Shipyard defence, which were mainly long balls over the top for their pacey forwards to run onto. Barry Thomson in the Lumphinnans goal made the first of his many fine saves when he blocked Small’s effort from close range with the ball going over for a corner. Chalmers had his first real action of the match in the 29th minute when he had to dive out to intercept a cross on the 6 yard line, that would have been knocked in at the back post. For the rest of the first half both teams had possession without creating anything clear cut.
The Shipyard started the second half on top and J. Williams headed over from a McCue corner. In the 54th minute the Shipyard should have taken the lead when after good work down the right, saw McAndrew’s cross headed powerfully at goal by Russell and being brilliantly saved by Thomson. 5 minutes later Russell flicked on a throw-in to Johnston, who saw his effort blocked at the near post. In the 66th minute a rare break from Lumphinnans saw Wotherspoon clean through, however, Chalmers blocked his effort and the danger was cleared. The Shipyard took control again and Leishman had a shot go narrowly wide from 16 yards. The Shipyard were pushing hard now and it looked like Lumphinnans were happy to go to penalties. Johnston was next to have an attempt at goal when he headed a corner wide of goal. In the 81st minute Thomson pulled off another good save after McCue hit a free-kick from all of 40 yards that he had to stretch for and tip round the post. Shortly after Thomson pulled off his best save of the match when Johnston gathered a pass inside the box, steadied himself and unleashed a powerful shot that took a slight deflection but, Thomson somehow managed to divert the ball away for a corner. From the resultant corner the ball landed at Cook’s feet inside the 6 yard box and again Thomson managed to turn the shot round the post for another corner.
With the match finishing goalless, it was straight to penalties and N. Harvey, Muirhead, J. Hardie, S. Harvey and Sutherland excellently dispatching their kicks. M. Hamilton, Leishman, Cook and McCue all netted for the Shipyard. It was the unfortunate Russell who saw his penalty saved by the man of the match Barry Thomson. At the end of the day it was only the keeper that stood between the Shipyard and a comfortable win but, as they say “that’s football”. A philosophical Billy Whitehead said “I can’t fault the player’s. They kept a clean sheet easily and created plenty of chances. It was only a great goalkeeping display that beat us. Anything can happen when it goes to penalties and it was no surprise when the keeper pulled off another fine save”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: Chalmers; McAndrew; McCue; Cook; Grieve; Small; M. Hamilton; Leishman; Russell; Johnston; J. Williams. Unused Subs: Dow; Hutt; S. Hamilton; Paul; Houston.
Lumphinnans United: B. Thomson; Stenhouse; Muirhead; J. Hardie; Hay; Sutherland; N. Harvey; Lynas; MacKenzie; Wotherspoon; B. Hardie. Subs: Adamson; Duncan; Cochrane; S. Harvey P. Thomson.
Referee: D. Campbell