A point apiece in Fife derby.
The Shipyard produced one of their poorest performances of the season on Wednesday night as they fought out a 1-1 draw with Newburgh Juniors at Recreation Park. It was a lacklustre performance, particularly in the first half of the match, as despite having a very attack minded starting eleven there was very few chances created while the visitors created some decent opportunities, however, Shippy keeper Cole Miller was on top form and was only beaten by a well taken goal from Tyler Duddy in the 41st minute. Unsurprisingly, Declan Turner and Michael Gibb didn’t recover from the injuries they picked up on Saturday, therefore, it was all change at the back again and with Iain Millar and Kearyn Hicks still out injured and Mark James suspended, it was a makeshift back four that lined up.
It was the Shippy who created the first chance but Kris Murphy’s attempt was held by Newburgh keeper Jack Foster. The visitors went close in the 3rd minute when a free kick came back off the bar before the danger was cleared. The visitors didn’t look like a team that had found out they had been relegated the previous evening as they dominated possession and restricted the Shippy to very little sights of goal. Newburgh forced a series of corners but couldn’t find a way passed Miller until they broke the deadlock in the 41st minute. Duddy found himself free inside the box and the youngster produced a cool finish to find the corner of the net.
After the interval it was a surprise to everyone that it only took the Shippy 20 seconds to draw level as Ben Anthony took the ball around the keeper and rolled it into the empty net. The Shipyard were now enjoying their best spell of the game and Evan Stanfield was unlucky to see his back post header pushed away for a corner. A piece of sheer bad luck cost the Shippy the lead as a goal bound shot struck the head of Harris Kay, but despite his best efforts to get out of the way, he was unable to do so and the chance was gone. Newburgh were by no means out of it and Miller was still busy as he gathered crosses and a couple of long range attempts. Anthony saw his 25 yard drive go wide and Dan Thomson’s left foot shot was tipped over by Foster. Mitchell Sharp went close and probably should have done better when he got a clear sight of goal with 89 minutes on the clock. Sharp was presented with another couple of half chances as the game moved into added time, however, he was unable to trouble Miller.
Manager Lee Richardson was bitterly disappointed after the match when he said “The first half was so poor and disjointed. Yes, we were a bit makeshift in some areas but I expected better. We improved after the break and the early goal seemed to settle us down, however, we didn’t manage to fashion another good opportunity other than the strike that hit Harris.”
On Saturday (27/4/24) we are on the road as we travel to face Ormiston Primrose. Kick off at New Recreation Park is at 2.30pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: C. Miller; K. Beard (J. Galloway); E. McQuade (S. Strang); E. Bauld; M. Robertson; H. Kay; CJ. Thomson; D. Thomson; K. Murphy (M. Moodie); B. Anthony; E. Stanfield (C. Lewis).
Newburgh Juniors: J. Foster; A. Wilson; O. McNally; C. Taylor; E. Jowitt; H. Mitchell; T. Duddy; K. Tracey; J. Fyfe; R. McPhate; M. Sharp. Subs: J. Inglis; E. Coutts; J. Lindsay; G. Gibson; B. Todd.
Referee: K. Brown.