Late goal blow for Shipyard.
The Shipyard’s first season in the East of Scotland League ended on Saturday with a 1-1 draw against Duns at a rain lashed Recreation Park. Myles had the luxury of a full squad, apart from Stuart Innes, to choose from and that meant a return for Stevie Connor and a rare start for Robbie Cunningham.
The Shipyard had the elements behind them in the first half and it only took two minutes for them to test Scott Lumsden in the Duns goal when Dale Robertson fired in a shot from distance that Lummy was happy to parry away for a corner. A Kevin Masson free kick in the 10th minute was not far away as the home team dominated with Duns battling against the conditions. Duns did have a good opportunity soon after but it would have been hugely controversial had they scored, as the ball had clearly gone out for a throw-in in the build up. Brendan Napier had a similar effort to that of Robertson’s earlier, which Lumsden dealt with in the same fashion. Pete Bell also shot from distance but his strike did not trouble the keeper though it was not too far off target. In the 39th minute Connor latched onto a long ball that took a deflection and he managed to get his head on the ball but he could only direct it into the keeper’s hands. Robertson tested Lumsden again with a powerful strike and again Lummy took no chances as he pushed the ball away to safety. That was to be Robertson’s last involvement as he did not re-appear after the interval due to an injury he picked up.
Cunningham had the first chance of the second half but again Lumsden was up to the task before a well worked free kick saw a Blair Grubb cross scrambled away as the Shipyard players looked set to capitalise. Duns came into the match and had a bit of pressure that saw an in swinging corner flash across the face of the Shipyard goal. From another corner Ben Bouchier went close for the visitors and a minute later Mikey Couser dived acrobatically to his right to hold a shot from distance. Couser was in action again as he dealt with a Steven Burns header. It looked like the Shipyard were going to break the deadlock in the 75th minute when Cunningham burst through the visitors defence. It looked like he was impeded as he bore down on goal and as Lumsden dived at his feet it seemed he was fouled, however, the referee was wasn’t interested and waved play on. Duns almost had a stroke of good fortune when a mishit shot fell at the feet of Chris Falconer but he could not direct his snap shot on target. It was the hosts turn next to almost capitalise on a lucky break when an Alex Peoples shot took a deflection leaving Lumsden helpless but the ball rolled the wrong side of the post. With two minutes of normal time remaining the Shipyard were awarded a somewhat soft penalty when Napier went down just inside the box after minimal contact. He took the kick himself and coolly placed the ball low to the left with Lumsden diving to his right. The Shipyard thought the game was won but they were stunned in added time when Burns received a pass inside the Shipyard box and dispatched a well placed shot out of the reach of the diving Couser to earn his team a share of the spoils.
Myles was reasonably upbeat after the match despite losing a late goal said “Today we just asked the players to go out and enjoy it as much as possible. Considering the weather I thought that the guys applied themselves brilliantly and played some good football at times”. Then with a rueful smile he went on to add “It’s typical of our season though that we can take the lead so late in the game yet still be unable to keep hold of the three points. That is something that we’ll need to improve next season”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: Couser; Grubb; Nedialkov; Bridges; McKay; Bell; Robertson (Tabengwa); Cunningham (Peoples); Masson (Crombie); Napier; Connor. Unused Subs: Grieve & Henderson.
Duns: Lumsden; Bouchier; A. Renton; Devaney; G. Renton; Douglas; Falconer; Brydon; Burns; Weatherburn; Graham. Unused subs: Wheelans & Oliver.
Referee: C. McNab.