Shippy lose by odd goal to Rovers.
The Shipyard gave the Rovers a scare in the Fife Cup Semi Final as the visitors had to come from behind to beat their local rivals. Despite some late pressure, the Shipyard could not get an equaliser to send the match to penalties. Probably with an eye on Saturday’s Scottish Cup match the manager left a couple of guys out of the sixteen altogether, though he had threatened to make changes after being disappointed with his team’s performance last Saturday. The Rovers had a mixture of first team, fringe and youth players in their sixteen.
It took the Shipyard only five minutes to take the lead as John Paul McPhail headed Dale Robertson’s free-kick back across keeper David McGurn and into the corner of the net. The visitors were almost level in the ninth minute when both Shipyard keeper Jordan Mushet and Rovers striker Johnny Court hesitated and although Mushet slipped he was able to get back up and gather the striker’s weak effort. The same two players were involved again and it was Mushet who came out on top as he held Court’s header. The 22nd minute Andy MacDonald produced a superb tackle to deny another Rovers attack but four minutes later the visitors drew level when they worked the ball down the right-hand side and the low cross was knocked home by Callum Robertson. Mushet produced a superb save to deny Lewis Vaughan and the Raith man would have been disappointed with his attempt to turn home the rebound. The Shipyard engineered an opportunity in the 31st minute but when the ball was played to Adam Doig his shot lacked the pace or accuracy to trouble McGurn. Raith took the lead in the 33rd minute and it was a disaster for the home defence and Blair Smart in particular. Rather than clear his lines Smart tried to play his way out of trouble and was dispossessed. This resulted in Mushet being exposed to the Rovers attack and the ball was played to Vaughan who had the easy task of rolling the ball into the empty net.
The visitors had been the more dominant team in the first half but the second was more evenly contested though there was less goalmouth action. Shipyard substitute Shaun Keatings brought out the best in McGurn when the keeper expertly tipped his dipping effort over the bar. Vaughan who had impressed all night almost put his side two ahead but he was unlucky to see his powerful shot come back off the post. The rebound had too much pace on it for the Rovers striker following up to guide his effort on target. The Shipyard dominated the final few minutes and were unlucky to see Daniel Watt’s shot beat McGurn but not the defender on the line. The ball broke to Watt again, however, this time he could not find the target as the clock ran out on the Shipyard.
After the match Myles was happy with some aspects of his team’s performance but unhappy with others when he said “I’m delighted with the effort shown tonight. We were a bit slack in the first half and caused our own problems with over playing in the wrong areas. But in the second half we got the balance right and put them under more pressure, especially in the last 10 minutes or so. I just felt that if we’d shown a bit more desire to attack the ball in the box, we might’ve got an equaliser. We proved that when we play well we can compete with good sides. The challenge for the squad now is to do it in every game”.
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; T. Arthur (B. Rogerson); C. Samson; B. Smart; A. MacDonald; B. Napier (K. Masson) D. Robertson; C. Lowe; D. Watt; A. Doig; JP. McPhail (S. Keatings). Unused Subs: K. Buckley & E. Henderson.
Raith Rovers: D. McGurn; K. Campbell; E. Ford; D. Bates; L. Ellis; R. Callaghan; L. Vaughan; K. Moon; J. Court; C. Robertson; R. Matthews. Subs: S. Law; L. McCroary; K. Lalley.
Referee: S. Lambie.