Five star Shipyard cruise into next round.

The Shipyard cruised into the second round of the League Cup after seeing off Stoneyburn with a 5-0 victory at Recreation Park on Saturday. The only real surprise was it took until the 45^th minute for the Shippy to open the scoring. With Ben Anthony unavailable it opened the door for recent arrival Rhys Wardlaw to get his chance and he grabbed it with both hands as he netted twice in the closing minutes, much to the delight of the home contingent in the crowd. We now have a mouth-watering tie to look forward to against Kirkcaldy & Dysart following their win against Jeanfield Swifts in Perth. The match is scheduled for April 1^st with the Shippy being at home once more.

After an uneventful opening quarter of an hour the game sprung into life with the Shipyard going very close to opening the scoring, firstly when Darrell Anthony was denied by a stunning save from Stoneyburn keeper Ben Sinclair and then when the same man’s follow up came back off the bar. Sinclair then blocked a Wardlaw shot after the ball fell kindly for the youngster just inside the area. In the 33^rd minute an Iain Millar long throw reached Anthony and he might have done better than head over from around six yards out. Wardlaw dragged a shot wide in the 38^th minute and he was denied by another Sinclair save shortly after. The Shippy broke the deadlock in the 45^th minute when the ball was only partially cleared and Sam Glancy smashed the ball high into the net from distance. The visitors claimed the ball had gone out of play in the build-up, however, the general feeling was that the ball was still in play.

A bit of confusion in the home defence led to Scott Costello picking up a Craig Watt pass back with the referee awarding an indirect free-kick, however, the Shippy wall stood firm and blocked Dean McConnell’s shot. At the other end a Shaun Keatings effort was blocked a couple of yards from goal but the second Shipyard goal arrived a minute later. Following another long throw in the ball dropped for Mark James and he volleyed the ball into the ground and it flew into the net giving Sinclair no chance. Glancy was looking for another spectacular strike and his effort from thirty yards plus, was not far away at all. The Shippy made it three nil in the 81^st minute when Watt’s raking long ball found Wardlaw and the big striker showed great strength and composure to find the net. Keatings had been in the thick of the action and was taking a bit of abuse from the visitors both verbally and physically. After he was unceremoniously brought down near the touchline, he answered the abuse in exceptional fashion as he curled a delightful free kick into the top corner from a good 35 yards given the angle he was at. The Shipyard were rampant now and within seconds they went nap as Wardlaw scored his second, smashing the ball into the net from inside the area, doing his confidence the world of good into the bargain. Manager Dave Costello said after the match “We were a bit wasteful in the first half having created some good openings but in the second we took our chances and I am delighted for young Rhys.” He went on to say “We rarely looked like conceding; in fact, I don’t think Scott had a save of note to make throughout the ninety minutes.”

Next week (11/03/2023) it’s back to league action as we travel to face Kennoway Star Hearts at Treaton Park with the game kicking off at 2.30pm.

Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; M. James; D. Thomson; S. Orrock; I. Millar; C. Watt; S. Keatings; D. Anthony (R. Macauley); R. Wardlaw; S. Glancy; J. Wilson. Unused Subs: A. Brown; R. Crichton; D. Pierce.

Stoneyburn: B. Sinclair; L. McGuigan; M. Spiers; D. McConnell; J. Sharpe; D. Hendry; J. Brady; D. Anderson; B. Magee; A. Arthur; B. Ferris. Subs: L. McKee; C. Gallacher; B. Wardrope; G. Calvey; T. Spiers; C. Shaw; C. Stone.

Referee: A. Strang.