First half goal blitz blow’s over Tweedmouth.

A storming first half performance from the Shippy blew Tweedmouth Rangers away, meaning the match was more or less over at the interval with the home team 5-0 ahead. Five goals from five different scorers pleased manager Stuart Innes but he was left scratching his head at some of the chances missed, particularly in the second half, having encouraged his players to keep up the momentum during his half-time team talk. The second period was more even than the first and Tweedmouth fully merited their consolation goal with twelve minutes remaining. Sam Glancy was unavailable which meant a start for Robbie Crawford, now fully recovered from his long-term injury.

The Shipyard had the strengthening wind behind them at kick-off; however, it was by no means Storm Ciara conditions at this stage. Ben Anthony had a shot touched over by keeper Stuart Allan in the first minute and the striker saw another effort deflected wide a few minutes later. Gavin Ross nodded over following an Iain Millar long throw as the Shipyard kept the visitors pinned back. That being said, Rangers should have taken the lead in the 17^th minute. A Miguel Friere shot was deflected wide following sloppiness in the Shippy defence and from the resultant corner Tweedmouth struck the bar and it seemed inevitable that the loose ball would be knocked home but somehow the home defence managed to get a couple of blocks in before eventually scrambling the ball away. Ross Lennie left the field injured and he was replaced by Reece Brown on nineteen minutes and almost immediately the Shipyard took the lead with a well worked goal. B. Anthony saw Dale Allan in space and his fine pass allowed Allan to drive the ball across the keeper and into the corner of the net from around 15 yards. It was 2-0 a minute later as Crawford flicked the ball home from inside the six-yard box with the assist coming from Brown, though it would be fair to say it was a somewhat scrappy goal. There was a similar scramble as previously, this time in the Tweedmouth box, as the Shipyard players could not force the ball over the line. Michael Robinson blazed wide in a rare Rangers attack but most of the action was taking place in front of Allan with B. Anthony peppering his goal. Two attempts were just off target before he struck with a sublime effort in the 32^nd minute as he curled the ball beyond Allan from the left-hand side of the box. Ben had another shot tipped over before brother Darrell was also denied by the overworked Tweedmouth keeper. Ross made it 4-0 when he headed home at the back post following another corner. It became 5-0 in added time as substitute Brown rifled the ball into the net with an angled drive.

The second half was much less frenetic with the first notable attempt coming from the boot of D. Anthony with almost an hour on the clock. Michael Gibb then saw a bit of action as he saved low to his right from a Regan Graham effort. The Anthony brothers combined with Ben feeding Darrell only for the latter to shoot wide. Tweedmouth pulled one back in the 78^th minute when Friere netted, a goal that the youngster’s performance merited. B. Anthony rattled the Tweedmouth bar and Shippy sub Andy Watt couldn’t direct the loose ball on target. Watt then shot over following more good play from B. Anthony in what was the last meaningful action of the match.

It’s back on the road this week as we travel to Whitestone Park to face Peebles Rovers in a league match. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.

Burntisland Shipyard: M. Gibb, R. O’Donnell (A. Watt), I. Millar, D. Hunter, G. Ross, R. Crawford (J. Galloway), R. Lennie (R. Brown), B. Anthony, D. Anthony, D. Allan. Unused Subs: P. Bell & K. Kwapinski.

Tweedmouth Rangers: S. Allan, R. McLeod (J. Rutherford), J. Crombie, R. Dixon, K. Cromarty, N. Richards (J. Forster), M. Friere, C. Hatsell, M. Robinson, S. Campbell, R. Graham. Unused Subs: K. Cooledge, J. Dougall, J. Gibson.

Referee: Alan Budd.