April 12, 2016 ·
Drew
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2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Shippy endure tough time at Saughton.
The Shipyard were unable to repeat their good result from the reverse of this fixture as the title contenders ran out easy 3-0 winners at a cold Saughton Enclosure last night. Indeed keeper Mark Rowbotham and his defence did well to keep the score down while at the other end the forwards struggled to make any impression on the home rearguard. The unwell pair of Pete Bell and Rory McCann, the suspended Conor Drury and the unavailable Ethan Anderson dropped out of the squad that faced Tynecastle in the last match. Ewan Henderson, Mark James, Ben Saunders and Stephen Stark all retuned. Continue Reading
April 3, 2016 ·
Drew
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2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Masson strike lights up feisty battle.
The Shipyard and Tynecastle shared the spoils in a bad tempered match at Recreation Park as the home team battled for 40 minutes with ten men after Conor Drury had been sent off for a second yellow card. The ref had his hands full throughout the match with the visiting players and management constantly barracking him over every decision that did not go their way. At half-time two Tynecastle players were called to the referee’s room and cautioned for dissent. Furthermore, a Shipyard representative had to advise the ref of the abuse the linesman was receiving from the Tynecastle players. Manager Raymond Drury had to make two changes to his starting eleven from last week’s victory with Ben Couper and Ewan Fotheringham replacing the unavailable Graeme Haywood and Stephen Stark. Continue Reading
March 27, 2016 ·
Drew
·
2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Shippy sink Craigy as Masson shines.
What a difference a week makes! After last week’s debacle at Duns the Shippy turned on the style as Craigroyston were thrashed 5-1 at Recreation Park. Kevin Masson was the star of the show with a hat-trick but it was the overall team performance that pleased manager Raymond Drury the most. Speaking after the match Raymond enthused” In today’s game the whole team done the job that was asked of them and what a difference an experienced goalkeeper makes as the back four looked far more assured and confident. I was delighted to get Mark (Rowbotham) from Thornton during the week. We were good from back to front as we tried to build from the back when possible”. When asked about the contributions from his new signing and hat-trick hero he said “I don’t want to single anyone out because it was a great team performance though I was obviously delighted by the impact Mark and Kev made on the match”.
Alongside Rowbotham, Graeme Haywood, Pete Bell, Scott Devaney and Stephen Stark all came in to the starting eleven. Continue Reading
March 20, 2016 ·
Drew
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2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Shipyard simply shocking.
For the first 18 minutes of this match you would have expected the Shipyard to be the team scoring seven goals, however, once the first goal was gifted to Duns the visitors coughed up one shocking goal after another as the team produced one of their poorest performances ever in the East of Scotland League. Manager Raymond Drury was understandably angry after the match when he said “I thought we started the match well today as we got an early goal and created some decent chances, none more so than the penalty that unfortunately the keeper saved. Once we lost the equaliser it just went pear shaped and we became completely disjointed as we conceded soft goals at regular intervals”. He went on to add “In the second half we tried to up the tempo and press high up the pitch but it was more or less a carbon copy of the first half as we continued to lose poor goals”. Raymond went on to say “I am making no excuses for that performance, sure we had a few boys missing and a young inexperienced goalkeeper but no matter who was playing we should never have conceded like we did and under no circumstances will I be tolerating a performance like that again”. Continue Reading
March 13, 2016 ·
Drew
·
2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Shippy blow comfortable half-time lead.
A sensational second half collapse saw the Shipyard concede five goals to Coldstream in a match the Shippy could have had wrapped up at half-time. Indeed, the only surprise was that the home team were only 2-0 up at the interval having dominated most of the half, having created some decent chances. The Shipyard had a couple of new faces in their ranks with Mikey Couser taking the gloves and Iain Millar making his debut after being released by Hill of Beath. Continue Reading
March 6, 2016 ·
Drew
·
2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Shippy exit King Cup.
Poor defending at two set pieces saw the Shipyard knocked out of the King Cup as they went down 2-1 to Peebles Rovers at Whitestone Park. Mark James had drawn his side level in the 77th minute but Peebles scored shortly after to seal their victory. Manager Raymond Drury’s attacking options were severely limited with Adam Doig, Kevin Masson and Stephen Stark all unavailable. However, he was able to welcome back both his son Connor and Mark James into the middle of the park after serving suspensions. Continue Reading
February 28, 2016 ·
Drew
·
2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Shippy unlucky in narrow defeat.
Manager Raymond Drury’s unbeaten start to his tenure came to an end as his team were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Civil Service Strollers at Recreation Park. It was down to the two goalkeepers that the scoreline was only one nil as both Jordan Mushet and Stuart Burnside pulled off fine saves, with one in particular from Burnside when he kept out an effort from Shippy forward Steven Stark, outstanding. This was the first game at Recreation Park since the 19th December due to the recent wet weather and the players found the soft pitch difficult. Drury had to make full use of his squad with his son Connor and Mark James suspended. Also out were Ewan Henderson, Adam Doig, JP McPhail and Brendan Napier. Continue Reading
January 24, 2016 ·
Drew
·
2015-2016 Season, Match Reports
Late late show as Shippy come from behind to snatch win.
Raymond Drury was delighted to come away with three points as his Shipyard side kept their unbeaten run going under his stewardship. Although his team left it late to grab the win, he felt it was merited on the back of a strong second half performance.
Gaffer Drury said “In the first half it showed we hadn’t had a game for a while as we didn’t get the ball passed quickly enough and although Spartans had most of the ball they didn’t really threaten, apart from the goal, as Jordan Mushet didn’t have a save to make in the first half. In the second half we changed the formation and straight away we started playing a lot better, creating openings and looking more threatening”. Drury went on to praise the match winner as he added “It was good to see Kev Masson back in the team and he showed how important he is to the squad with his two goals. I must praise all the boys for a good second half performance and may that continue in the weeks and months ahead”.
Match winner Masson was happy after the match too when he cheekily quipped “I’ve missed half the matches but that’s me seven goals ahead of the nearest challenger. Hopefully I can get a good run of games under my belt now and continue to score goals”.
Two goal hero Kev Masson
Spartans had taken the lead in the 16th minute and although their pressure probably merited it, the goal when it came had a touch of good fortune about it as the ball broke very kindly to Blair Atkison who calmly beat Mushet from nine yards out. A drive from 22 yards by Mark James that was pushed away by Spartans keeper Daniel Cassells was all that the Shipyard could muster during the opening period as the home team continued to dominate possession without creating much in the way of clear cut chances.
The start of the second half saw Stephen Stark make his debut as he replaced the injured Adam Doig and his pace and enthusiasm seemed to lift the Shippy as they enjoyed more of the ball. A misdirected Craig Lowe cross had to be touched over by Cassells while at the other end Mushet saved with his legs at the near post from Spartans Ian Thomson. The Shipyard were then forced into a reshuffle as Graeme Haywood also came off injured and he was replaced by Scott Devaney. Spartans might have doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when their player headed over from a decent position with Mushet rooted to the spot. Masson replaced Ewan Henderson in the 65th minute and almost made a quick impact when his free-kick strike from twenty yards was disallowed as the referee adjudged that JP McPhail was standing in an offside position and interfering with play. A minute later in the 72nd minute it was the turn of the home team to create an opportunity and the Shippy defence was happy to see the ball drift wide of the far post. The Shipyard drew level in the 81st minute when Ben Couper headed a corner back across goal and Masson was on hand to volley the ball home from around 12 yards. With the match looking like it was heading for a draw there was a sensational finale to the match when in the 93rd minute McPhail rose to gather a ball just inside the Spartans area and was absolutely flattened by keeper Cassells as he came out to try and punch the ball clear. A stonewall penalty if ever there was one. After the dust had settled and McPhail was helped from the field, that man Masson stepped up to lash the ball home to seal the win and that was the last kick of the match as referee Paul Hanlon blew for full time, much to the delight of the Shipyard contingent.
Spartans EOS. D. Cassells; K. Boyes; P. Dickson; I. Thomson; D. O’Donnell; K. Wilson (A. Imlah); R. Gray (M. Simpson); B. Raiker (J. Grant); C. Anderson; S. Stewart; B. Atkison. Unused Sub: G. Rossi.
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; G. McCann; B. Couper; A. MacDonald; G. Haywood (S. Devaney); P. Bell; C. Lowe; M. James; E. Henderson (K. Masson); JP McPhail; A. Doig (S. Stark). Unused Subs: D. Anthony & B. Saunders.
Referee: P. Hanlon.
