Sloppy Shippy slip up again.
It’s starting to sound like a stuck record but once again the Shipyard only have themselves to blame for their latest defeat after going down 2-1 to Craigroyston at St Mark’s Park on Saturday. Both goals were highly avoidable and although the Shipyard had lots of possession in and around the Craigy box they did not have the guile to find a goal that would have given them at least a draw. With Andy MacDonald and Ben Saunders on holiday and Kevin Masson a late call off, the already thin squad was stretched so that meant a debut for loan signing Gavin Sullivan who has arrived from Rosyth Juniors.
There was very little goalmouth action in the first 15 minutes and the first attempt on target came two minutes later when Darrell Anthony shot straight at the keeper from distance. Suddenly the Shippy found themselves a goal down and it was a disaster for the defence as first Ethan Anderson did not clear the ball and then former Shipyard player Keith Buckley’s shot from distant somehow eluded Jordan Mushet and ended up in the back of the net. The Shippy replied with a Ewan Henderson header deflected for a corner before more poor defending saw the hosts double their lead. Greig Tulloch had all the time and space he wanted and was able to shoot home from the edge off the box giving Mushet no chance. Tulloch almost scored a minute later when Mushet touched his drive wide though the referee awarded a goal kick. The Shipyard got back into the match on the 40 minute mark when John Paul McPhail was fouled as he burst into the box. Adam Doig took the penalty and although Craigy keeper Eric Tshibangu saved the initial effort Doigy was able to bundle the ball home at the second attempt.
The Shipyard were on the front foot in the second half as an Anderson free-kick went just wide in the 50th minute. Henderson headed over from a corner and Tshibangu held a shot from the same player as the Shippy looked for an equaliser. Craigroyston danger man Tulloch forced Mushet into a rare save in the second half as the hosts struggled to get forward. A superb run from Craig Lowe set up another chance but no-one could get their foot on the ball when Lowe fired the ball across the face of goal. Peter Bell saw his goal bound free-kick headed away for a corner as the Shippy kept trying to get a leveller. A final chance fell to trialist Ewan Fotheringham but once again Tshibangu was equal to the task.
Darrell Anthony and JP McPhail receive praise from manager.
Manager Alex Lowe said after the match “Once again two soft goals cost us dearly in a game in which at the very least we deserved a draw. Craigroyston had three attempts on goal in the 90 minutes, all of which were due to errors from our team. We will continue to lose games if we keep on gifting goals. I thought our performance was good from the last 15 minutes of the first half all through the second half without the quality required in the final third of the park and an inspired goalkeeping performance from the Craigroyston keeper. We had excellent performances in the game from our two young lads JP McPhail and Darrell Anthony who both worked hard and showed good skill and determination. Mark James and loan signing Gavin Sullivan both got much needed game time and we must continue to work hard if we are going to get positive results”.
Craigroyston: E. Tshibangu; A. Swinnie; N. Rendall; S. Fisher; O. Fleming; E. MacIntosh (C. Eadie); S. Donaldson (M. Doctor); G. Tulloch; K. Buckley; D. Heggie (G. Summers); R. Strachan.
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; C. Lowe; E. Anderson (E. Fotheringham); G. Sullivan (B. Couper); G. Haywood; P. Bell; JP. McPhail; D. Anthony; M. James (G. Grieve); A. Doig; E. Henderson.
Referee: G. Irvine.