Shippy stung by rampant Jags
The Shipyard turned in as poor a half as you are likely to see as Dalkeith Thistle blitzed a beleaguered visitors defence with three goals in eleven first half minutes, killing the match as a contest. The second period was a much more even contest but the damage had already been done. The teams came into this match on the back of contrasting Scottish Cup results. Thistle were on a high following their 5-0 win over St Cuthbert Wanderers on Saturday while the Shippy were still licking their wounds on the back of their defeat at Sauchie.
Two changes from Saturday saw Iain Millar and Ryan O’Donnell come in for Michael Gibb and Sam Glancy.
After an uneventful opening ten minutes Dalkeith took the lead following a defensive mix up in the Shipyard defence which led to Michael Gould heading the ball home. Things got worse five minutes later when Dalkeith doubled their lead when Lewis Russell claimed the final touch from a Duncan Muir cross. Scott Costello saved with his legs and Gould hit the post as his pace caused the Shippy no end of problems. In between a Ben Anthony shot didn’t give Dalkeith keeper Aaron Jones to much trouble. The hosts went three ahead in the 22nd minute when Michael Rennie lashed the ball high into the net from close range at the back post following a free kick. The Shippy managed to keep Dalkeith at bay for the rest of the half and were a bit unfortunate when they couldn’t force the ball home after a scramble in the Thistle area just before half-time.
Manager Lee Richardson had to react and he made three changes at the interval as he replaced Harris Kay, CJ Thomson and O’Donnell with Cammy Lewis, Dan Thomson and Kearyn Hicks. The changes didn’t make an immediate difference as Dalkeith scored again. A ball from the righthand side found Gould totally unmarked in the centre of goal and he smashed the ball beyond Costello. A delicious curling effort from Anthony was tipped over by Jones and Craig Watt volleyed just over from around twenty yards as the Shipyard at last imposed themselves on the match. In the 56th minute a great run from Watt resulted in a Shippy goal as a Dalkeith defender turned the ball into his own net. Watt then blotted his copy book as he was red carded for apparent foul and abusive language towards the referee. Good play from sub Billy Murray, who made an impact when he came on, set up a chance for the Shippy but no one could take advantage and the chance was gone. Dalkeith finished the match strongly and Costy was forced to make a couple of good saves in the closing five minutes to keep the score down to four.
Richardson did not have a lot to say after the match other than “We were not at it from the start and once again lost some very poor goals. We were better in the second half but the game was gone by then.”
On Saturday we travel to Newburgh for our “Derby” match, a strange one that! Kick off at East Shore Park is at 2.30pm.
Dalkeith Thistle: A. Jones; D. McTernan; D. Muir; G. Callaghan; J. Mackie; K. Brockie; L. Russell; M. Brown; M. Lennie; M. Gould; R. Aitchison. Subs: C. Young; D. Greig; J. Davidson; R. Clelland; M. Ritchie.
Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; L. Ross; R. O’Donnell (K. Hicks); H. Milne; I. Millar; C. Watt; CJ. Thomson (D. Thomson); H. Kay (C. Lewis); B. Anthony (R. MacAulay); M. James; S. Keatings (B. Murray). Unused Subs: R. Watt & M. Robertson.
Referee: A. Brown.