Manager brands performance unacceptable as Shipyard crumble.
Once more the Shipyard’s defensive frailties reared their ugly head as they conceded five without reply to Dunipace, who prior to kick off were below the Shippy in the Conference B table. An injury in the warm up to Dean Anderson, who pulled out with a knee problem, did not help matters as Stuart had to reshuffle the back four that had performed so admirably last week against Cowdenbeath in the Fife Cup. Scott Powrie took Anderson’s place in the starting eleven but unfortunately Ross Lennie had not recovered from the hamstring injury he picked up nine days ago.
Aidan Stevenson shot over for the hosts with barely a couple of minutes on the clock and the Shipyard replied with a Robbie Crawford shot that was held by keeper David Kane. The first clear opportunity fell to Dunipace’s Alan McFadden but Ryan Adamson was equal to the task as he saved with his legs. The Shippy were playing some good passing football but were not creating the chances their build up play deserved. Adamson was forced into another save following a quick counter attack by the hosts and a couple of minutes later Powrie cleared a dangerous cross at the expense of a corner. Dunipace opened the scoring from the set piece when the Shipyard defence failed to clear their lines and Craig Hughes managed to get the ball over the line via the underside of the bar. Dunipace were now on top and went two ahead after Adamson saved well from McFadden, however, when the ball was put wide and crossed back into the box Keir Stevenson was on hand to knock the ball home. In the 42nd minute Crawford drove into the box but his attempt was cleared for a corner and from the resultant kick Rab Kinnaird might have done better than blast the ball over from a good position. Dunipace’s third goal was an absolute shamble as far as the Shipyard were concerned. When a clearance was played back into the box the whole Shipyard defence stood still appealing for offside, never a good thing to do with no assistants on the line, allowing Stevenson all the time in the world to dummy Adamson and roll the ball into the net.
The Shippy should have pulled one back a minute into the second half but unfortunately Reece Brown could not turn Callum McAulay’s cross into the net from around six yards, though Kane deserves credit for his save. Brown had another effort saved two minutes later as he shot from twenty yards. The Shipyard passed up another good chance in the 56th minute when Sandy Strang got on the end of McAulay’s free-kick but his attempt was just wide of the target. Crawford had a shot blocked and substitute Jordan Galloway had a shot saved but the game was put to bed in the 73rd minute. From a corner on the right David Morrison was afforded a free header a few yards out and he buried the ball into the net. Criminal defending. Dunipace got a fifth in the 80th minute through Greg MacPherson as more poor defending rounded off a miserable day for the Shipyard.
The Shipyard face Lothian Thistle HV in a Conference B match at home on Saturday 1st December 2018, with the match kicking off at 2.00pm.
Dunipace: D. Kane, R. Shanks, M. Galloway (C. Murphy), D. Morrison, C. Hughes, A. Stevenson, G. MacPherson (B. Tulloch), G. Wright, K. Stevenson, A. McFadden, Z. Raymen (S. McHaffie). Unused Sub: R. Balmer.
Burntisland Shipyard: R. Adamson, S. Powrie, S. Glancy, S. Strang, R. O’Donnell; C. Simpson (R. Bernard), R. Kinnaird, Jon. Galloway, R. Brown (Jor Galloway), C. McAulay, R. Crawford. Unused Subs: D. Anderson & M. Jarrett.
Referee: S. Henderson.