Jamesy makes his mark for Shippy
The Shipyard rolled back the years as Shippy legend Mark James, helping out due to injury problems, scored the winner in a moral boosting victory over Fair City in the 1st round of the league cup. The Shipyard survived a difficult opening 20 minutes where Fair City took the lead and also hit the woodwork three times. In that period the Shipyard had drawn level through Paul Wilson’s first goal for the club.
Fair City had the first attempt of the match in the 2nd minute and Scott Chalmers had to react quickly to divert a dipping effort onto the bar and over for a corner. Hamilton had the first Shipyard effort after he cut in from the right, but his left foot shot was wide. City hit the woodwork again in the 10th minute when the ball broke in the box and a snap shot hit the post. City were only delayed for a minute when a speculative shot was not gathered by Chalmers and the ball landed in the back of the net. McCue produced a great cross for the Shipyard in the 14th minute but there were no takers. The Shipyard equalised in the next minute when Paul Wilson Gathered the ball on the by-line, juggled it, then lobbed the ball from the narrowest of angles over keeper Robson into the far corner for a great goal. The woodwork again came to the Shipyard’s rescue when a header from a free kick near the corner flag smashed off the face of the bar. The Shipyard seemed to settle for the rest of the first half and created two or three chances without really testing Robson, with the closest being a T. Williams header from a McCue corner.
The second half was a totally different affair and after Fair City went close from a 48th minute corner, the Shipyard took total control and dominated the rest of the match. J. Williams beat the keeper to a through ball in the 55th minute but saw his shot go the wrong side of the post. The Shipyard took the lead in the 57th minute when veteran Mark James gathered the ball in the box, though his initial shot was blocked by the keeper, he showed all his experience by side stepping the grounded keeper and rolling the ball into the net. James then had an effort on the hour mark that was a yard wide. Next to go close was McCue who had a similar effort, this time the ball was just a whisker wide. Whyte then had a shot from distance that moved in the air before hitting the top of the bar and going over. Wilson then missed a great chance in the 72 minute when McCue played him in. He sidestepped the keeper but pushed his shot wide of the post. Wilson then just failed to connect with a Brough cross as the Shipyard pushed to finish the tie. A McCue shot from 12 yards was held by Robson in the 77th minute. In the final few minutes Fair City tried to force a leveller and a corner from the right was head flicked on at the near post and flashed across the face of the Shipyard goal. Deep into injury time Substitute Dow broke down the wing and played in a fine cross that again found no one on the end of.
Billy Whitehead was delighted after the game and said “It was vital to get last week’s debacle out of the way. After a shaky start we settled down and played some good stuff and created a lot of chances, particularly in the second half. I was delighted to see Jamesy get his goal, I told him in the morning that he would get one”.
Teams: Fair City: Robson; Ballingal; Ross; Dott; Taylor; Flynn; Jay; Dudek; McKay; Blyth; Zaczek. Subs: Beattie; Gormley; McPhee; Birrell.
Burntisland Shipyard: Chalmers; Grieve; Whyte; T. Williams; Russell; Brough; Hamilton; McCue; James (Dow); Wilson; J. Williams. Unused Subs: Doyle; Martin.
Referee: S. Rosner.