Shippy ease to comfortable win.
The Shipyard gathered another three points on the road after a 4-1 win at lowly Hawick on Saturday. Goals from Ben Anthony, Jack Wilson, Jordan Galloway and Raymond Crichton sent the Shippy fans in attendance at Albert Park home happy. Despite Wilson being sent off in the 79th minute with the score at 2-0, the visitors were not knocked off their stride and remained in control and only a very harsh penalty awarded to Hawick, converted by Lewis Swaney, gave the hosts some consolation. Regulars Shaun Keatings, Sam Glancy, Ryan O’Donnell and Stuart Walton were all missing, however, there was still a strong 16-man squad that travelled to the borders.
The task was quite simple for the Shipyard players, get three points and move on to the next match and they set about their business confidently as they created a couple of early chances. A Wilson pass set up Anthony and Albert keeper Sam Scott did well to push away the powerful shot. Then the roles were reversed as Wilson’s lobbed effort was cleared. The Shippy came close in the 25th minute as Benji’s curling effort came back off the post. The deadlock was broken in the 32nd minute when Benji was pulled back in the box. It was a clear penalty with many surprised that the referee took no action against the offending Hawick defender. Scott was unlucky as he got a hand to Anthony’s strike but could not keep the ball out of the net. Hawick were by no means out of it and it took a great save from Scott Costello to deny Davis Hope whose header looked net bound.
Iain Millar headed a corner wide before the Shippy doubled their lead in comical fashion. Scott came out to clear the ball but took a fresh air swipe at the ball. Wilson gathered the loose ball and looked set to score, however, Scott recovered and dived at the ball only for Wilson retain possession and knock it past a couple of recovering defenders and into the net. Scott remained grounded requiring attention to an injury though he was able to continue after two or three minutes. Was it a foul? The referee didn’t think so and the Shippy were looking comfortable two goals ahead. Mark James hit the woodwork from another Shipyard corner as the visitors remained in control and it soon became 3-0 as substitute Jordan Galloway rifled home a free-kick from the edge of the box. Hawick were awarded a somewhat controversial penalty in the 90th minute when the referee adjudged that Lee Henderson had fouled Swaney. There appeared to be no contact whatsoever as the big striker went down but there was enough to convince the referee otherwise. Swaney dispatched the spot kick past Costello sending him the wrong way. There was still time for the Shippy to grab another goal as Crichton latched onto Sandy Strang’s flick on and Mondo produced a composed finish to beat Scott.
Manager Dave Costello spoke after the game saying “I thought we did well today on what was a difficult pitch. We have scored four goals away from home so I am pleased with that. We coped very well after Jack was sent off and overall, we defended very well, not giving Hawick many opportunities at all.”
Next Saturday we travel the short distance to Crosshill to face Lochore Welfare in what is sure to be another tough game. Kick-off at Central Park is at 2.30pm.
Hawick Royal Albert United: S. Scott; J. Shankie; T. Fowler; D. Hope; S. Solley; L. Robertson; L. Swaney; E. Gray (R. Inglis); R. McPherson (J. Ngoa); G. Ford; K. Murphy (D. Kemp).
Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; L. Ross; M. Miller (L. Henderson); M. James; I. Millar; C. Watt (J. Galloway); D. Thomson (S. Strang); S. Orrock (R. Crichton); B. Anthony; J. Wilson; D. Anthony. Unused Sub: R. Connor.
Referee: D. MacKinnon.