Anthony brothers secure the points.
The Shipyard took a huge stride towards securing a top seven finish with a well-deserved win in a fiercely contested match against Lochore Welfare at Central Park on Saturday. The 3-1 win see’s the Shippy move five points clear of Heriot Watt University with two games remaining for both clubs.
Ryan O’Donnell, Shaun Keatings and Sam Glancy replaced Matty Miller, Scott Orrock and Jack Wilson from last week’s win at Hawick. This wasn’t a game for the faint hearted as both teams gave their all with some meaty challenges being put in all over the park. However, that didn’t detract from what was a good game of football.
The first chance of the match fell the way of Dan Thomson and the big midfielder saw his driven shot pushed away by Welfare keeper Declan Morgan for a corner. The home team replied with a ball fired across the face of the Shippy goals. The Shipyard made the breakthrough in the 26th minute when Darrell Anthony headed home following a long throw in from the right-hand side. Lochore rarely threatened for the remainder of the half with the Shippy content with their lead.
The game became much more open in the second half with Thomson twice and Lewis Ross having efforts blocked. Good work from Ben Anthony set up Keatings but Morgan was well placed to hold his shot. Against the run of play Lochore drew level in the 63rd minute when Calum Murray rose unchallenged at the back post to head home from a corner. The parity lasted not much more than a minute as Benji latched onto a Craig Watt ball and calmly slotted the ball beyond Morgan, much to the delight of the away support. Welfare were dealt a blow when Matthew Christie received a second yellow card leaving them to see out the rest of the match a man light. Murray shot wide for the hosts before the Shippy really should have sealed it. Benji broke clear and rounded the keeper and looked certain to score, however, he delayed his shot allowing a defender to get back and block. Substitute Sandy Strang headed wide from the resultant corner and at the other end Watt did well to head a powerful strike over at the expense of a corner. The Shippy sealed the win and the vital three points in added time as Benji gathered the ball at the edge of the box and drove the ball into the bottom corner sparking jubilant scenes on and off the pitch. After the match manager Dave Costello said “I’m delighted. I though we put in a great performance today, dominating for much of the match. We scored three, should have had more and I can’t recall Scott making a save. To a man they all gave me everything.” He went on to add “We’re not over the line yet but we have put ourselves in a very good position with only two games remaining.”
The next match takes place on Friday evening (20/5/22) as we travel to face Luncarty in the penultimate match of the season. Kick-off at Brownlands Park is at 7.30pm. The Club is running a bus to the match and a limited number of seats can be booked through the usual channels.
Lochore Welfare: D. Morgan; K. Harris (S. Cusick); C. Murray; E. Anderson (A. Wood); M. Christie; E. Sutherland; J. Kirby; P. Thomson; L. Thomson; S. Renton; S. Small. Unused Sub: J. Adam.
Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; L. Ross; R. O’Donnell; M. James; I. Millar; C. Watt; S. Keatings; D. Anthony (S. Strang); B. Anthony; S. Glancy; D. Thomson (J. Galloway). Unused Subs: S. Walton & R. Connor.
Referee: R. Bowie.