Lacklustre Shipyard lose out
The Shipyard went out of the Scottish Amateur Cup in tame fashion losing by the only goal of the game to St Mungo at Recreation Park. Fraser Reid in the St Mungo goal was rarely tested and Paul Duncanson’s strike in the 25th minute was enough to win it for the Bishopbriggs side. The Shipyard were dealt a blow before kick-off with Paul Ferrier calling off sick. James Whyte and Andy Martin returned to the starting eleven in place of the aforementioned Ferrier and Scott Chalmers. The pitch comfortably passed a morning inspection, though as the match progressed underfoot conditions became steadily worse.
McCue saw a shot from distance in the 4th minute easily gathered by Duncanson, before Hopes passed up a good chance for St Mungo in the 10th minute when he latched onto a flick on but lobbed the advancing Martin and the bar. St Mungo were having more of the pressure, probably due to the strong wind behind them, though it was the Shipyard who were next to go close when after a Hamilton shot was blocked, Russell gathered the ball, turned and shot just over the bar.. In the 24th minute Duncanson saw his shot turned away by Martin for a corner and from that corner he opened the scoring. The ball was only partially cleared and when it broke to Duncanson at the edge of the box his powerful drive flew into the Shipyard net. The Shipyard replied with a McCreadie header wide from a McCue corner, and then St Mungo also had a headed effort from a corner that Martin Saved comfortably. In a game of few chances a Williams free-kick from 22 yards in the 37th minute flew a couple of feet over the bar in what was the last chance of the first half.
Although the Shipyard now had the conditions behind them it was St Mungo who still had the better of the exchanges and Williams had to make a perfectly timed challenged in the first minute of the second half. The game was now becoming very dour and it was not until the 61st minute that either goal was threatened and it was St Mungo who again went close when a ball across the face of goal just eluded the inrushing forward. Dow had a shot that was straight at the keeper in the 64th minute as the Shipyard struggled to make any headway against the well marshalled St Mungo defence with J. Chisholm dominating in the air. Martin had to make a decent double save in the 73rd minute to keep the Shipyard in it and in the 80th minute he also held a rising shot as St Mungo looked to finish the tie. Hamilton had a shot from the edge of the box held by Reid before a Brough free-kick in the 89th minute stretched Reid as he had to get down low to his left to push the ball away for a corner. St Mungo held on without too much to worry about in the closing stages as they deservedly progressed to the next round.
After the match Billy Whitehead said “We just never turned up today, I’m very disappointed with the performance. We never got the ball wide on enough occasions as we usually do. St Mungo adapted to the conditions better than us and good luck to them in the next round”.
Teams: Burntisland Shipyard: A. Martin; McAndrew; Brough; Williams; Whyte; Dow; Hamilton; Cook; Russell (Grieve); McCreadie; McCue (Wilson). Unused Sub: Chalmers.
St Mungo: Reid; Taylor; Smart; Duff; J.Chisholm; C. Chisholm; McLaughlin; Duncanson; Docherty; Hopes; Pollard. Subs: Adamson; McClymont; Caldwell.
Referee: E. Donaldson.