Shippy lack sting as Thistle progress in cup.
The Shipyard players seem devoid of confidence at the moment as they surrendered meekly to Dalkeith Thistle in the 2nd round of the Football Nation Qualifying Cup. Over the piece the scoreline was about right and other than a controversial handball penalty decision, the Shipyard had little to complain about. Seven players being unavailable for one reason or another doesn’t help matters, nonetheless, the players given the chance to impress didn’t grasp the opportunities handed to them.
The Shippy had the strong wind behind them as the game kicked off and Andy Watt had a shot on target after three minutes though Thistle keeper Shea Dowie had little difficulty in dealing with it. Dalkeith took the lead in the 6th minute through Mikey Bennett who easily stepped inside his man and curled the ball into the corner of the net, just out of Michael Gibb’s reach. Gibb then saved bravely in a one on one situation which saved the referee’s blushes given how far offside the Thistle striker was. Twice in a few minutes Reece Brown set up chances for Watt, however, on both occasions the bustling striker’s efforts were saved. Gibb held a well struck Guy Kerr free-kick in the 36th minute while at the other end a Watt header was off target. The Shipyard survived a couple of scares as half-time approached as firstly Gibb parried a Bennett drive and then Ryan O’Donnell was relieved to see his sliced clearance narrowly clear his own bar.
Dalkeith had some early second half pressure as Danny McFadden was firstly off target and he then saw another attempt tipped over by Gibb. The home team doubled their lead from the resultant corner as Stephen Woods had the simple task of nodding home at the back post. The Shippy were almost back in the game after 61 minutes when Connor McQuade’s shot hit the keeper and then the post before the danger was cleared. The game was done and dusted four minutes later when Bennett was allowed all the time in the world to turn and fire the ball beyond the diving Gibb. The Shipyard pulled a goal back through a fine left foot strike from Robbie Crawford and for the next few minutes Dalkeith were rattled though the Shippy never tested Dowie. Any slim Hope’s the visitors had were doused when referee awarded Dalkeith a penalty under the new handball rule. Kerr confidently tucked the spot kick away. Watt was unlucky to see his angled drive blocked by the legs of Dowie before the match drew to a close in controversial circumstances. Crawford was unfortunate to see his shot cleared off the line, however, he was not so fortunate when he was cleaned out by Dowie and not given the penalty the challenge merited. Everyone was surprised when the referee blew, expecting him to point to the spot rather than signal for full time with barely 30 seconds of added time played.
The games continue to come thick and fast with two games in the next week at Recreation Park with Raith Rovers visiting for a Fife Cup tie on Tuesday night kick-off 7pm and Leith Athletic coming across the bridge on Saturday for a league match which kicks off at 2.30pm.
Dalkeith Thistle: S. Dowie, R. Aitchison, R. Clelland, G. Kerr, S. Woods, K. Doig (G. Aitken), L. Currie, D. Leslie (J. Burrows), D. McFadden, M. Bennett (A. Wilson), J. McPartlin. Unused Subs.
Burntisland Shipyard: M. Gibb, Jor. Galloway, I. Millar, R. O’Donnell, D. Hunter, C. McQuade, R. Crawford, S. Strang, A. Watt, Jon. Galloway (P. Bell), R. Brown. Unused Subs: A. Cooper & R. Connor.
Referee: B. Falconer.