Damage done by Ramage.

The Shipyard suffered disappointment at Ormiston as a storming finish could not quite produce the goal they deserved as a fantastic save from David Simmonds and the underside of the bar denied them. On both occasions the unlucky player was Dale Robertson and earlier Simmons kept out another goal bound Robertson effort. With Robbie Cunningham, Gordon Grieve, Kevin Masson, Brendan Napier and Anesu Tabengwa all unavailable for a variety of reasons, Martin Nedialkov made his debut and Jordan Crosbie made his first start after a couple of substitute appearances. Two trialists also took a place on the bench.

The Shipyard got off to a dream start by taking the lead in the third minute. Stephen Connor done well out wide on the right to engineer space to deliver a cross and it was pinpoint accurate as it gave Pete Bell the easy task of nodding the ball into the net. An acrobatic effort from Mark Leslie called Mikey Couser into action and Couser also did well to stand up and block the follow up from Richard Weir. Brian McEwan headed over from a good position as Ormiston looked to draw level and they were not to be denied when Weir was on hand to tap in a cross from the right hand side. Robertson and Weir had attempts for their respective sides that were off target, then Alex Peoples of the Shipyard was denied twice within seconds as firstly his angled shot was blocked by a defender. His follow up shot was pushed away by Simmonds at the expense of a corner. The Shipyard enjoyed a good spell of pressure as the half entered its final few minutes but it was Ormiston that went the closest when Couser had to block with his legs from Conor Ramage.

Ormiston stunned the Shipyard with a goal just 35 seconds after the restart when a corner skimmed off the head of a defender and Ramage was at the back post to head the ball into the net. The Shipyard were level within seven minutes when a short corner gave Connor the chance to fire in a shot that was blocked but  fell to Crosbie who knocked the ball home from close range. Ramage was off target with a header for Ormiston when he should have done better with the space afforded to him. A deep cross from Nedialkov had Simmonds in a flap and he was happy in the end to knock the ball away from under his bar. A well worked free kick from the Shipyard saw a powerful Robertson drive pushed away as the Shipyard enjoyed a good spell. However, it was Ormiston who took the lead when Ramage got on the end of a through ball and from a very tight angle found the corner of the net. Connor and Robertson linked well to set up a chance for Lee Henderson but the Shipyard sub dragged his shot wide. Simmonds lost the ball in an aerial challenge but redeemed himself when he seemed to touch Robertson’s effort over for a corner though a goal kick was given. A Gavin Bridges header was cleared for a corner as both teams continued to attack and Couser was at full stretch to catch a Craig Fisher free kick. As the game moved in to the closing stages the Shipyard were throwing everything at Ormiston and when a free kick fell to Robertson in the box Simmonds denied him with an excellent save. Once again when a free kick was delivered into the box Robertson was on the end of it again. This time it was the underside on the crossbar that denied him the goal he richly deserved and as the ball bounced down on the line it was booted clear.

Manager Myles Allan reflected after the match “I think the guys will feel a bit disappointed after that today. Every one of them put in a great shift  but ultimately if you concede three goals so cheaply, it’s always going to be an uphill struggle. It’s certainly the best start we’ve had but we didn’t build on it when we should have. At half time, the very last thing I said was that we couldn’t afford to start the second half slowly. 30 seconds later, we’ve gone 2-1 down. We worked hard to get back level and managed to do that. We then conceded another poor goal from our perspective. The pleasing thing though is that the guys never gave in and kept creating chances. But unfortunately we couldn’t take one more. We now look forward to going down to Gala on Tuesday and hopefully we can get one or two more bodies back for that one”.

Teams: Ormiston: Simmonds; Nisbet; Cornhill; Leslie; Fairnie; Adams; Miller (Carter); Fisher; Weir (Calder); Ramage; McEwan. Unused Subs: Purves; Donnelly.

Burntisland Shipyard: Couser; Grubb; Nedialkov (Ballie); Bridges; McKay; Bell; Crosbie; Innes (Henderson); Connor; Robertson; Peoples (McCrindle). Unused Sub: Mooney.

Referee: K. Maskell.