Following discussions with East Fife FC it has been agreed to revert back to the original venue with the match now taking place at Bayview. Given the current weather forecast for the area and the East of Scotland League rearranging two league fixtures, giving the Club three Saturday home fixtures in a row, we did not want the fixture to be postponed due to the likelihood of the pitch being unplayable. Obviously we are disappointed to take this decision, denying our young fans the chance to see East Fife at the Shippy, however, in reality we were left with no choice.
The match will kick off at 8pm with admission charges remaining at £7 for Adults and £4 for concessions. We hope to see all our fans there supporting the boys.
Unsurprisingly, it was the usual Shipyard Achilles heel that did the damage on Saturday as more poor defending and indecision cost them dearly in the rescheduled match against Stirling University. The students were four goals ahead before a late double from Billy Murray made the final scoreline more respectable. Not much went the Shipyard’s way throughout the match with two handball decisions at critical stages in the match going against them. With the match still tight the Shippy appealed for a penalty for handball in the Stirling box and much to everyone’s surprise, including the Stirling players, the referee deemed that it was Ben Anthony who had handled and awarded the visitors a free kick. Add in a clear handball in the build up to the third Stirling goal that went unpunished, then you knew it wasn’t going to be the Shipyard’s day.
With the Watt brothers on holiday and Cammy Lewis still out injured from the original match the Shippy team was much changed from the previous encounter.
The first real chance came along in the 15th minute when a hesitant home defence allowed Favour Aigbokie to break clear, however, the big striker failed to hit the target. He got another chance similar to the first only three minutes later as the Shippy defence left the ball to each other and this time he made no mistake from the edge of the area. We had the penalty incident before the University doubled their lead. Once again, the Shipyard defence were all at sea as a Ben Craig-Hislop shot took a deflection and looped over Scott Costello in the Shippy goals. The visitors more or less put the game to bed a minute before half-time as, in controversial circumstances, a handball went unnoticed which allowed Jose Ignacio Navarro to fire the ball home. The Shippy had offered nothing as an attacking force in the first period.
Stirling scored a fourth goal in the 55th minute as Hislop netted his second with questions once again being asked about the quality of the defending. The Shippy finally got an effort on target in the 69th minute when Shaun Keatings stooped to head a Harris Kay cross, however, keeper Andrew Rowan was still awake and made the save. The introduction of Murray gave Stirling something different to think about as he put himself about and he reduced the deficit when he headed home a Sam Glancy corner from close range. The young striker then headed over in the 90th minute but he was not to be denied a second as he bravely headed in another, in what was to be the last action of the game.
Manager Lee Richardson was far from happy after the match when he said “The individual errors are killing us. What is most disappointing for me is that Stirling didn’t have to work hard for their goals. We are gifting teams’ goals game after game and until it stops, we are going to struggle”.
Next week (21/10/2023) we are at home yet again, this time against Kennoway Star Hearts for a league match with the kick off at 2.30pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; L. Ross (M. Gibb); I. Millar; M. James; K. Kicks; H. Kay (M. Robertson); CJ. Thomson (E. Bauld); S. Glancy; B. Anthony (B. Murray); S. Keatings; D. Thomson (R. MacAulay).
Stirling University: A. Rowan; C. Doan; M. Harty; J. Farrell; A. Peris; N. Harney-Rogerson; B. Craig-Hislop; A. Leese; F. Aigbokie; JI. Navarro; B. Moule. Subs: R. Lennon; J. Elliot; O. Kanwei; A. Napier; D. Copeland.
We welcome East Fife FC to Recreation Park for our Fife Cup 1/4 final tie on Tuesday 24th October 2023, kick off 7.30pm. Season tickets are not valid for this match due to Fife FA rules with the usual pricing of £7 Adults & £4 concessions applying. Unfortunately there is also no free admission to under 16’s for this match. All catering and refreshment facilities will be open before and during the game.
The Shipyard came out on top in a fiercely contested match against Edinburgh College at Recreation Park on Saturday. No quarter was asked or given as the Shippy came out 3-1 winners and deservedly so as they created many more chances than their counterparts, indeed Scott Costello didn’t have an awful lot to do throughout the ninety minutes. The aforementioned Costello returned to the starting eleven along with Mark James and Ryan Watt with Mikey Couser, Ethan Bauld and Robbie MacAulay dropping out.
The Shipyard created an opening in the 10th minute; however, Dan Thomson’s strike flew wide of the target. The opening goal was only delayed for a minute as the Shippy took the lead in their next attack. The visitors were unable to clear the danger and Shaun Keatings was on hand to fire a left footed shot into the net. College’s first chance came in the 16th minute when Andrew Dempster shot across the face of goal following a corner. A fine pass from Sam Glancy released Ben Anthony but his tempting cross couldn’t find a teammate. College equalised in the 29th minute and it was an all too familiar scenario as the Shippy defence failed to deal with a corner to the back post. The ball was headed back across the face and nodded home from close range. The Shipyard regained the lead in the 37th minute when Craig Watt’s ball fell to Iain Millar whose effort was headed against the post by a defender with the ball dropping nicely for Anthony to head into the empty net from six yards. Just on half time Anthony’s persistence saw him evade a couple of challenges at the side of the area allowing him to square the ball across the six yard line with the visitor’s defence doing well to clear their lines. Keatings had been involved in a meaty challenge in the centre of the field with the visitors demanding a red card, however, the referee thought it only merited a yellow. After this incident College were pressurising the ref to show Keatsy another yellow card every time he made a challenge so it was no surprise that manager Lee Richardson left him in the dressing room at half time and he was replaced by Harris Kay.
Big Millzy headed home the third.
It only took the Shippy two minutes to increase their lead as Millar out jumped College keeper Ciaran Cairns to head home Glancy’s delightfully flighted free kick. Cairns dived to his left to push away Thomson’s 22 yard free kick in the 63rd minute and Thomson was involved again ten minutes later as his fine pass found Ryan Watt but the young forwards shot hit the side netting.
After the game manager Richardson said “I thought we played well today with every department doing their job. The boys defended very well, apart from the goal, the midfield put in a tremendous shift and we took our chances when they came along. It’s a good win against a decent side.”
Next Saturday (07/10/2023) we are on the road with Easthouses Lily MW the opposition at Newbattle Complex with kick off at 2.30pm.
Burntisland Shipyard: S. Costello; L. Ross; I. Millar; M. James; K. Hicks; C. Watt; R. Watt (CJ. Thomson); S. Glancy; B. Anthony; S. Keatings (H. Kay); D. Thomson. Unused Subs: R. MacAulay & M. Gibb.
Edinburgh College: C. Cairns; M. Snedden; J. Cook; J. Chapman; L. Alexander; I. Laver; B. Ramage; S. Kelly; J. Kay; A. Dempster; K. Robertson. Subs: J. Fital; F. Boyes; D. Morrison; J. Temple; L. Graham.
Friday night saw the Club unveil Neil McLeod’s memorial bench before the game against Crossgates as wife Carol and son Ollie removed the cover with several other family members also in attendance. I’m sure everyone will agree it’s a stunning bench and a fine tribute to a great man.
Neil McLeod memorial bench.Carol, Ollie and the Shipyard players gather round Neil’s bench.
The Shipyard faced Premier League Crossgates Primrose in a friendly on Friday night and fully deserved to draw the match against a team two divisions higher than them. It finished 1-1 after Craig Henderson had given Primrose the lead midway through the first half, with a fine Ryan Watt strike drawing the Shippy level in the last few minutes. Both managers were able to utilise their squads to the full, with Lee Richardson giving a debut to the on loan Ethan Bauld and had Mikey Couser playing the whole match in goal. In what was a competitive game there were chances at both ends with Shaun Keatings, Dan Thomson and Sandy Strang all going close for the Shipyard. Richardson would have been happy to see Sam Glancy slot back into the team following his decision to resign for the Club and it looked like he had never been away as he turned in a solid performance.
Ryan Watt scored a fine equalising goal.
Burntisland Shipyard: M. Couser; L. Ross; I. Millar; E. Bauld; K. Hicks; C. Watt; D. Thomson; S. Glancy; B. Anthony; S. Keatings; R. MacAulay. Subs: H. Kay; R. Watt; B. Murray; S. Strang; M. Robertson; S. Costello.
Crossgates Primrose: M. Komocki; S. Anderson; C. McGuire; A. Campbell; C. Muirhead; G. MacDonald; C. Henderson; A. Chingwalu; C. Dow; B. Paterson; A. McDonald. Subs: N. Lawrie; S. Lawrie; R. Graham; C. Paterson; S. Hunter; D. Aitken; R. Dewar; A. Thomson.
Sadly, Saturday’s match against Stirling University had to be abandoned at half time due to Cammy Lewis picking up a serious knee injury. Following a challenge on the Shippy left, around the halfway line, the young midfielder went down in obvious distress and it was immediately apparent that it was a serious injury. An ambulance was called for and with the referee conscious of the delay, he decided to abandon the match. Once the paramedics arrived it became clear that Cammy had dislocated his knee and was subsequently taken to hospital. Although the visitors were sympathetic, they were naturally disappointed as they were well in command as they held a 4-1 lead at the interval.
Following Cammy’s visit to hospital we are pleased to say that he is on the mend and is in good spirits. His knee is currently in a brace and at this stage it is too early to put a timescale on his recovery, though he will be out for several weeks. Everyone at the Club wishes Cammy a speedy recovery.
With no fixture on Saturday we are in friendly action on Friday night as we welcome Crossgates Primrose to Recreation Park. Entry is Adults £4 and Concessions £2. Kick off is at 7.30pm.
