Shippy exit King Cup.
Poor defending at two set pieces saw the Shipyard knocked out of the King Cup as they went down 2-1 to Peebles Rovers at Whitestone Park. Mark James had drawn his side level in the 77th minute but Peebles scored shortly after to seal their victory. Manager Raymond Drury’s attacking options were severely limited with Adam Doig, Kevin Masson and Stephen Stark all unavailable. However, he was able to welcome back both his son Connor and Mark James into the middle of the park after serving suspensions.
There was very little action in either box until the home team took the lead in the 17th minute and from the Shipyard’s point of view it was a bad goal to concede, as a corner from the left was floated in to the six yard box where Rovers centre back Dale Richardson nodded home from a couple of yards out. The Shippy replied with a Craig Lowe shot that was blocked by the Peebles defence. Shippy keeper Jordan Mushet had to be on his toes to punch over a flighted free-kick as Jason Darling tried his luck from 25yards. The visitors had an appeal for a penalty turned down as big striker Ewan Henderson appeared to be tugged as he drove into the Peebles box. The Shipyard were also frustrated throughout the first half being continually pulled up for offside though many of these decisions seemed to be extremely marginal if offside at all.
Mark James scored Shipyard equaliser
Rovers keeper Darren Walker did well to produce a double save from Scott Devaney as the Shippy midfielder twice drove the ball low towards goal after being set up by Craig Lowe. Big Hendo then headed over when the loose ball was crossed back in to the area. Peebles came back in the 62nd minute and Mushet pulled off a fine save from Paul Murray’s curling effort before the same player saw another shot deflected wide for a corner. The Shippy spurned a great opportunity to draw level in the 69th minute when Lowe burst into the box but with only the keeper to beat he shot narrowly wide. The Shipyard got the equaliser in the 77th minute with Lowe in the thick of the action again as he saw his shot cleared off the line and as the Peebles rearguard struggled to clear the ball it found its way to James who smashed the ball into the net. The Shippy were only able to keep parity for three minutes as once again Peebles scored from a corner. Mushet came out to gather the high ball and although he appeared to be impeded the referee let play continue and the ball was scrambled home for what proved to be the winner.
Manager Drury was left rueing the defensive lapses when he said after the match “I thought the game was very similar to last week where we were a bit sluggish in the first half and conceded a very soft goal. In the second half we were sharper and played very well on a poor surface but yet again we concede a soft goal. Myself and Pete know where we need to improve and will be working on this at training”.
Peebles Rovers: D. Walker; K. Munro; D. McAleavy; R. Johnstone; D. Richardson; S. Anderson (D. Ndiweni); R. Harris (S. Conaghan); J. Darling; S. Sutherland (B. Edwards); J. Young; P. Murray.
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; G. McCann; P. Bell; A. MacDonald; B. Couper (B. Saunders); M. James; S. Devaney (E. Anderson); C. Lowe; E. Henderson; C. Drury; D. Anthony.
Referee: C. Doyle.