Shippy stun Spartans in friendly win.
The Shipyard recorded a fine win in this friendly match against Spartans EOS at Ainslie Park despite going 2-0 down early in the second half. They staged a great fight back and goals from a deflected Grant Blyth shot, Brendan Napier and a fine solo effort from Dale Robertson sealed a magnificent comeback victory. Myles only had thirteen players available for this hastily arranged friendly but that did not affect the team’s performance on the day.
The first half was goalless with Spartans having more possession though both teams had decent chances to score, with the highlight probably being the fantastic save the Spartans keeper made from a Kevin Masson free-kick. It did not take Spartans long to break the deadlock in the second half when with only three minutes played a weak Donovan Hdabangana shot somehow beat Jordan Mushet in the Shipyard goals. In the 54th minute the home team doubled their advantage when a Lucasz Rusin 25yard free-kick found the corner of the net with the Shipyard management team questioning the positioning of the wall. The Shipyard got back into the match with eighteen minutes remaining when Grant Blyth fought hard to win the ball out wide and when he drove into the box his shot was deflected behind the keeper by one of the Spartans defenders. It was all square with ten minutes to go when a Pete Bell cross was met by Brendan Napier whose dinked effort found the back of the net via the underside of the bar. The Shipyard stunned their hosts when they took the lead in the 90th minute. Dale Robertson picked up a loose ball wide on the left and strode forward into the box before driving the ball into the net to give his side the win.
After the match Myles said “Although it’s correct not to place too much importance on the result of a friendly, I was very happy with the performance with the exception of the first 10 minutes of the second half. Spartans probably had slightly more possession and territory but I think that we had the better chances over the 90 minutes. There’s a good morale in the dressing room at the moment and the last 3 or 4 games have seen us put in some good performances. Hopefully we can take that into next week’s match at Hawick as that will be just as difficult as any match we’ve played recently and definitely more important”.
Burntisland Shipyard: J. Mushet; G. Bridges; P. Bell; B. Smart; C. McKay; K. Masson; J. Fyfe; J. Crombie; K. Buckley; B. Napier; G. Blyth. Subs: C. Lowe & D. Robertson.