Recreation Park, East of Scotland League Division 2, 22/11/25
Me 360,Wee Man 217
Burntisland Shipyard Football Club
Founded – 1919
Nickname – The Shippy
Selected Honours – Fife Cup -2017/18. Fife Amateur Cup– 1931/32, 1945/46, 1989/90, 1991/92 and 1996/97. Kirkcaldy and District Amateur League – 1965/66, 1985/86, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96 and 1998/99. Logan Cup – 1927/28, 1934/35, 1935/36
Random Fact – The club first entered the Scottish Cup in 1930 when they drew Murrayfield Amateurs heading out after a replay. However, it took until 1971 to win a match when they defeated Coldstream 2 v 0 at Recreation Park.
Huntly 7 v 0 Burntisland Shipyard Amateurs in the 1994/95 Scottish Cup, a result that seems to have been etched in my memory for two reasons. The first being, Huntly went on to face Dundee United at Christie Park in the following round, the other being, as an 11 year old, Burntisland Shipyard Amateurs seemed a great name for a football club. With little knowledge of fitba outwith my own north east corner the teams moniker was up there with St Cuthbert Wanderers, Civil Service Strollers, Spartans among others, teams I would hear on Sportsound in the classifieds on the way home from Pittodrie. At the time I had no idea where these teams came from, what league they were in but I did know I thought their names were cool. Today we headed south to the Kingdom allowing me to visit the Shippy, 30 years on after that Huntly match. There was a reason for it too. While heading to watch Ellon Thistle last weekend Wee Man and I were talking about names of Scottish teams. Junior himself is enamoured with Clachnacuddin and Auchinleck Talbot. I mentioned Hermes and Burntisland Shipyard. The latter pricked his interest with him asking where they were from and if we could go some time. A week later we found ourselves in the south of Fife which also got us away from the four inches of snow on the doorstep and 0 degree temperature in Aberdeenshire. Our home area where a large percentage of the days games had bitten the chilly dust which in turn aided in taking us somewhere which seemed tropical at 8 degrees C with the sun poking through without a speckle of the white stuff.
We got to Burntisland at 14.00, this leaving us no time to check the place out. I did notice it seems to be an old town.It’s not somewhere I have ever been before barring passing through on the train. But any touristy type stuff was out the window as smashing the ice on the duck pond in the Duthie Park back in Aberdeen with the Wee Wee one was the order of the morning prior to heading off.
It was pretty much pie then kick off on arrival. (Or chips in Wee Man’s case which he was raving about). With the bonnie views of the nearby hill looming over us the Swifts in yellow kicked off v the hosts in pink and it wasn’t long until the rosé clad men were testing Kyle Moran in the Swifts goal as he was forced into a solid double save early doors. It was the start of a busy afternoon for the keeper. The Swifts had a big chance not too long after when Shippy defender Iain Miller got the ball caught in his feet allowing Scott Gray to nick the ball and break free but Brown in the sticks for Burntisland made himself big to thwart the forward and to save his team mates blushes. But when it came to keepers, Moran was the busier of the two with maybe six or seven stops in the first half alone. He was also lucky not to hand Burntisland a pen when he came sprinting off his line to close the angle for Galloway(I think) who managed to get a toe on the ball as he was clobbered. The effort rolled tamely wide but was the fact the toe met the ball the deciding factor for the ref not to award the spot kick? I thought it was a stick on from where I was. The Shipyard bench were apoplectic and they had an even better view than me. The home side were the better team in the half but just couldn’t find that way past Moran.
HT 0 v 0
Half time saw us take advantage of some mini goals that were available. A dirty 15 minutes it turned into given the sogginess of the ground, this inclusive of Wee Man slipping onto his arse clarting himself in Fife dubs. The second half was far more even than the first with the Swifts much more in it. It also had a pleasing amount of niggle brought into it which pleased me given this is surely classed as a derby with just the five miles between them. I was hoping for this throughout proceedings and was actually a bit disappointed it took so long to appear. Moran was again the busier keeper and going by how the match was to pan out I would say he was the man of the match due to his escapades keeping the Shippy at bay. Especially when substitute Dylan Vannett stepped up to ensure the bragging rights on the north side of the Firth of Forth were heading west to Dalgety Bay. Receiving the ball from fellow sub Connall White, Vannett had one thing on his mind as he beat a man before unleashing a curling effort completely out of reach and into the top corner. A fine way to win a game (not known at the time as there were still 18 to go). The niggle returned to the match and before the the game was out another Shippy pen shout led to tempers flaring and saw some pushing, a bit of handbags, a one armed side slam that the Big Boss Man would have been proud of and a bit more handbags before the ref called an end to the match under the Recreation Park floodlights. A decent game overall which may have been won by a fine strike but as Wee Man said , “that keeper won the game”. He is correct to an extent as he played his part. This was also a case of the “goal keepers union” from junior too, something common in his wee brain these days. Whatever the case the keeper earned Wee Man a correct score on the day taking him within one of me for the season to date.
A worthwhile trip down to the Kingdom on the whole. Maybe we can see more of the what looked a fine old fashioned town another day.
Entrance – Me £7, Wee Man free
Attendance – 109 (rough head count)
Pie – £8, pie x 2, chips and coffee
Pint – No time
Score Predictions – Me 1 v 1, Wee Man 0 v 1
Score Predictions Season Total – Me 3 v 2 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 