Burntisland Shipyard hit Stirling Uni for nine

Burntisland's Sandy Strang in the thick of the action.

Despite the students scoring a couple of goals in a ten-minute spell either side of half-time the destination of the three points was never in doubt.

New signing Dale Allan had an impressive debut, netting twice in the second half as well as being involved in four of the five first half goals, whilst Gavin Ross also scored his first Shipyard goals.

There was barely a minute on the clock when the Shipyard took the lead as a deep cross to the back post was smashed home by the onrushing Ryan O’Donnell.

An Allan cross in the fifth minute found the head of Robbie Crawford and as the Uni defence struggled to keep the ball out Reece Brown was on hand to bundle the ball over the line.

There was a slice of good fortune about the third goal as Allan’s cross was played against the legs of Crawford and the ball cannoned off him finding the bottom corner of the net.

A fourth Shipyard goal arrived in the 37th minute when Sam Glancy drove home a low left foot effort from the edge of the box.

The visitors pulled a goal back in the 40th minute amid furious protests from the Shippy defence with their appeals for offside being ignored by the referee allowing Ted Hodges to beat Gibb. The Shippy quickly restored their four-goal advantage as Ross headed home Allan’s corner just before the ref blew for the interval.

The visitors were enjoying their best spell in the match and Ryan Campbell found the net though the Shipyard would be disappointed with their defending.

The hosts quickly got back on the front foot and scored their sixth in the 62nd minute through a Ross header.

Allan scored his first Shipyard goal in the 69th minute when he tapped home after Uni keeper Colin Sanchez spilled Andy Watt’s shot, then got another as he capitalised on some slackness in the Stirling defence and he doubled his tally with a cool finish.

Ross missed his opportunity for his hat-trick as the game moved into added time, however, there was still time for another Shipyard goal as Glancy also scored a brace, netting with a fine angled shot from around twelve yards.