Survival campaign stutters on the Canniepairt

Bo’ness...............................3

Tayport lost 3-0 on the Canniepairt against a strong Bo’ness outfit in a Super League encounter.

In a goalless first half, ‘Port had the ball in the net early on but the referee had blown for a foul on the goalkeeper.

For the remainder of the half, the BUs probed for openings and came close on a couple of occasions.

Drew Fleming had to sweep up to clear a Fraser Keast effort, while Gregor Anderson did well to clear a goalbound drive from midfielder Robert Sloan.

Gavin Sorley also made a couple of stops, to keep Bo’ness at bay, as they exerted pressure towards the break.

At the start of the second half, a combination of Sorley and the crossbar prevented the visitors from opening the scoring, then Tayport enjoyed their best spell of the contest.

The first Tayport chance fell to Alan Tulleth, who found some space in the box, only for his low effort to be blocked. Shortly afterwards, Drew Fleming broke forward from defence and found Gary Sutherland, but he was denied by ‘keeper Scott Christie.

Bo’ness broke the deadlock courtesy of substitute Chris Donnelly who swept home from 25 yards out.

Six minutes later their lead was doubled, this time from closer range, after a neat move infield from the right side of the park.

There was to be no grand ‘Port comeback this week and the visitors completed the scoring in injury-time, when substitute Greig McDonald netted a free header at the far post.

One positive aspect of the second period was the introduction of local teenager Struan Christie who showed up well on his debut.

The 15 year old became the youngest player to feature in a competitive match for Tayport Juniors.

Tayport - Sorley, Ogg, Robertson(Rennie), Fleming, Anderson, Elvin, Rollo, Tulleth(Christie), Reid, Sutherland, Cavanagh(Adam).

The defeat was a blow to the home side’s aspirations of staying in the top flight.

Manager John Ovenstone said: “It was frustrating, as individual errors again cost us. We matched Bo’ness for the first 65 minutes, then the game got away from us.

“We had two really good opportunities to take the lead. “It would obviously have given us a massive boost, but we didn’t convert and then Bo’ness did what good teams do, they took advantage when their openings came along.”