City Lap Up Island Life

Edinburgh City welcomed Burntisland Shipyard AFC to Meadowbank Stadium looking to prolong their Active Nation Scottish Cup run and Shipyard hoped to start one having received a bye in the first round. Burntisland have had a mixed start to the season and lie in a mid-table position in the Glendale Plastics League. For the second weekend in a row the Fifers crossed the Forth looking for cup glory. Last weekend they proved for long spells of the game at Whitehill in the South Challenge Cup that they can compete against East of Scotland opposition. Although they may have lost that game 4-1, City coach John Green saw enough to suggest that City would have to be on their game if they were to progress.

City looked to continue where they left off in the first round at Coldstream, but had to do so without the services of injured central defenders, Michael Bruce (groin strain) and captain Ross Macnamara (knee) who both failed to make the starting line up.

Danny Denholn put Edinburgh ahead after 10 minutes and then it was 2-0 when McFarland found the net in the 23rd Minute. The first of top scorer for City this season (with 11) Steven Clee's two goals (36 mins) saw real fear on behalf of the Amateurs who lost 8-0 at Albion Rovers in the 2007 SFA Cup and a similar score looked entirely possible before a O' Hanlon penalty reduced the deficit (38 mins) as Shipyard finally found their sea legs and pushed forward with a purpose that won the spot kick.

However, City went onto contain their visitors without too many problems and Clee clinched it with a second 10 minutes from time. The teams were already mentally back in the Dressing Room when Ross made it 5-1 with three minutes left. Similar to their Whitehill trip seven days previous Shipyard did not disgrace themselves in the capital but the gap between East of Scotland and Amateur League was enough to show that EOSL sides are closer to 3rd Division and 2nd Division outfits in stature. (Civil Service Strollers led Berwick before losing 1-2) See also the Highland League who produced cup shocks as Inverurie and Cove beat SFL sides Stranraer and Annan respectively.