Peebles Rovers 2

Burntisland Shipyard 1

Kenny Paterson at Whitestone Park

HAWICK Royal Albert or Civil Service Strollers are next up for Peebles Rovers in their quest to defend their King Cup crown.

But Peebles were close to exiting the tournament at the first hurdle after lowly Burntisland Shipyard gave John O’Hara’s side an almighty fright.

At 1-1 with less than 15 minutes to go, Shipyard looked the fresher side.

But Paul Murray’s 78th minute strike saved tiring Rovers from another 30 minutes of play.

Despite their eventual win, an improved showing will be needed if they are to overcome Hawick or Civil and continue their King Cup dream.

Their efforts were not aided by a quagmire of a pitch, and Shipyard’s persistent fouling in a bad-tempered first half, but too often passes went astray, opposing players’ runs were not followed and first touches resulted in throw-ins.

The scorer of the goal which sealed Rovers’ King Cup final win last season was Dale Richardson with a header, and the centre half kick-started their 2016 campaign with as he nodded in Jason Darling’s inswinging corner on 16 minutes.

Aside from a Darling free kick which Burntisland goalie Jordan Mushet tipped over, there was little other action in the first half, although a running feud between Shipyard forward Ewan Henderson and Peebles goalkeeper Darren Walker provided some entertainment.

And when Richardson dived into a challenge on Conner Drury, it kicked off a rammy which resulted in Richardson being booked for his initial tackle.

Shipyard put their hosts under pressure immediately after half time, as Scott Devaney forced a great save from Walker before Henderson headed over.

Scott Sutherland’s curling effort was palmed away by Mushet but Shipyard should have equalised with 20 minutes to go when Craig Lowe raced cleaned through, only to screw his shot horribly wide.

The visitors did get a deserved equaliser on 76 minutes as Mark James scrambled the ball beyond Walker.

And when substitute Ben Sanders rounded Walker, it appeared Rovers were heading for an embarrassing first round exit, only for the stopper to get back and stick a hand in front of the ball.

Thankfully for O’Hara, up stepped Murray to tap in Richardson’s header from another Darling corner to send Rovers through.

Looking ahead to their clash with Heriot-Watt University this weekend, O’Hara said: “It will be a tough game against Heriot-Watt, although we will need a dry week to allow the pitch to recover.

“We were awful against Burntisland – it was a below par performance.

“We huffed and puffed but could not get going, and the pitch didn’t help either side.

“They boxed clever by giving away fouls to break up the play and we had to tell the players to keep calm at half time.

“It would be a fantastic achievement to win it again - we really want to win the cup.”

Peebles Rovers: D. Walker, K. Munro, D. McAleavy, R. Johnston, D. Richardson, S. Anderson (D. Ndiweni 83), R. Harris (S. Meikle 63), J. Darling, S. Sutherland (B. Edwards 76), J. Young, P. Murray.