Deveronvale 0 - 2 Formartine United

Aberdeenshire Shield - Quarter Final
Wednesday, October 28th, 2015, 8:00 PM at Princess Royal Park, Banff
Attendance: 180
Referee: David Watt
Deveronvale v Formartine United, Oct 28th 2015, Princess Royal Park, Banff
Deveronvale Formartine United 

Goalscorers
None. Graeme Rodger (32)
Garry Wood (pen.) (89)

Team Managers
Steve Dolan Kris Hunter

Starting Eleven
Grant Pennet
Lukas Krobot
Scott Fraser
Kieran Heads
Craig Simpson
Sean Keith
Kevin Souter
Craig Cowie
Kevin Adams
Gary Harris
Chris Blackhall
Andy Reid
Johnny Crawford
Calum Dingwall
Stuart Smith
Paul Lawson
Stuart Anderson
Jamie Masson
Graeme Rodger
Scott Barbour
Cammy Keith
Garry Wood

Bench
Rhys Fyfe
Bradley Manson
Ross Airken
Connor Rennie
Liam Forbes
Nathan Ross
Greg Buchan
Ewen MacDonald
Jamie Michie
Max Berton
Cammy Booth
Erik Thomson
Neil Gauld

Substitutions
Liam Forbes for Kevin Adams (58)
Nathan Ross for Kevin Souter (79)
Greg Buchan for Sean Keith (87)
Neil Gauld for Cammy Keith (75)
Max Berton for Jamie Masson (80)

Bookings
Gary Harris (66)
Grant Pennet (88)
Graeme Rodger (28)

Red Cards
Gary Harris (72) None.

Appearances & Goals To Date
Andy Reid (GK) 17 apps -
Johnny Crawford 18 apps1 goal
Calum Dingwall 48 apps4 goals
Stuart Smith 85 apps5 goals
Paul Lawson 17 apps5 goals
Stuart Anderson 70 apps12 goals
Jamie Masson 6 apps1 goal
Graeme Rodger 18 apps8 goals
Scott Barbour 18 apps6 goals
Cammy Keith 83 apps59 goals
Garry Wood 17 apps12 goals
Max Berton (sub) 4 apps -
Neil Gauld (sub) 14 apps3 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Calum Dingwall (22 years 258 days)
Oldest Player:Jamie Masson (32 years 214 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 193 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Cammy Booth (19 years 23 days)
Oldest Player:Jamie Masson (32 years 214 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 333 days
Domestic Players:17 (100.00 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

The Aberdeenshire Shield tie between these two was, as anticipated, a much tighter run affair than the 8 goal holocaust dished out by Formartine in the league at the beginning of the season, but it was still a fairly comfortable Formartine win in a game where with the occasional wobbly patch they called the shots from first to last.

Formartine made a highly impressive opening by stringing over a dozen passes together directly from the kick off and setting up Barbour with a half chance from about twenty five yards out on the right. He delivered a decent enough diagonal drive that just slipped past Pennet’s right upright. It was a clear statement of both intent and capability but it did not intimidate the home side who set about trying to get themselves into the game.

Determined not to be the pushovers they had been last time they adopted an approach based largely on attempting to stop Formartine getting into their pass and move pattern. This really needed a more physical approach than the rules allow and with a curiously lenient referee reluctant to issue cards some rather nasty looking challenges went unpunished.

For all that Formartine moved the ball about slickly and with pace and style Vale came nearest to opening the scoring. In their first significant foray into Formartine territory they forced a corner on the right as Wood dispossessed Adams. This was swung over and headed away by the same Wood for another corner at the same side which in turn yielded a third corner, this time on the right. This bobbed around in the Formartine 6 yard box before being half hacked away by keeper Reid causing a real stramash right in the goalmouth. Somehow the ball was hoofed away out of the penalty area but only as far as Fraser who skelped the ball ferociously goalwards. It rebounded from the cross bar to safety serving as a reminder to Formartine of the importance of clearing their lines quickly and cleanly.

The game settled to a phase of Formartine managing superior possession but being hounded at every turn by fair means (mostly) and foul (more often than they should have). Play was largely contained in the box to box area with a bit more of it in Vale territory than in United’s. Graeme Rodger was in scintillating form and more than Heads, Keith or Souter could cope with. Combining with Barbour and fed copiously by the estimable Lawson, this pair were beginning to gain more frequent penetration in the final third.
A superb Lawson free kick from about twenty yards out and a tad left of centre beat defenders all ends up as he leathered the ball with laser like precision through a hairline crack in their ranks but after crashing off the inside of the back post, it spun back along the goal line to hit the inside of the other post before being booted clear.

In the 32nd minute the triumvirate got its just reward after a move initiated by Lawson feeding Barbour down the inside left channel led to the stalky wee forward splitting Krobot and Heads before slipping the ball seven or eight yards right to RODGER who was about 12 yards out from goal and drilled it home low, hard and well beyond the reach of Pennet.

This appeared to settle Formartine who then proceeded to dominate the rest of the first half. Shots from Barbour, Keith and Rodger went close as did a Cammy Keith header but Vale, without threatening anything significant in reply, held out until the interval. Thereafter the beauty and the beast scenario became increasingly visible as Formartine continued to press in the face of increasingly agricultural attempts to stop them. Rodger, Barbour and Dingwall were particular targets with Krobot, Heads and Simpson the principal offenders.

However inelegant and unfair the approach, it did limit the damage. However what goes around comes around and whatever slender chances Vale had of an equaliser were wrecked when their main striker Harris had two too many rushes of blood to the head. The first came to him in the 65th minute when a horrendous two footed lunge at Dingwall’s ankles right on the touch line under the stand earned him a yellow card.
The second, barely five minutes later wasn’t just a wee rush of blood but a hale haemorrhage of the stuff. In by far his best chance of the match he found himself in the clear 35 yards out with only keeper Reid to beat. Reid bore down on him at pace but instead of side stepping the keeper, Harris decided to do a Tom Daly. Problem was he did this before Reid reached him, so he had to dive towards him which rather gave the game away. A second yellow for simulation led to an automatic dismissal to prove that swicks don’t prosper.

Against ten men Formartine played it wide and brought on Gauld and Berton for Keith and Masson respectively and upped the pace upfront.

Another goal was almost inevitable and the only surprise was that it took until the 88th minute. A slick interchange between Rodger and Barbour set up the latter with a one on one with the keeper. Pennet met him a yard or two before the limit of the box and as the forward clipped the ball past him and moved to regain it, he dived between the United man and the ball bringing him down in the process. Garry WOOD took the penalty and blasted it low and left. Pennet guessed right and got both paws to the ball but big Garry had hit it so hard that the keeper could not prevent its progress into the back of the net.

This victory puts United into the Semi-Final where they will now meet Cove Rangers at a venue yet to be announced.

Match report by Colin Keenan