Formartine United 3 - 1 Gretna 2008 

Scottish Cup - 1st Round
Saturday, September 26th, 2015, 3:00 PM at North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Attendance: 250
Referee: Steven Traynor
Formartine United v Gretna 2008, Sep 26th 2015, North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Formartine United  Gretna 2008

Goalscorers
Scott Barbour (12)
Johnny Crawford (59)
Garry Wood (pen.) (83)
Dean Smith (42)

Team Managers
Kris Hunter Stuart Rome

Starting Eleven
Andy Reid
Craig McKeown
Johnny Crawford
Calum Dingwall
Paul Lawson
Stuart Anderson
Neil McVitie
Graeme Rodger
Scott Barbour
Cammy Keith
Garry Wood
Vincent Parker
Sam Atkinson
Scott Milligan
Dean Crozier
Brandon Longcake
Connor Casey
Dean Douglas
Daniel Graham
Alan Inglis
Darren Addison
Dean Smith

Bench
Ryan Thomson
Jamie Michie
Stuart Axten
Callum Bagshaw
Max Berton
Sam French
Neil Gauld
Connor Graham
Sean Law
Michael Reid
Nikki White
Craig Murray

Substitutions
None. None.

Bookings
None. None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Andy Reid (GK) 11 apps -
Craig McKeown 62 apps12 goals
Johnny Crawford 12 apps1 goal
Calum Dingwall 45 apps4 goals
Paul Lawson 11 apps4 goals
Stuart Anderson 65 apps12 goals
Neil McVitie 63 apps14 goals
Graeme Rodger 12 apps4 goals
Scott Barbour 12 apps5 goals
Cammy Keith 78 apps58 goals
Garry Wood 12 apps7 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Calum Dingwall (22 years 226 days)
Oldest Player:Paul Lawson (31 years 141 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 100 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Ryan Thomson (19 years 174 days)
Oldest Player:Paul Lawson (31 years 141 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 39 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Johnny Crawford scored his first goal for the Club.

The iconic image of Gretna is the anvil at the blacksmith’s forge where weddings are conducted. The thing about anvils is that they are made to take a fair hammering without either crumbling or losing their shape. You could see exactly the same qualities in the thrawnness of this side who never at any point controlled the game, absorbed virtually every hammer blow that Formartine tried to inflict on them yet were still very difficult to beat. Some of that was down to indifferent finishing by Formartine but most could be attributed to an outstanding display between the sticks by keeper Parker whose individual contribution stood between the reasonably respectable score line that concluded the game and a rout by six goals or more. The single Gretna goal at the psychologically deadly point just before half time was the product of their sole shot on target in the first period of a game where they failed to raise enough head of steam to produce a single corner kick throughout.

Formartine began in flat out mode and dominated proceedings from the off. They were quick to the ball, swift to close down opponents and moved the ball about crisply and with pace and purpose. To begin with it looked like they were set to win by a barrow load. Gretna struggled to get the ball out of their own half and it was clear that Formartine pressure on the flanks from Barbour on the left and intermittently down the right from McVitie was creating a level of pressure that Atkinson, Milligan and Crozier were struggling to manage. Wood hammered away relentlessly through the middle tying up a number of defenders in the process and it was all going Formartine’s way. The ball had barely reached Formartine territory before the home side opened their account in the 11th minute. A passage of flowing football down the right initiated by McVitie played in Keith, Rodger and Wood before the ball was worked over to the opposite side of the box to meet the consummately timed run of BARBOUR who jinked into the box and from a position to the left of the penalty area drilled the ball beyond the reach of Parker.

An early goal by the dominating side is often or usually enough to let them settle into a period of sustained supremacy and for the next ten or fifteen minutes this looked to be so. A remarkable piece of goal line heroics first by Atkinson to clear a net bound Keith effort off the line and then by the keeper with a last minute dive that spanned the entire goal line to deny the same players second effort suggested that the floodgates were about to open. They didn’t and bit by bit the dogged Borderers clawed their way into the game. A diving header by Rodger from a dipping cross by Wood went close but still somehow Gretna managed to inch their defending line from the penalty area to a midfield and once there, although not really developing a potent attacking threat, they managed to reduce the danger coming from their hosts by keeping them at longer range than previously.

It wasn’t so much a case of Formartine having let up on the seriousness of their intentions or taking their foot of the gas pedal but simply one of the visitors finding their feet and doing the best they could. They had a few perfectly capable players dotted about the sided. Dean Douglas one of the many Deans in a team that had enough Deans in it to form an Academic Council, had quick feet and was cool under pressure while the splendidly named Brandon Longcake held the ball up well and hit a number of well - judged long passes.

The game continued in this vein with Gretna just about managing to keep Formartine at bay without getting as far as controlling events until, well against the run of play, they pinched an equaliser just three before minutes before the interval. Longcake floated a long ball down the inside left channel into the path of the relatively unmarked SMITH. The wiry forward was off quickly with the ball, into the box in a trice and as Reid moved to narrow the angles, drilled the ball past his right hand and into the net to set up rapturous celebrations from the visiting bench. The 5 to 1 outsiders were back in the game and boy did they like it. Formartine remained the dominant force but the increase in Gretna confidence was palpable.
The second half began with a flurry of Formartine attack and twice in the opening five minutes Anderson let rip with powerful edge of the area shots that might have beaten some keepers but despite being well and accurately struck were ably dealt with by Parker. Further saves from efforts by Keith and Wood emphasised the crucial role played by that particular custodian. Again Formartine were calling all or at least most of the shots but with the kind of hope that level pegging gives any under-dog, Gretna mopped up pressure and produced the odd breakaway. One such resulted in a free kick just outside the box where Atkinson rattled the ball off the crossbar. Although Reid looked to have it covered well enough it still showed the danger that threatened Formartine until such time as they could establish a cushion.

This came in the 59th minute, the result of a protracted period of Formartine pressure that yielded a corner at either side. The second of these taken by Lawson from the left was firmly struck to an area just beyond the back post where centre back CRAWFORD out-jumped the visiting defence to unleash a ferocious downward header that struck the ground and rebounded high into the net. This was the cushion that Formartine needed but Gretna were not for lying down or anything like it. Again they chased and harried but try though they might there was no way they were able to gain the upper hand. For all Formartine dominated proceedings they were kept pretty well in check by Gretna’s willingness to put eight or nine behind the ball and constipate proceedings. Formartine could see what was going on and tried to build from deep but Gretna simply sat in and waited to snuff them out when they got into the final third.

This was fairly frustrating stuff for the Formartine faithful. Their side had enough pressure to be comfortably ahead but there was still the risk that Gretna might pinch a breakaway goal as they had in the first half. Gauld replaced Keith immediately after the goal but with little change in Gretna tactics the dour struggle continued. A free kick in the D taken by Lawson was simply touched a foot or two left to Anderson whose vicious drive brought a brilliant diving save by A Parker to tip the ball to safety
Formartine needed to be careful at the back but they were: McKeown and Crawford never really put a foot wrong in the central area and snuffed out what breaks came their way and the few goal attempts Gretna mustered were from long range. In the 83rd minute Formartine eventually put the tie to rest. A slick interchange between Wood and Gauld set up the latter with a break into the box and a one on one chance with the keeper but Casey upended him and yielded a penalty kick as well as a rather harsh red card for the defender. Garry WOOD buried the penalty hard and low to the keeper’s right.

There was no way back for Gretna and although Formartine comfortably dominated their depleted visitors they were unable to increase the margin of victory to one that would have more accurately indicated the true extent of their dominance.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

None.