Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		2 apps	-
Craig McKeown		52 apps	10 goals
Stuart Axten		1 app (debut)	-
Johnny Crawford		2 apps	-
Stuart Smith		70 apps	2 goals
Paul Lawson		2 apps	1 goal
Stuart Anderson		55 apps	9 goals
Graeme Rodger		2 apps	-
Scott Barbour		2 apps	-
Neil Gauld		2 apps	-
Garry Wood		2 apps	1 goal

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Stuart Axten

(Signed July 6th, 2015)

Milestones

Statistically Formartine have struggled more against Cove than they have against Brora [or any other team in the league] and some of the defeats at their hands have been really hard to take. The last game of the season three years ago where they stole the title from right under Formartine’s noses in a match where even a draw would have sent the flag to North Lodge was the most painful –even more than that of losing Formartine’s first ever SHFL home game to them. The fact that Formartine are used to being beaten by Cove is no justification for the fact that yet again they lost to them.

It was a close run thing and for a chunk of the second half, it really looked like the pattern could be upset. After a gifting Cove an early opening goal and holding out rather raggedly until half time, two substitutions and a degree of restructuring set them up for a strong challenge in the second half.

This Aberdeenshire Cup game began at a furious pace with the opening salvo coming from the visitors. This was contained by a new Formartine back four that had McKeown and Axten in the centre, flanked right and left by Crawford and Smith. This looked OK for the first 9 minutes until Axten , with as much time and space as Doctor Who, carelessly under struck a pass out of defence. The wily veteran McBain simply intercepted it and slipped the ball a yard or two right for NICOL to hammer it home from about 18 yards out with a fierce drive that was well beyond the reach of Reid.

Formartine tried to rally themselves from this and certainly exerted some pressure on the visitors’ rearguard. A long range effort from Gauld when McKenzie was a step or two ahead of his line, flew just over the junction of the keeper’s right upright and the cross bar. Barbour, plying his trade on either wing seemed a menace to Redford and Walker and Gary Wood was not entirely subdued by Watson. However Cove in the main seemed sharper and had slightly more success in ball winning in midfield than Formartine – they were good enough when they had it but when the opposition did, they were less successful in getting it back off them. The upshot of this was that Cove had rather more penetration than United and Reid was the busier of the keepers.

Nevertheless there wasn’t that much in it and level terms were nearly established following a free kick left of centre about 35 yards out when Anderson cheekily slipped the ball wide of the line for Barbour to nip in and fire in a low, acutely angled drive that McKenzie struggled to turn round his near post. From the resulting corner, Axten got in a strong header directed well beyond the keeper, only to see it headed off the line by Watson. At the other end, a twenty yard drive by Park in the 22nd minute rebounded from Reid’s left upright - a feat he repeated about twenty minutes later. In general Cove got the better of the first half and Formartine were hanging on rather grimly.

The second period saw Axten replaced by Michie and Anderson by Bagshaw, who lasted only five minutes before limping off to give way to Keith. However the changes in personnel and to an extent shape looked to have paid off. Crawford moved to centre half beside McKeown and Bagshaw took on a more direct running at defenders role than the languid Anderson had undertaken before his half time hooking. Within three minutes the game was level. A direct run by Gauld was illegally halted about twenty five yards out and a yard or two right of centre. LAWSON took the resulting free kick. With lethal grace he struck the ball on a slightly curving right to left trajectory that obviated the wall and flew into the net in the postage stamp corner.

Formartine, beyond any question were now the dominant force and had Rangers pretty well on the back foot. The tables had been turned and it looked like Formartine now had the level of threat that Cove had shown in the first. A drive by Rodger had Reid scrambling to get it at the second attempt. A 60th minute shot on the turn by Gauld was beaten away for an unrewarded corner.

Almost immediately thereafter and well against the run of play at the time, a Formartine attack was broken up and a counter mounted: the ball was passed to Yule who with the assistance of Kelly made ground on the left before swinging in a cross to the head of SMITH whose firmly struck and very accurately delivered header from about 15 yards out put Cove back ahead.

From hanging on at one all to defending a lead is a major shift and Cove although severely pushed at times, clearly knew how to close out a game that had looked to be slipping out of their grasp. Formartine tried gamely to get back on terms but lacked the wherewithal to do so. They came close once or twice. A decent shot from McKeown drew an equally decent save by McKenzie , Rodger leathered a 25 yard drive that went narrowly wide before he clipped a neat cross ball for a glancing Gauld header that was touched a way for a corner. There was no doubting the will, the work rate or the effort, but the momentum was still with Cove. United tried until the very end: in stoppage time an absolute pile-driver by Gauld smacked off the crossbar before being hastily booted away.

You might say of Formartine that they are getting there but this encounter with Cove was probably just too severe a test too early in the rebuilding process to produce any other result.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

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