Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		27 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		25 apps	2 goals
Jamie Michie		17 apps	-
Calum Dingwall		58 apps	4 goals
Stuart Smith		95 apps	7 goals
Paul Lawson		26 apps	7 goals
Stuart Anderson		77 apps	17 goals
Graeme Rodger		28 apps	10 goals
Neil Gauld		24 apps	11 goals
Scott Barbour		28 apps	14 goals
Garry Wood		27 apps	19 goals
Callum Bagshaw (sub)		66 apps	9 goals
Hamish Munro (sub)		58 apps	2 goals
Jamie Masson (sub)		16 apps	2 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Buckie’s biggest mistake was to score first and (arguably) their greatest achievement was to score last. What happened in between, they will want to forget. Their 18th minute opening goal, a bit against the run of play after opening exchanges, was a basic enough affair from a free kick left of the box by Low that reached TAYLOR who simply poked the ball home from about 6 yards out and in line with the back stick after the greasy ball had squirted from the grasp of keeper Reid. Although Buckie celebrated, they might just as well have rejoiced at having kicked a wasp’s byke. Retaliation was instant, severe and on a scale seldom seen since Old Testament times.

From the restart Formartine worked the ball forward down the left: Barbour played it in across the box, followed up, got it back and shaping to shoot near the left corner of the area was hauled to the deck by Hodge. It was within the area and LAWSON coolly slotted home the spot kick, sending the keeper to his right as he sunk the ball left. The visiting back four of Napier, Hodge, Hegarty and McKinnon was probably not manager ”Spider” Stewart’s first pick for his defensive web, but this spider’s web, like all others was gossamer fine and you need a lot more than gossamer to shackle big Gary Wood. The striker unleashed a display of awesome finishing power that left the visitors shell shocked. Defending the might of rumbustious Wood in thundering form was like trying to fend of Cruise missiles with catapults. The first of his five goals was in the 22nd minute. The immaculate Lawson who orchestrated a symphony of midfield distribution of a level rarely seen at this grade of the game, delivered a perfectly weighted ball threaded through a defensive gap to the feet of WOOD who rammed it home past the line of the advancing keeper.

Buckie were being torn apart as the foundation for the double figure tally was laid with another four goals in the next ten minutes. A blistering break down the left by Barbour where he scorched past hemipygic tackles before cutting in right and skelping the ball home from about fifteen yards out started it. The home midfield of Anderson, Rodger and Lawson were in commanding form: providing a constant supply of quality ammunition to those ahead. A swift double by Wood took his tally to four and also completed an amazing ten minute hat trick. The first of these came from a well timed through ball that left him one on one with keeper Sim, an unequal contest that ended with the latter retrieving the ball from his net after the striker had chosen the moment and picked his spot for a clinical finish from a step or two left of the penalty spot. The next was spectacular: Michie had won the ball near the halfway line out to the right and fed it on to Gauld who was off at pace with it. Shrugging off a Napier tackle, he flighted the ball curling from the inside right channel precisely to the head of Wood who launched his 6 foot 3 frame at it to head viciously home from beyond the back stick.

Still Formartine flooded forward and in the 40th minute again ripped Spider’s web asunder with a devastatingly simple goal where a long range one-two between Barbour and WOOD was completed by the latter, virtually in the goal mouth, taking the return at knee height and clipping the ball past Sim with a side-footed volley.

Buckie started the second half nothing like a team that was trailing by five goals and for the first ten minutes or so moved the ball about well enough to force three or four unrewarded corners and occupy Formartine sufficiently for the rearguard of Michie, Dingwall, Crawford and Smith to work for their corn, but there was no realistic hope of stemming the incessant tide of Formartine attack and in the 56th minute scoring resumed. Again Lawson was the architect with a cunningly flighted ball that split Heggarty and McKinnon enough for BARBOUR to nip through the gap and drive the ball clinically home to complete his double. The onslaught continued and Garry WOOD got his fifth with a drive from the right, through a heavily populated box. Although this seemed net bound from the instant it left his right boot, it took a visible deflection that put the ball further beyond Sim’s reach than would otherwise have been the case. He was scoring so easily and regularly that it was almost embarrassing and he was substituted.

Still Buckie plugged away hoping to pick up some scraps of anything they could and with Formartine [arguably] over-committed to attack the pacy ANGUS got the break of the ball left of centre and managed to get in behind the defenders before thumping the ball past Reid. With Bagshaw, Munro, and Masson on for Rodger, Michie and Wood the main difference apart from a degree of respite from the rampaging Wood, was the introduction of fresh legs on a heavy pitch.
This set the scene for a final flurry and enough for Formartine to show Brora who had put ten past four from bottom Clach the day before, that they could do the same against comfortably mid table Buckie. The 9th came from an own goal after a Barbour cross from the left caused mayhem round the Buckie back post and under pressure, NAPIER’s attempt at a clearance was deflected into his own net. The lure of a double figure tally was strong and Formartine maintained their siege of the Buckie box with utterly sustained pressure and just before quarter to, they made it ten – two when MASSON who had been cruising round and through the Buckie area ever since he came on, latched onto a loose ball during a goal mouth melee and neatly dinked the ball home from close range.

Chris ANGUS completed the scoreline with another blistering run past a defence that was more occupied in forming a platform to support attacks and rounded things off with what in different circumstances would be seen as an excellent goal; it still was, but it didn’t matter.

Manager Hunter was well pleased, and although not overjoyed by the goals lost, was up-beat about the overall performance: “We knew we had keep the pressure on after results elsewhere at the week end. Our finishing was clinical --- We lost three goals which was disappointing but you can hardly be critical when the team has scored ten. –To score ten goals against any team in this league, let alone one of Buckie’s quality, is no mean feat.” He singled out the “sheer quality” of Gary Woods contribution to “an excellent overall performance from the whole team”.

Match report by Colin Keenan

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