Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		34 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		32 apps	2 goals
Calum Dingwall		65 apps	4 goals
Stuart Smith		103 apps	10 goals
Jamie Masson		24 apps	2 goals
Stuart Anderson		85 apps	20 goals
Hamish Munro		64 apps	3 goals
Graeme Rodger		36 apps	11 goals
Paul Lawson		29 apps	9 goals
Neil Gauld		32 apps	14 goals
Garry Wood		35 apps	26 goals
Callum Bagshaw (sub)		73 apps	10 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

This was a crucial game for Formartine against a side they seldom beat: they ground out a win that not only keeps their championship bid on course, but because Brora could only muster a share of the points at home to Locos, means that they are now one of only two sides left who can lift the title solely on the basis of their own efforts without having to rely on others to drop points elsewhere. Ominously, that other club is Cove.

The performance was great: the gain even greater as United ground out a result that again demonstrated their ability to keep going hammer and tongs for the full ninety minutes. They dominated the game for long periods particularly in the first half and again later in the second against a stuffy side who know how to play to their strengths enough to make them very difficult to break down. There was a lot at stake for Turra too: they needed all the points to retain any vestige of an arithmetically possible title challenge.

Formartine started on the front foot and fairly successfully ensconced themselves in the home half for most of the first ten minutes during which time they forced a couple of corners left and right, both taken by Lawson. Each imposed some pressure but was ultimately resisted by a doughty home back four of Allan, Herd, Beagrie and Bowden. Formartine attacked down each flank and there were a few hairy moments in the home goalmouth as they sustained pressure but had to work very hard for any real penetration. With only their second incursion into Formartine territory Turriff pinched a simple, but very well delivered opening goal in the 12th minute. A niggly foul out near the left touchline and roughly in line with the 18 yard line yielded a free kick which was struck firmly on the diagonal towards the far post and crucially right onto the head of BOWDEN who rose well to power home a five yard header.

Undaunted Formartine resumed their onslaught on the home rearguard and again Turriff were pinned back in their own back yard as the visitors sought an equaliser. Five corners in as many minutes indicated the extent of their pressure and something had to give. With the penalty area as congested as Anderson Drive at 5 o-clock it was going to take a bit of luck or a touch of class to make the breakthrough. When it came in the 21st minute it had elements of both. As the ball was hacked out to the left fringe of the box, Wood flipped the ball across to LAWSON lurking near the right hand corner. The midfield maestro skelped a scorching angled drive towards the far corner of the net. Main may have had some faint chance of getting something to it but the ball rebounded of a navy blue backside to wrong foot him on its way to nestling in the back of the net.

With the confidence that this gave, Formartine were playing with some flair and exuberance as Turriff, no slouches in the counter-punching arts, continued to try and hit on the break. When they did the moves were well organised and delivered with pace and precision. Young and Booth showed in flashes that they needed careful watching but when the home side did break and Formartine regained the ball, they had more space in which to operate. In the 26th minute, after a Booth break had been dismantled by Smith, the ball was fed to Dingwall who worked an interchange of passes with WOOD right down the left until the big striker split Allan and Bowden to earn a sight of goal from a spot no more than five yards out from the goal line and a bit beyond the left edge of the box. A gie tight angle. With absolute precision and sublime technique, he hit the ball over and beyond Main, who was correctly covering his near post, to dip and curl into the net at the top right corner.
Formartine knew the way to goal and were playing as fluently as a very persistent and determined Turriff would allow. Although the possession stats were significantly Formartine’s and despite these two goals – neither of which could be easily replicated – it was clear that Turriff were still well in it.

In the circumstances all Formartine could do was to keep hammering away. They went close a couple of times – another Lawson drive fizzed past on the right and a loopy header from Crawford landed on the roof of the net just inches behind the cross bar. Turriff breaks were competently contained by Munro, Smith and Crawford and the interval came without any change to the scoreline.

The second half began with Turriff aware that simply containing the visitors would spell the end of their title hopes and trying to take the game to Formartine. A pacy break by Booth brought a crunching tackle from Munro but it was arguably late and a tad rearward and earned the defender a booking. The midfield intensity rose and no quarter was given or asked. An unfortunate slip led to Lawson sustaining an ankle injury and limping off to be replaced by Bagshaw. Lawson more than anyone is the one who determines shape and tempo for Formartine and while they were still in the throes of adapting to his loss, Turriff struck. They had sustained a minute or so of pressure in the heart of the Formartine box when Anderson put a foot out to dispossess Booth, fouling him in the process. The ensuing penalty was driven low to Reid’s left by KUZNECOVS and the game was again level in the 51st minute.

A draw was no use to either side and the intensity rose. Although Formartine still dominated in terms of territory and possession, it was not to the same extent as earlier and more of the game was played in midfield. Masson, Rodger, substitute Bagshaw and Anderson were all made to work hard but did enough to just shade it and feed the buzz bomb Gauld and the battering ram Wood ahead of them while Turriff did well to protect their final third from hostile incursions. Around the hour mark, it looked like a possible stalemate and despite some reasonable shots on target from Gauld, Masson, Rodger and Wood (all dealt with competently by Main), it was clear if one side or the other were to prevail overall it would take a significant effort of will on their part to make that happen. It was simply down to character.

Formartine had it and with the clock running down, squeezed some more adrenaline from somewhere. A wicked left to right shot from Masson rebounded from the crossbar and showed that Formartine were utterly determined to find the match winner and take the full points. In the 83rd minute they did just that and what a match winner it was. With Turriff pinned down in their own box, the ball bobbed out of the area into a cluster of Formartine players from where it emerged left to BAGSHAW who, from over twenty yards out, dropped his left shoulder, caught the ball full on the volley with his right foot and hammered an utterly unstoppable shot that flashed with the speed and precision of a laser, into the net.

Turriff huffed and puffed but with the exception of an effort from substitute MacAskill, that drew a superb saving tackle from Smith, had little left to give and with Keith and Barbour on as subs there was more chance of Formartine increasing than surrendering the lead. They wanted the win more and deservedly, got it.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie