Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		40 apps	-
Jamie Michie		22 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		38 apps	2 goals
Stuart Smith		112 apps	10 goals
Graeme Rodger		45 apps	12 goals
Paul Lawson		34 apps	11 goals
Derek Young		2 apps	1 goal
Scott Barbour		40 apps	17 goals
Scott Ferries		1 app (debut)	-
Neil Gauld		41 apps	26 goals
Garry Wood		43 apps	30 goals
Calum Dingwall (sub)		73 apps	5 goals
Neil McVitie (sub)		71 apps	14 goals
Conor Gethins (sub)		2 apps	1 goal

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Scott Ferries

(Signed July 30th, 2016)

Milestones

At the end of last season, Keith were seen as a team most definitely on the rise and after their spell of judicious activity on the transfer market over the close season many punters saw United’s first league game of the new season at Kynoch Park as a high risk hurl and for the first half, it definitely looked that way. However, a devastating back shift by United not only assured any doubts that might have flickered during the first 45 but demonstrated a significant gap between the two as Formartine put together a display of quick fire pass and move football, that in the end all but demoralised a team that still showed enough to suggest that they have realistic hopes of a decent season ahead of them.

The game started with a phase of sprightly end to end stuff where each gave as good as they got. There was a very early flurry where former Formartine top scorer Mike Ewen broke through the inside right channel at pace and managed to whip a ball across the 6 yard box into the path of MacAskill who got enough onto the ball to bring a diving save as Reid pushed the ball round the corner for an unrewarded corner.

In the other direction, new boy Ferries wowed the Formartine faithful with a series of forays down the right each of which showed an exciting capacity to take the ball past defenders at blistering pace. The ensuing balls into the box were good too and although dealt with successfully, each caused its own little bit of difficulty for the agricultural Ralton and the marginally more sophisticated Milne. Direct running from midfield by Rodger in the middle and Barbour wide left provided ammunition for Gauld who was in fine fettle and turning defenders inside out.

It was by no means one way traffic however and the pace vision and quick feet of Keir carved out a number of half chances. Formartine were at this stage looking better on the front foot than on the back – there was little to complain about in the performance of a back 4 of Michie, Smith, Crawford and Wood and they generally dealt competently enough what came their way but with both Ferries and Barbour playing out on the flanks of a wide park, there were gaps in the middle which each side could exploit to generate some pace with which to meet defenders.
By the mid point of the first half, this lead to a situation where the efforts of each side largely balanced out those of the other and the game began to descend into a box to box encounter with neither really generating the creativity to threaten the other from close range.
However it began to open out again in the ten minutes before the interval as Keith got their tails up after Keir completed a big one two with MacAskill by clattering a thumping drive from twenty yards that rebounded from high up Reid’s left up right. Duncan got to the rebound but his attempt was hastily cleared by Crawford. Barely a minute later, by the simple expedient of running directly with the ball from a relatively unpopulated midfield, Hutcheon let fly with a spectacular 35 yard drive that smashed off the junction of the right upright and crossbar. Reid may have got something on it and was certainly placed to reach it had it been low enough to be on target.

The more this bucked up Keith and they chased for the goal they thought they could or should get, the more they left the gaps that United could exploit and the pace increased markedly as the end to end pattern returned. It was the more experienced United that cashed in first. A number of probes down the left flank paid off when the overlapping combination of Smith and Barbour yielded a curling cross from the latter that Ralton, under pressure from Rodger, managed to head away no further than the predatory GAULD who had insinuated his way in from the right corner of the box. Like a stoat on speed, the ruthless striker made a half turn left before driving the ball waist -high past Dey and into the far side of the net.

With 5 minutes to go it looked that this lead would tide United over until the interval but Keith were having none of it and equalised with the last kick before the half time whistle. Luke Barbour was driving towards the box but was being jockeyed sideways left to right alongside it by Wood who tripped him in the process. The free kick from 18 yards out was taken by KEIR who struck the ball curling anti clockwise beyond the 4 man wall and into the net at Reid’s left upright.

The second half was an entirely different affair and quickly sorted out the men from the boys as Formartine tweaked their formation by bringing Ferries in from wide to central midfield and in the process closing the gap that showed intermittently in the first period. Formartine then swarmed through the middle with some exciting quick fire pass and move stuff controlled by the old heads of Lawson and Young and executed by the fleet young feet of Ferries and Rodger. This pinned back Keith who finding opponents closer to them than they had previously looked much less comfortable on the ball and started to be hustled into making errors.

In the 48th minute. Hutcheon trying a hasty ball out of defence towards Fraser, found it smartly intercepted by Barbour and even more smartly threaded through the inside left channel to meet the run of the alert YOUNG who belying his 36 years scorched in on goal, drew the keeper and clipped the ball into the net from about 12 yards out. In the rush to close him down both Spink and Dey managed not to reach the ball but to end up piled on top of the unfortunate veteran. He took a bit of a battering in the process and was replaced by McVitie.

United were in the driving seat and were not going to relinquish it. The high tempo stuff perplexed Keith and with Gauld tormenting defenders something had to give. A couple of minutes after the second goal United put the result more or less beyond doubt. Snapping at Ralton’s ankles, Gauld lured the big centre half into a rash challenge a yard or two into the box. The ensuing penalty was taken by LAWSON who hit the ball hard and low to Dey’s left.

Credit to Keith they plugged away gamely chasing, harrying and doing all they could to get a lifeline, but Formartine were too professional to let them back into the game in any threatening way. It wasn’t all one way traffic but there was no doubt about which side was calling the shots. Gauld was replaced by Gethins and suddenly a new, different but equally potent combination of the new striker and McVitie tormented the Keithers. Several telling runs each with a different sort of teasing ball into the box on the end of it came from “Biscuits” while Gethins made darting runs that repeatedly stretched the defence.

It was always on the cards that this was going to hit pay dirt and the only surprise was that it took until the last minute to happen. Breaking down his right, taking out the left back with a bit of pace and a wee drop of the shoulder McVittie delivered the ball perfectly to meet the perfectly timed late run of GETHINS who took the ball a few yards forward before picking the spot to which he delivered it with perfect control to the back of the net.

Keith were known to be a handful and for forty five minutes lived up to that billing. Tactical nous and players skilled enough to play in different patterns and combinations were enough to produce what was needed to see off a side which is likely to damage the hopes of others before long. Given the circumstances – first league game - away from home at that - as well as the standard of the opposition – Keith are going places, this was impressive.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie