Formartine United 1 - 1 Cove Rangers 

League - HFL
Saturday, January 7th, 2017, 3:00 PM at North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Attendance: 409
Referee: Steven Traynor
Mascot: Fraser Dundee & Max Tennant
Formartine United v Cove Rangers, Jan 7th 2017, North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Formartine United  Cove Rangers

Goalscorers
Paul Lawson (66)
Matthew McDonald (63)

Team Managers
Kris Hunter John Sheran

Starting Eleven
Ewen MacDonald
Johnny Crawford
Stuart Smith
Paul Lawson
Stuart Anderson
Jamie Masson
Graeme Rodger
Derek Young
Scott Barbour
Scott Ferries
Conor Gethins
Stuart McKenzie
Alan Redford
Stuart Walker
Sam Burnett
Eric Watson
Darryn Kelly
Jonathan Smith
Grant Campbell
Matthew McDonald
Connor Scully
Ryan Stott

Bench
Andy Reid
Calum Dingwall
Russell McBride
Shane Jamieson
Jamie Michie
Garry Wood
Neil Gauld
Mitch Megginson
Stuart Duff
Dean Lawrie
Murray McCulloch
Roy McBain
John McCafferty

Substitutions
Neil Gauld for Conor Gethins (71)
Garry Wood for Scott Barbour (86)
Dean Lawrie for Jonathan Smith (26)
Stuart Duff for Matthew McDonald (72)
Roy McBain for Connor Scully (86)

Bookings
Scott Ferries (37)
Ryan Stott (7)
Eric Watson (42)
Alan Redford (65)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ewen MacDonald (GK) 18 apps -
Johnny Crawford 55 apps3 goals
Stuart Smith 135 apps11 goals
Paul Lawson 51 apps17 goals
Stuart Anderson 117 apps26 goals
Jamie Masson 46 apps8 goals
Graeme Rodger 73 apps24 goals
Derek Young 17 apps3 goals
Scott Barbour 68 apps32 goals
Scott Ferries 16 apps1 goal
Conor Gethins 22 apps12 goals
Neil Gauld (sub) 61 apps33 goals
Garry Wood (sub) 61 apps38 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Scott Ferries (20 years 311 days)
Oldest Player:Derek Young (36 years 234 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 176 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Scott Ferries (20 years 311 days)
Oldest Player:Russell McBride (38 years 110 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 265 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

One of the major achievements in growing up is the ability to deal with bullies and on the basis of this performance, the present United side is, in that respect, chapping on the threshold of maturity. Since their election to SHFL, Formartine have almost always struggled against Cove who have generally used rather street–wise and some might say bully boy - tactics in turning them over at almost every time of asking. The fact that United has over the course of this season recovered from four goal thumping early on to knock them out of the cup next time, to stopping them right in their tracks in this crucial league game is a measure of the extent to which they have grown up of late. This draw was based on a resolute refusal to be ground down by the reigning champions, the capacity not to be drawn into the gamesmanship practiced not only by the nefarious Watson but by most of his team-mates too and the persistence of chasing and challenging for every ball over every inch of a soft and energy sapping surface.

Not only did United at least match Cove across every aspect of the team but they finished the 90 minutes right on the front foot and might very well have taken all three points had a golden opportunity for Gauld been dealt with just a tad more composure than the striker could muster in the intense heat of the last two minutes of the game. Some will point to the fact that Cove were without the services through suspension of Park and Yule but the local faithful will counter by pointing to the effects of long term injuries to McKeown and Wood (who has recovered enough to make the bench but not the starting eleven).

It was clear from the outset that United were up for this one when they went straight on the attack from kick off. Their first attack was a foray down the wide right and inside right routes with Ferries and Anderson combining to feed Gethins who had managed to release his jersey from the grasp of Watson to get in a snatched effort from twenty five yards out. It was a curling, dipping shot but it didn’t curl quite enough and dipped a tad too late on its way over the cross bar. It was clear that no quarter was being asked or given and that much of the action was going to be fought out in the midfield area. This was not for those of a delicate disposition but the game, hotly contested as it was, stayed just within the bounds of ref Traynor’s occasionally erratic control.

In the 18th minute, Barbour and Gethins managed to split Watson and Walker and the former forced MacKenzie into his first save of the match as he dived low to smother a crisp low drive at the base of his left upright. Cove attacked in numbers and forced three corners in a five minute period round the half hour mark. All of them were on the left and none posed significant difficulty to a rearguard with Young and Smith playing wide of Crawford with Lawson controlling distribution from deep. Although it was mostly a matter of slugging it out in midfield both sides could break with pace and a degree of menace. Whereas United chased and harried throughout and were as likely to break through the middle as out wide, Cove relied predominantly on the latter route. It nearly paid off in the last five minutes before the interval when Stott broke down the left from deep and finished with a crashing drive that looked net-bound all the way before being deflected by a defensive knee for an unrewarded corner. At the other end, a Gethins free after he had been decked by Watson about 30 yards out looked to have beaten wall and keeper but ended up just the wrong side of the junction between left upright and crossbar. The fierce contest continued its disputatious but goalless way until the interval.

Cove started the second half firmly on the front foot and set themselves up in United territory where they managed to keep the ball almost exclusively for the first three minutes or thereby. United worked hard and resisted well as shots, almost all from around twenty to twenty five yards out ,were hammered goalwards by Scully, Smith, MacDonald, Stott and Redford. Only one (from Smith) got the length of forcing MacDonald, in the Formartine goal to make a significant save - which he did with a swift low dive to his right to smother the ball at the base of the upright. With Cove banging away at one end United, had the scope for slick and speedy breakaways which as the half progressed, were quicker and harder for Cove to defend. Ferries and Rodger ran hard and fast from deeper areas and managed not infrequently to find either Barbour or Gethins. In these circumstances the normal Cove tactic was for the one with the ball to be fouled by Watson just before reaching the box. Eventually, but certainly none too soon, the Cove captain, with a face on him like a camel eating sherbet lemons, was booked for persistent fowling.

The crunch period of the game was in a three minute spell just after the hour mark. The initial surge of Cove’s high tempo opening to the second half had started to recede and United, with increasing traction in midfield were beginning to put a bit more sustained pressure on the Cove rearguard they found themselves suddenly a goal adrift. An attack developed by Anderson ended after a Masson drive was sliced wide and the ensuing goal kick was pumped way down the left to Stott who headed inwards towards the front of the box and slipped the ball right towards McDONALD who got away into space as his marker slipped on the dubby surface. With the goal opening up in front of him, he advanced a few paces before leathering the ball past his namesake in the home goal.

This 63rd minute opener might previously have been the platform on which a Cove victory would be built, but not this time, not to this Formartine. The United response was immediate and intense: they ratcheted up the tempo and flooded forward in numbers and at pace. This quickly had Cove rocking on their heels and with Watson on a yellow card, the duties of fouling on the fringe of the box fell to Walker who tripped Gethins no more than a yard shy of the penalty area, just a couple of yards left of centre. This is precisely the favoured spot for a Lawson free kick which was delivered, with consummate precision and a level of skill possessed by only a chosen few, that beat both the four man wall and the keeper before fizzing a fraction inside the far post and into the net. At that point, Formartine looked like they had come of age: they had taken the best the reigning champions had to throw at them, looked them full in the face and answered them back.

The intensity of this full throttle game never lessened but for the last twenty odd minutes, Formartine gave more than they got. In the dying minutes with subs Gauld and Wood on for the starting front pair of Gethins and Barbour they came heart-achingly close to victory. Wood had out-paced, out-muscled and out-thought his way past Watson and Walker taken the ball to the right corner, cut in and delivered it on a plate to Gauld who was about 6 yards out but the normally lethal striker somehow contrived to balloon the ball way over the top. The chance was blown, the game was drawn but United had shown that they had an inner steel and what it takes to slug it out with the toughest of the tough. Their supporters will hope that it won’t turn to rust.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

None.

Programme cover / Team sheet