Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		3 apps	-
Craig McKeown		53 apps	10 goals
Jamie Michie		2 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		3 apps	-
Stuart Smith		71 apps	2 goals
Stuart Anderson		56 apps	9 goals
Graeme Rodger		3 apps	1 goal
Paul Lawson		3 apps	1 goal
Scott Barbour		3 apps	-
Neil Gauld		3 apps	-
Garry Wood		3 apps	2 goals
Phil Anderson (sub) (GK)		1 app (debut)	-
Cammy Keith (sub)		69 apps	49 goals
Sam French (sub)		10 apps	8 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Phil Anderson

(Signed July 11th, 2015)

Milestones

Seven goals, five goal keepers [four of them Formartine’s], two red cards and a pair of penalties - you would think that this was the Derby that had everything. It wasn’t and it didn’t. What it lacked and almost screamed out for was the steady hand of a wise and experienced referee to manage the inflamed passions that were an almost inevitable consequence of the recent defection of three former Locos favourites to neighbouring Formartine. For a referee, in reportedly his second game at this level of football to attempt to control such a potential powder keg was always going to be a challenging enterprise. He certainly made the decisions that led to the outcome described but the manner in which he attempted to manage the game is seen by many as a significant influence on the incidents that created it in the first place.

As theatre this was a splendid and exciting show but as football it was something else entirely. The loss of three points to a team Formartine came dangerously close to beating with nine men against eleven, even this early in the season, represents a painful blow to title aspirations.
United had the best possible start with a 4th minute opening goal. A move that started deep in their own half by McKeown was played quickly through midfield to Gauld who was off in flash towards the right corner. From there he whipped over a cross to the back post for his striking partner Gary Wood. In his eagerness to beat Wood to the ball right back MITCHELL got just enough of his boot onto it to deflect it past Mathieson into his own net. Even this early Formartine were looking the slicker outfit and playing with decent shape and a high tempo, poked and probed for the opening to extend their lead. This nearly came in the tenth minute from a free kick twenty five yards out and in a fairly central position. Lawson struck the ball with pure venom but it passed the crossbar a couple of inches high.

Trialist Iain Vigurs and captain McLean had some intermittent success in feeding Bavidge and Leyden and Locos made enough of an impact to ensure visiting defenders were well occupied. In the 16th minute in Locos first really sustained attack they equalised. The ball bobbled around quite dangerously too long and too near the United goalmouth and was not properly cleared after two or three attempts to do so. Backing off a step or two from the melee, McLEAN got control of the ball beyond the right upright and from a bit of an angle managed to dink it over Reid and into the net.

This energised the home-side a bit and the game assumed a more balanced and slightly end to end character. Things continued this way for the next fifteen minutes until McLean got behind the Formartine central defence and was heading for the box. Reid saw the danger and advanced right up to the Locos captain and brought him down with a clumsy and probably illegal tackle twenty yards out of goal. Despite the range and the rapid reorganisation of other defenders, the youthful ref decreed that the home forward had been illegally denied a clear goal scoring opportunity and red carded the keeper. Striker Gauld gave way to allow the introduction of sub keeper Anderson whose first act was to retrieve the ball from the net. VIGURS took the free kick and struck the ball just beyond the wall and directly into the net.

Formartine, reduced to ten men and a goal behind were left in desperate circumstances but desperate circumstances can be countered by steely determination and that was exactly what they showed as they set about clawing their way back into the game. Locos looked to be either or both naïve and over confident as they failed to adapt to their numerical advantage by not holding onto the ball and stretching Formartine wide. Formartine chased everything and were repeatedly first to the ball and despite their deficit were beginning to dominate.

In the 40th minute Broadhurst challenged Wood for the ball in the box and did manage to relieve him of it as the big forward went down. As referees never contemplate compensating for mistakes at one end by awarding soft penalties at the other, the one that WOOD himself drilled past Mathieson was clearly credible and legitimate. Ten man Formartine, back on level terms, found a rather panicky looking Locos pressing to restore their lead before half time. This suited them fine as they could match them man for man at the back by leaving one fewer forward and still be able to hit on the break. Graeme RODGER demonstrated this strategy perfectly by picking up the ball deep and running fast and direct into and through Locos territory to find midfielders backing off as he continued to the edge of the box where he paused almost imperceptibly before delivering a viciously accurate drive that beat the keeper all ends up.
The second half began in a nasty, blustery wee rain squall the effect of which was to make underfoot conditions rather slippy. Locos had clearly taken instruction over the interval and set out with the obvious intent of keeping the ball. They had some success in this although the phenomenal work rate of the whole Formartine team limited it. Locos did however manage to make some progress in the wide areas and twelve minutes in they again drew level. Leyden out on the left flank floated one in for BAVIDGE but Crawford read the situation well and blocked the ball away. Leyden got it again and tried again. This time he found the head of the forward whose fierce downward header rebounded off the goal line and high into the net. Those close to the goal at the time maintain that the reason he got to the ball that time was because he was ahead of the defenders when Leyden made the pass but the referee clearly knows better than they do when a player is off-side.
The ref then displayed his creative side with a wonderfully original interpretation of the pass back rule. Those who have laboured under the misapprehension that a pass back requires a deliberate act on the part of a player to deliver the ball by foot to the keeper, can be grateful to know now that if the keeper picks up a ball that has rebounded off one of his own side as it did off Jamie Michie, an indirect free kick can still ensue. The resultant free on the 6 yard line was rolled left by McLean and driven goalwards at all ten remaining Formartine players before being worked clear in stages by the defence.
The pattern was largely one of Locos possession limited severely by exceptionally tenacious chasing and harrying by Formartine and interspersed by Formartine attacks on the break. Most of the time it was difficult to notice that the home side had an extra man. However what had thus far been merely dramatic became truly melodramatic in the 61st minute. Charlesworth on the end of an over the top ball was bearing in on the Formartine goal and had just entered the penalty area and tried to drag the ball right to beat the advancing Anderson. It was enough to flummox the deputy keeper who tried to stop, but on the slippery surface simply slid on into the forward and brought him down. Another red card and another penalty. Initially Michie went between the sticks and despite a good dive to his left just failed to get a paw to BAVIDGE’s classically delivered spot kick. After a bit of head scratching on the Formartine bench, goal keeper 3 [Michie] was promptly substituted by Sam French [keeper 4]. Usually a forward, the big sub did a capable job in keeping a clean sheet from his 4-3 down starting point. He made one or two competent interventions but amazingly, given the deficit in numbers, had remarkably little to do.

Formartine utterly refused to lie down and for the remainder of the game had Locos on the rack for lengthy periods. Only a mixture of good fortune and desperate defending on Locos part kept the dogged United at bay as wave upon wave of attack was visited on a beleaguered home rearguard. Shots from Wood, Rodger , Barbour, McKeown and sub Keith were either cleared with difficulty or rebounded from the woodwork. Several others went close and Formartine, despite the numerical deficit were desperately unlucky not to gain at least a draw. Such was the impetus they generated late in the game, success in equalising could well have provided the springboard for a dramatic victory.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie