Appearances & Goals To Date

Ewen MacDonald (GK)		27 apps	-
Scott Henry		18 apps	1 goal
Johnny Crawford		67 apps	3 goals
Calum Dingwall		112 apps	8 goals
Jamie Michie		53 apps	-
Stuart Anderson		134 apps	27 goals
Jamie Masson		62 apps	12 goals
Graeme Rodger		90 apps	25 goals
Scott Ferries		30 apps	2 goals
Conor Gethins		39 apps	17 goals
Garry Wood		77 apps	41 goals
Stuart Smith (sub)		152 apps	12 goals
Scott Barbour (sub)		85 apps	35 goals
Liam Burnett (sub)		13 apps	-

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

There was little at stake in this game save for the fact that a Forres victory could ease them past Turriff to claim 6th spot in the table. Formartine are far enough ahead of Fraserburgh in 5th and far enough short of any of the three clubs above them for victory or defeat here to make hee haw difference. They remain in fourth place either way.

In short there was little for either side to play for - and it showed in a game that started poorly and faded thereafter. Some players will give their all whatever the circumstances, but not all are made of that sort of stuff either, and that too showed in inconsistencies within the teams as well as between them.

Overall Formartine probably had slightly more possession and got the ball into the Forres box a few more times than the opposition could visit upon them but in a game where there were only four corner kicks, one booking and no goals there is little of significance to report.

United started with roughly the eleven with which they had finished their previous game (another goaless one, against Buckie). The first minute produced a bit of chaos in the United rearguard as Lee Fraser got onto a ball played into the left side of the box with keeper MacDonald stranded in a no mans land out beyond his left stick. As confusion reigned the ball was eventually scrambled away from the far post area and danger averted.

United began to get some control of the game - their basic tactic was to play the ball quite directly up to the front two of Wood and Gethins. It proved to be largely unproductive as Wood was having a day when his first touch was neglected while Gethins was towered over by the home defenders. He came deeper and deeper in the search for balls to feet but never really got the kind of supply of short on the deck penalty area balls that he converts into goals.

Forres were adept at getting numbers of players (6 and more at a time) behind the ball and as the half progressed managed to push that platform slightly further up the pitch with the result that most of the play got squeezed into an area about 15 yards forward of each box and goal mouth incidents of any note were few and far between. Scott Henry was in excellent form in the United defence and the Formartine back line as a whole coped very well with the threat of Fraser and Soane.

In the 42nd minute United nearly broke through with a move down the left that was halted illegally a yard short of the box. Masson took the free kick just at the left edge of the D but Mechanics entire 11 into the box behind the ball and the free kick simply rebounded from the depths of the serried ranks and that was as exciting as the first half got.

The second was no more scintillating either: the general pattern was pretty much the same. In the 48th minute Ferries made a dash down the right and swung over a decent cross to the head of Wood but keeper Knight, alert to the danger, managed to grab the ball before the header could be delivered.

A few minutes later, Gethins threaded a neat little pass between Groat and Graham Fraser to Wood but the big striker failed to get the ball under control and sub Grant cleared. The same move was repeated a couple of minutes later: the only differences being that the was the pass was made between Allan and Fraser and Groat made the clearance.

At the other end, Soane, Howarth and Lee Fraser combined to get the latter into the left hand side of the United box. From a tight angle to the left of goal Fraser rattled a low hard drive that drew a good diving save from MacDonald who got a big strong hand to the ball and forced it away round his left upright for an unrewarded corner.

Right at the very end the same big striker got onto a longish through ball down the inside right route from Pollock and with MacDonald advancing to close down the angle rattled off a fierce shot that flew right to left across the goal face missing the back post by inches. Typical end of season fare, not much to write home about.

Match report by Colin Keenan