Appearances & Goals To Date

Ewen MacDonald (GK)		29 apps	-
Scott Henry		21 apps	1 goal
Jevan Anderson		2 apps	-
Calum Dingwall		114 apps	8 goals
Stuart Smith		154 apps	12 goals
Stuart Anderson		136 apps	27 goals
Wayne Mackintosh		2 apps	-
Graeme Rodger		93 apps	26 goals
Scott Barbour		87 apps	35 goals
Archie MacPhee		2 apps	3 goals
Scott Ferries		33 apps	4 goals
Conor Gethins (sub)		42 apps	18 goals
Liam Burnett (sub)		16 apps	1 goal

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Games between these two are almost always close run and hard fought affairs and recent history from the time when United Manager Kris Hunter along with a number of the coaching squad and a player or two up sticks to move from Belslea to North Lodge, has if anything intensified each sides desire to get one over on the other. Geography aside, these games carry all the pressure and excitement of Derbies. This was no exception.

The match started in a squally wee shower and finished in a wind blown down pour that raked the pitch from the village end towards the Oldmeldrum side. Formartine dominated early proceedings but finished holding grimly onto their single goal advantage in the face of a furious, sustained onslaught from the Brochers who had a wind that had got up around halftime blowing them and the rain hard into United territory.

The game started at a furious and unsustainable pace and United having used their capacity for ultra-high tempo pass and move stuff to blow away Locos in their previous outing found the Broch pretty well able to match them at this and it was clear from early on that the level of resistance this time out was going to be far stiffer. United were however the first to show and it took only a couple of minutes for MacPhee to carve open an opening for Ferries sending the young forward through into the right side of the box with a one on one with keeper Tait. The finish was hurried and the rather snatched shot flew high and wide.

United had just the better of the early exchanges: Rodger and MacPhee were making some headway in the channels but the striking pair of Ferries and Barbour although getting some supply from them did not look like getting much cuttance from Hay and Ryan Cowie: this was never going to be a goal fest. By the mid point of the first half Fraserburgh were beginning to get some territorial reward for their very persistent pressing game. West and Young combined with Harris and Campbell and for a period round the half hour mark they had United pinned back enough to yield a series of unrewarded corners and more ominously were pressuring United enough to force them into conceding free kicks in areas outwith the box but near enough to goal to cause a few anxious moments. One from not far shy of thirty yards was hammered goalward by Ryan Cowie, beat the wall and clipped the inside of MacDonalds left upright before rebounding to safety beyond the opposite post. A Harris drive in the second phase of play following a corner flew narrowly past the same upright.

United weathered the storm, regrouped and finding their shape again began to squeeze hard at the other end. In the 36th minute a lighting fast thrust through the inside right channel by Ferries pulled defenders wide. His sweet cross to the left corner of the box set up MacPhee whose vicious low drive was too hot for Tait to hold. As the ball squirmed from the keepers grasp, the predatory RODGER was in like lightning to deliver the finishing blow from close range.

United tried to force home the advantage that the goal had given them and sustained a few minutes of further pressure on the visiting defence. Stuart Anderson, Ferries and Barbour all managed shots on target during this period but they were more half chances than anything more clear cut and Tait dealt competently with them. The last five minutes of the half saw Broch pushing hard for an equaliser but the United defence with Jevan Anderson and Scott Henry in commanding form in the middle and Dingwall and Smith resolute on either side, looked reassuringly solid.

The second half began at breakneck pace and initially United had the better of possession and some territorial advantage but aside from a couple of shots from MacPhee and one from Anderson they were struggling to penetrate a quick tackling defence. Conditions were deteriorating rapidly and were a distinct disadvantage to United who had to contend to playing in floodlight conditions with heavy rain being blown into their eyes and Fraserburgh were determined to cash in. They produced wave upon wave of attack and confined most of the play to Formartine territory as United sat in deeper and deeper. There was no sense that they were trying to sit out a single goal lead, they were simply on the end of sustained pressure from the elements and the opposition. Henry and Jevan Anderson marshalled the rearguard superbly and for all the possession and pressure Broch imposed, shots on targets were few and dealt with by MacDonald. Fraserburgh had only three really clear cut chances in this period- two to Harris and both spurned by his driving the ball narrowly past the far post from about 12 yard range range right of centre and Hay had the goal at his mercy from a central position just inside the box but his finish was high, wide and far from handsome.

United had their moments but they were breakaways that provided as much respite for their defence as sustained goal threats. As the clock ran down they looked more and more comfortable in controlling affairs from the back and began to knock the ball into wide areas and keep it there enough to frustrate the visitors. They deserved their win (however narrowly) and in doing so showed another dimension to their game: the capacity to dig deep and hold on grimly in the face of all that a talented and very determined Broch could throw at them.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

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