Appearances & Goals To Date

Ewen MacDonald (GK)		31 apps	-
Scott Henry		23 apps	1 goal
Jevan Anderson		4 apps	-
Calum Dingwall		116 apps	8 goals
Stuart Smith		156 apps	13 goals
Wayne Mackintosh		4 apps	-
Graeme Rodger		95 apps	27 goals
Scott Barbour		89 apps	37 goals
Liam Burnett		17 apps	1 goal
Archie MacPhee		4 apps	5 goals
Conor Gethins		44 apps	18 goals
Jamie Michie (sub)		56 apps	-
Scott Ferries (sub)		34 apps	4 goals
Sam Muirhead (sub)		2 apps	-

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Leagues do not come any more competitive than this one: four games into the season and there is only one team (Cove) that has yet to drop points. This was the first time this season that United have dropped anything at all in their pursuit of the title and disappointing though that may have been for their supporters, there was still plenty about the sides performance to give them comfort. There seems to be a new battling side to them, something that at times in the past they failed to show. Three times in this game, they found themselves two goals adrift (at 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2) and three times they battled back to end on level terms. They finished it well on top but for all the hectic pressure over the last 5 or 10 minutes, they just failed to pinch the extra goal that would have kept their 100% record intact.

United didn not start the game well, there was something flat, almost lethargic about their performance over the first half. Their usual high tempo pass and move stuff wasn not as crisp as usual and a big, very fit, Vale side matched them in all departments. In addition to that Vale knew how to play to their strengths: central defenders, Davidson, Dunn and Forbes were all well north of 6 foot 2 inches and United strikers, Gethins and Barbour were well south of 5 foot 6 inches. Supply from behind to the strikers by the aerial route should never have been contemplated, but far too often that was all that was on offer to them. Gethins has lost about a stone over the summer but that surely involved less starvation than was imposed on him over the first 45.

Twice in successive games United have fallen prey to highly dubious penalty awards early in the game. This one was only 6 minutes old when a foul by Jevan Anderson on Carrol, perceived by all but referee Watt to have taken place a good yard outside the box yielded a spot kick for Noble who slotted the ball home to the left of MacDonald who had elected to go right. United took this reverse in their stride and tried to get a grip of midfield. In the absence of Stuart Anderson and Paul Lawson, they struggled to impose themselves in that department. Mackintosh got through a power of work and did a lot to prevent Vale getting the upper hand there. Rodger battled away too, often getting the ball past markers but the connection to the strikers was rarely made. Vale looked ominously comfortable at the back at this stage.

Formartine were defending deeper than they probably wanted to and struggling to impose. It took them until halfway through the first session to develop any sustained pressure on Vale. A decent spell around the twenty fifth minute brought some activity from keeper Pennet to deal with a diagonal right to left drive by MacPhee and a decent back stick header by Rodger. A trundler from the edge of the box by Barbour was taken comfortably before Vale went back on the offensive. Their pressure on United was generally that bit more persistent than Uniteds on them and in the second phase after a free kick about 35 yards out and right of centre the ball was half cleared to be picked up just outside the box by Wallace who pumped it back goalwards. MacDonald, under pressure near his left upright failed to get a decent grip on the ball and let it spill to Ballard who gratefully received the gift by stabbing it into the other corner of the net.

That took the wind from Uniteds sails and they played out the remaining 12 minutes of the half without mustering a shot on target other than one on the turn by Gethins from the right side of the box that Pennet took quite comfortably.

The second half was different altogether. The high ball into the box tactic was abandoned and United played the ball low, wide and fast and at last had Vale back pedaling. An opening salvo yielded a corner within a minute and although it was cleared, United continued to recycle and in the 48th minute they reduced the deficit. MacPhee has an amazing capacity to hold the ball and resisting at least 4 attempts to dispossess him slipped the ball to Barbour who clipped it across the goal face where SMITH rose virtually unchallenged to deliver a forceful, accurate back post header well beyond the reach of Pennet.

The visitors response was simple and direct: they went straight up the park and restored their advantage. A long over the top ball found BALLARD who got away from Anderson to get one on one with Macdonald. The wily striker took the ball into the box, drew the keeper and clipped it home from about 10 yards out to put United back to two goals adrift. Formartine battled back and still playing it low and wide, had Vale pinned back again. It took ten minutes or so before the pressure paid off. There must have been more than fifteen players in the Vale box when seizing on a loose ball that had rebounded from deeper in the box, RODGER lurking just inside the right corner played a sneaky shot through the assembled mass of players and past a probably unsighted Pennet at the base of his left upright for 3-2.

United had the pressure but Vale were fast and direct on the break and the more United committed players forward the more vulnerable they were to swift counter attack. MacPhee fed Gethins from left centre of the 18 yard line and the striker off loaded a scorcher of a shot that had Pennet beaten all ends up before the ball ricocheted to safety off the far post. That was in the 64th minute, in the 66th Vale again restored a two goal cushion when a swift breakaway set up NOBLE ahead of defenders to hunt down a long ball from midfield and drive it past a rather nervous looking MacDonald.

Not so long ago you would have expected United to capitulate after a reverse like that but to their credit they battled back into it. BARBOUR was having increasing success in drawing Dunbar and Aitken wide before getting the ball past them and into the goalmouth. In the 69th minute, he broke into the area from wide left and managed to jink his way to a position only a yard or two in from the goal line and about ten from the near post to drive the ball beyond Pennet into the net at the back post.

If that was a peach of a finish his next in the 80th minute was even more spectacular. Repeating his entry to the left side of the box, he had a slightly better angle from which to deliver the equaliser. This time he lashed the ball home via the under side of the bar.

United were definitely in the ascendent but try as they might a fifth goal remained elusive. Throwing caution to the wind, they replaced full back Smith with Muirhead a striker for the last 5 minutes or so but Vale held out.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

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