Brora Rangers 0 - 5 Formartine United

League Match
Saturday, October 21st, 2017, 3:00 PM at Dudgeon Park, Brora
Attendance: 220
Referee: Alex Shepherd
Brora Rangers v Formartine United, Oct 21st 2017, Dudgeon Park, Brora
Brora Rangers Formartine United 

Goalscorers
None. Garry Wood (2)
Scott Barbour (5)
Graeme Rodger (31)
Liam Burnett (83)
Scott Ferries (90)

Team Managers
Ross Tokely Paul Lawson

Starting Eleven
Cammy MacKay
John Pickles
Ally MacDonald
Colin Williamson
Jamie Duff
Gavin Morrison
Craig Campbell
Martin MacLean
Scott Graham
Steven MacKay
Paul Brindle
Ewen MacDonald
Craig McKeown
Johnny Crawford
Stuart Smith
Scott Henry
Stuart Anderson
Graeme Rodger
Archie MacPhee
Scott Barbour
Scott Ferries
Garry Wood

Bench
James Ross
Scott Lisle
Zander Sutherland
Andrew Greig
Craig Gunn
Mark Nicolson
William Counsell
Jamie Michie
Max Berton
Paul Lawson
Wayne Mackintosh
Liam Burnett
Kieran Lawrence

Substitutions
Andrew Greig for Paul Brindle (37)
Craig Gunn for Craig Campbell (61)
Zander Sutherland for Ally MacDonald (61)
Liam Burnett for Garry Wood (66)
Jamie Michie for Johnny Crawford (77)
Wayne Mackintosh for Archie MacPhee (82)

Bookings
John Pickles (41)
Jamie Duff (46)
Scott Graham (64)
None.

Red Cards
Steven MacKay (80) None.

Appearances & Goals To Date
Ewen MacDonald (GK) 42 apps -
Craig McKeown 68 apps13 goals
Johnny Crawford 72 apps3 goals
Stuart Smith 171 apps14 goals
Scott Henry 25 apps1 goal
Stuart Anderson 150 apps28 goals
Graeme Rodger 110 apps33 goals
Archie MacPhee 19 apps18 goals
Scott Barbour 104 apps48 goals
Scott Ferries 49 apps6 goals
Garry Wood 80 apps43 goals
Jamie Michie (sub) 68 apps -
Wayne Mackintosh (sub) 12 apps1 goal
Liam Burnett (sub) 31 apps4 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Scott Ferries (21 years 233 days)
Oldest Player:Craig McKeown (32 years 227 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 10 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Burnett (20 years 72 days)
Oldest Player:Paul Lawson (33 years 167 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 184 days
Domestic Players:17 (100.00 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Scott Barbour scored his 50th goal for the Club.

The margin of this victory will already have sent shock waves reverberating throughout the Highland League community but those who were there to see it, the way in which it was achieved was even more significant. From first minute to last, Formartine dictated and imposing their own brand of pacy, disciplined football teased, taunted, tormented and eventually tortured their hosts who most, beyond those of the North Lodge faithful, had expected to win comfortably.

Taking the old adage of hit them hard and hit them early, United stunned their hosts by racing into a two goal lead in first seven minutes. Each was a perfectly executed sucker punch brought about by exploiting the limitations of a flat and rather static home back line with perfectly timed runs from deepish wide positions to connect with perfectly weighted through balls. In the third minute – just after a Brora foray into United territory on the left was easily broken up, the counter was on. The ball was swiftly worked over to Crawford on the right who advanced quickly towards the halfway line before flighting the ball into the path of WOOD who bore straight through the inside right channel, through the gap between MacDonald and Duff and as the keeper advanced, towards him drove the ball low but accurately across the line of his advance and into the far corner of the net.

Brora are experienced enough campaigners not to let an early reverse disable them and again attempted to mount some pressure on United: they found it difficult because United were very quick to close down and challenge and Brora, looking for more time on the ball than their visitors were prepared to allow them, could not put coherent moves together. McKeown, Crawford, Henry and Wood had all returned from long term injuries on Wednesday night against Rothes and what a difference it made. They had shaken off the rust acquired during their enforced layoffs in that game and despite flagging ever so slightly late in this one, combined to transform a decent and generally successful side into a genuinely impressive one. The only remaining issue for their supporters is whether they can sustain the standard they have now set themselves.

The next goal was almost a mirror image of the first – worked down the left side and finished by Scott Barbour. An under-struck goal kick by MacDonald was retrieved from Morrison by Stuart Anderson who shimmied his way a few yards forward before delivering a perfectly timed and consummately weighted pass out left to BARBOUR who timed his run to nip past a still rather flat and static defence, cut inside and from a tightish angle to the left of goal about twelve yards out fired the ball past the outstretched left hand of McKay for number two. Had this not been as early as the 6th minute you might have considered it a match winner, but a team of Broras abilities can turn round a two goal deficit in much less than the 84 minutes that remained. However United made sure that they could not by sustaining a ferocious pace. Anderson, Rodger, MacPhee and Ferries in midfield ensured that Brora never had enough of the ball for long enough, let alone the space to work in to mount a serious threat to the relatively underworked MacDonald in the United goal. Up front, the enthusiasm and sheer physicality of Wood matched by the mobility and tanner ba skills of Barbour were the stuff of nightmares to a defence that seemed to display no more mobility than their manager displayed as a player.

The next twenty to thirty minutes were largely occupied by Brora trying to battle their way back into the game against a United side who looked a tad hungrier and dare it be said, generally more capable and better organised than their opponents. Brora struggled to reach the final third and on the occasions that they did get there found more resistance than they could overcome. MacDonald plucked a couple of crosses from the air and comfortably took a pair of rather perfunctory long range efforts from MacKay. Brindle looked increasingly out of sorts and never threatened.

As the half progressed United pressed further forward and began to keep the ball in Brora territory for longer periods. Having shaded the stats for possession, United were now dominating territorially too. In such circumstances, a third goal before half time was clearly on the cards. It was a different type altogether: after a sustained onslaught on the home goal area when shots into goalmouth melees by Ferries, Wood, Anderson, MacPhee and Barbour rebounded somehow or another to safety. Rodger broke the temporary impasse by holding back a shade until a rebound almost inevitably came his way following a Barbour ball in from the left and he was able to slot it home from 10 yards out in the 32nd minute.

United continued to dominate in terms of possession and territory without further increasing their tally before the interval. Brora replaced Brindle with Greig in the 38th minute but it made little difference. Some Brora tackling was deteriorating into persistent fouling and a couple (by Graham on Smith and Duff on MacPhee) yielded (perhaps leniently) yellow cards.

Some sort of reaction from Brora was expected at the start of the second period but beyond a two or three minute flurry right at the start, they were unable to muster anything to threaten United and the pattern of Formartine dominating the central areas and denying Brora access to most of the final third continued to prevail. The pitch was heavy and the initial frenetic pace began to drop a little. Even then, United looked fitter than their hosts and continued to dominate. They had enough possession and overall pressure to increase their lead and the only surprise was that it took until later in the game for them to do so.

Liam Burnett has made a real breakthrough into the top team this season and coming on as sub staked a claim for a starting berth with a neatly taken goal. Barbour had taken the ball down near the left corner flag before working it past Pickles to launch a neatly judged chip for Burnett to head home from close range at the back stick in the 84th minute. Four nil is a bit of a doing - especially to Brora at home - but United were still not finished. Sustaining pressure right to the end they forced a last minute score that really added insult to injury. Picking up a loose ball a bit shy of the centre circle, Ferries was off like a rat up a spout and reached the edge of the box MacKay went down to dispossess him. He had only limited success and being unable to hold the ball allowed it to spin from his grasp. In the race to get to it there was only going to be one winner and that was FERRIES who then rolled the ball cooly into the goal off the inside of the left upright for number 5.

Exciting times lie ahead for this free scoring United side (13 goals in their last 3 games). A Cup final v Cove beckons as does a 3rd round tie against the possibly beatable Forfar in the William Hill Scottish Cup. This game may have been a one off but the standard of the opposition, the scale of victory and the manner in which it was achieved suggest otherwise and are grounds for some optimism.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie