Appearances & Goals To Date

Ewen MacDonald (GK)		45 apps	-
Craig McKeown		70 apps	13 goals
Johnny Crawford		75 apps	3 goals
Stuart Smith		174 apps	15 goals
Scott Henry		28 apps	1 goal
Stuart Anderson		152 apps	28 goals
Graeme Rodger		113 apps	34 goals
Archie MacPhee		22 apps	22 goals
Scott Barbour		107 apps	48 goals
Scott Ferries		50 apps	6 goals
Garry Wood		83 apps	45 goals
Wayne Mackintosh (sub)		15 apps	1 goal

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

The significance of this game was great: the final of the only Cup that Formartine have ever won at this level, but the result was far greater. Cove have never lost to any Highland League side this season having played them all at least once, and they have only been once defeated in any game at any level so far and that was in the 3rd round of the Irn Bru Cup against Ulster side, Crusaders. The bookies had Cove as almost racing certainties for this one at 4/6 and United at a distant 21/10 but despite all this, there was a quiet, perverse optimism in the Formartine ranks. Since the new management duo of Paul Lawson and brother in law, Russell Anderson have taken over there has been a distinct change of atmosphere about the club and with it, a visible rise in confidence through the team. Recent big wins away to Brora and Strathspey set them up nicely for the challenge of Cove in a final at Balmoor Stadium in Peterhead.

United were almost at full strength for this one – only striker Connor Gethins remains on the injury list although notable returnees from long term injuries: Wood, McKeown, Henry and Crawford are at relatively early stages on the come back trail. However any lingering doubts about any of them not being quite up to the speed required for a final against Cove were utterly dispelled when the first named scored the match winning goal, the second was awarded man of the match and the other two contributed hugely to a highly determined and very professional display of deep defending for long periods at a time.

This is the game in which Formartine came of age – against the masters of gamesmanship, they stole the trophy from right under their noses, beating them at their own game in the process. After a first half where United battled hard for dominance in midfield before eventually nicking a crucial superbly worked breakaway goal during a spell of Cove dominance, they successfully defended that slender lead for the entire second half with as disciplined a display of defending in depth as they have ever produced.

The game, predictably started at a high tempo with each side probing for weaknesses in the others array, particularly down the flanks. In essence there was little doing at either side for either side. Action switched quickly to more central areas and a wee sideshow between Kelly and Wood developed, the former attempting to discover which of the array of nasties he had to offer the ref was going to allow. Ref Shepherd was wise to it though and quickly drew the line at leaving the boot in, jersey pulls etc. albeit it took a booking to make the point. Scully fed by Megginson got in a decent cross to meet a late run by Strachan but keeper MacDonald who was on excellent form throughout was quick to intervene by pushing the ball beyond his reach for an unrewarded corner. Early on Megginson made the mistake of thinking that one swallow made a summer when once having got the ball beyond McKeown, he tried to repeat the move only to find that you cant do that to the big centre back. From that point (in the 14th minute) on, he never got a sniff out of the United rearguard, co-ordinated by McKeown. This back four with Crawford and Smith as wing backs and Henry and McKeown were rock solid from start to finish. The more these defenders dominated, the more quickly and less convincingly the pricey striker would go to deck. They were more than he or former United forward Masson could handle and the result of that competition was the crux of the game. The United defence was more than fit for the best the toonsers had to offer.

That said there were spells in the first half, particularly for the first and last ten minutes where Cove certainly had the better of possession and had United pinned back in their own half. However, United still looked comfortable enough and Cove really struggled to do anything to stretch United in the final third. On the rare occasions when they did some more basic backs to the wall defending did the trick. For all that MacDonald did to earn his corn: a decent dive to his left to thwart Burnetts low drive from the right corner of the box and a reflex save with his right hand from a close range stab by Campbell he was mostly occupied by pulling down or sometimes fisting away crosses.

The middle part of the first half was Uniteds and in it they went close to opening the scoring when a free kick twenty yards out, just right of centre was struck low and with explosive power by MacPhee. The shot beat the wall and looked also to have beaten keeper McKenzie but he was able to get a touch to it as it rebounded netwards from the base of his left upright and somehow managed to poke it to safety round the corner. Stuart Anderson was providing an increasing supply of balls forward and the direct running of Ferries and Rodger was pressurising Cove to the extent that Watson and Milne, who so often manage to intimidate opponents, looked increasingly uncomfortable when these to lively midfielders ran at them with the ball and forced them onto the back foot.

Cove had another decent spell searching for an opener at the psychologically significant point just before the interval. Again Formartine not only capable of soaking up the pressure: they managed to return it with interest. After a a period of sustained attack around but not inside the United area, McKeown picked up a ball meant for Megginson, progressed maybe a dozen yards forward right before delivering a perfectly timed and weighted diagonal ball forward left about 40 yards into the path of Barbour who had the legs on Ross and turned goalward to cross the ball perfectly to meet the run of WOOD who drilled the ball into the back of the net from about 12 yards range. The perfect sucker punch, clinically created, and immaculately delivered. The expression of disgust, anguish and despair on the supercilious coupon of Cove captain Watson at that moment will remain a treasured memory for the horde of Formartine faithful who made the trip all the way to the Blue Toon in the hope of seeing just that. They had waited long enough to see it.

Cove are renowned for their battling qualities and came out all guns blazing for the second half. Formartine had anticipated this and set out their stall accordingly with two banks of four deployed almost, but not quite exclusively, in their own half. Whether they set out to defend a single goal lead for 45 minutes or whether they were pressured into doing so, it was clear that Cove had a mighty undertaking ahead if they were going to prize that fragile lead away from United. What was clear was that United had the confidence to sit it out and prioritise defence while looking to pinch anything that might arise through a breakaway. In the end they did this remarkably well and despite the ball spending most of the final 45 in United territory the made just as many decent goal chances as Cove and for all the Cove pressure on the final third the fact remains that Uniteds two banks of four (that regularly morphed into one of nine) did the vast majority of their business in the area between half way and the 18 yard line. Wood and Barbour were deployed largely outside this to look for possible breakouts and act as springboards to change defence to attack.

This clearly frustrated Cove and the more it did so, the better it suited Formartine who kept shape and discipline (they conceded very few fouls during all this). As Cove picked up bookings they needed to take increasing care in challenging for the ball and attend more to legal niceties than they are generally accustomed.

Of course Cove had their moments: a Burnett drive forced a good save as MacDonald tipped it over the top. The midfielder was replaced by Daniel Park (formerly of United) but his knowledge of Formartine was more than offset by theirs of him and he lacked influence for the half hour or so he was on the park. McManus and Stott came on for Kelly and Scully but there was no change in the situation. United still held out. MacDonald had another couple of saves to make from Strachan and Megginson but they were from a bit of a distance. At the other end there were still breakthroughs usually starting through the link up work of Wood and Barbour. A thumping drive by Henry in the 77th had McKenzie at full stretch to push the pall round the corner. One in the 80th minute yielded a promising free on the edge box. McKeown tipped it sideways for Wood (who had raxed himself a few minutes before) to hammer goalwards but one of the legs in the wall blocked it. Mckintosh replaced MacPhee to add fresh legs and he put himself about energetically enough to make a good contribution for the 12 minutes he was on.

In the end United held out if not quite comfortably, certainly capably and with a level of professionalism that is in advance of anything they have shown before. The approach was audacious but executed superbly. McKeown, Henry, Smith and Crawford all deserve credit for this but on the day every single player made an immense contribution for a landmark victory. It was the management though who had the nous and the nerve to outmaneuver the clubs arch rivals.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie