Formartine United 4 - 1 Forres Mechanics 

League Match
Wednesday, February 21st, 2018, 8:00 PM at North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Attendance: 102
Referee: David Watt
Formartine United v Forres Mechanics, Feb 21st 2018, North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Formartine United  Forres Mechanics

Goalscorers
Scott Barbour (7)
Jevan Anderson (57)
Scott Barbour (71)
Graeme Rodger (78)
Andrew MacRae (65)

Team Managers
Paul Lawson Charlie Rowley

Starting Eleven
Kevin Main
Jevan Anderson
Johnny Crawford
Craig McKeown
Stuart Smith
Wayne Mackintosh
Graeme Rodger
Andrew Greig
Archie MacPhee
Scott Barbour
Conor Gethins
Euan Storrier
Graham Fraser
Martin Groat
Jordan Milne
Allan Pollock
Craig McGovern
Andrew MacRae
Allan MacPhee
Robert Duncanson
Callum Howarth
Stuart Soane

Bench
Ewen MacDonald
Calum Dingwall
Jamie Michie
Stuart Anderson
Garry Wood
Liam Burnett
Simon Allan
Graeme Grant
Scott H Moore
Owen Paterson
Ryan Stuart
Ruari Fraser
Jamie Brown

Substitutions
Jamie Michie for Wayne Mackintosh (62)
Liam Burnett for Conor Gethins (73)
Calum Dingwall for Stuart Smith (76)
Ryan Stuart for Allan MacPhee (73)
Scott H Moore for Robert Duncanson (73)

Bookings
None. Andrew MacRae (66)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Kevin Main (GK) 1 app (debut) -
Jevan Anderson 26 apps1 goal
Johnny Crawford 88 apps5 goals
Craig McKeown 83 apps16 goals
Stuart Smith 184 apps16 goals
Wayne Mackintosh 26 apps4 goals
Graeme Rodger 127 apps43 goals
Andrew Greig 10 apps4 goals
Archie MacPhee 34 apps27 goals
Scott Barbour 119 apps55 goals
Conor Gethins 60 apps20 goals
Calum Dingwall (sub) 134 apps8 goals
Jamie Michie (sub) 77 apps -
Liam Burnett (sub) 38 apps6 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Jevan Anderson (17 years 359 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (35 years 344 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 82 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Jevan Anderson (17 years 359 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (35 years 344 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 160 days
Domestic Players:16 (94.12 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts
Kevin Main(Signed February 19th, 2018)

Milestones

This game was closer than the final scoreline would suggest. No doubt about it, Formartine were well worth the win where they scored four very well crafted and executed goals and deserved each of them but that does not detract from the fact that Forres, lacking the totemic presence of giant striker Lee Fraser, were a fit, fast and very well organised outfit who worked hard for each other throughout and at times pressed United hard.

The main difference was that Formartine were just that wee bit more clinical in the finishing department and made very good use of the chances they created. Mechanics created fewer chances because the United defence, with McKeown at his imperious best leading it, denied them the opportunity of getting many sights of goal from positions where they had a reasonable prospect of getting the ball past debutant keeper Main, signed earlier in the week from Turra. This looks like a shrewed signing - the experienced keeper slotted in behind Uniteds back four of Crawford, Smith, Jevan Anderson and McKeown as if he had been part of the team for years and on the infrequent occasions he was called upon to show his mettle he produce some quality saves. That slight edge in defence allied to a clinical edge in finishing was enough to stretch a hard won midfield battle into a victory of such a scale.

United began the game as if they were going to give their visitors a bit of a roasting – carving out a number of opportunities in the opening minutes. With Greig and Barbour offering pace and trickery in the wide areas, they tried with some success to compress the game into the Can Cans half by pushing their backline to the half way point and trying to hold things from there. Within a couple of minutes Greig had shown that he could get past Groat and managed to work his way in from the left wing to rattle in a stinging tight angle drive from about 15 yards out from goal and 3 or 4 in from the bye line that Storrier took at the second attempt. He more or less replicated this a minute or two later but this time the keeper managed to get his body behind the ball before smothering the shot. A foray down the right ended with a Barbour cross that was barely a foot beyond the reach of MacPhee who had blasted through the middle to get on to it.

At this stage Formartine had Forres well hemmed in and rocking. It took only until the 6th minute for the pressure to yield a goal. Just after Forres had enjoyed the respite of playing for almost a minute in United territory – (they never got the ball into the box or anything as dangerous as that) McKeown cannily intercepted a pass directed towards Soane and advanced thundering his way through central midfield until almost reaching the edge of the visitors penalty box to slip the ball forward right to the overlapping Crawford. The full back whipped over a a powerful swinging cross straight to BARBOUR who simply killed the ball before driving it past the left hand of the keeper into the net.

This goal was consistent with the run of play at the time and United dominance continued for another five or ten minutes but even then it was clear that once Forres got the ball into midfield they could pass it around quickly and accurately and had clear shape and purpose to their play. In the 10th minute MacRae supported by MacPhee made progress enough through the inside left route to get a sniff of goal and unloaded a crisp low drive that fizzed past Mains left upright although it looked like had the shot been on target it would have been within the reach of Main.

The pattern of the game was changing: United were no longer able to sustain their high back line in the territory where Mechanics were desperate to get a midfield grip. That meant that this area was under increasing dispute and fought over in particular by Archie MacPhee, Mackintosh and Rodger for United and Alan MacPhee, Macrae and McGovern for the visitors. It was never dirty but the tackles nonetheless were not for the faint of heart either. Both sides had a fair bit of pace about them and moved the ball about quite slickly and regularly reached the areas around their opponents penalty areas. Penetration beyond that was less frequent and goal chances were at a premium. Gethins managed to sneak a ball between defenders to catch the run of MacPhee but the ball was just beyond his reach. A couple of edge of the area shots by the same Gethins (one from a free, the other in open play) went close the keeper struggled with the first but it rebounded from his right upright and the other was just over the top. MacRae was lively and quick and in the 34th min got in another edge of the area drive that was taken by Main.

5 minutes later Rodger made a powerful burst through the middle but was halted on the point of offloading a shot by the combined attentions of Pollock and Milne. The game was now quite easily balanced and Mechanics were giving, by and large, as good as they got -a situation that continued until the interval.

The second half showed Uniteds superiority but it was never overwhelming. Without ever reaching the same dominance that they managed in first ten minutes or so, United still managed to stretch away from Forres who had started the second period brightly enough. Play had opened out a bit more and that suited United. In the 53rd minute after a couple of waves of attack they had forced a corner on the right. It was taken by Archie MacPhee – a vicious in-swinger that Storrier could only push away from under his cross bar. Jevan Anderson, up to add his not inconsiderable height and increasing musclature to the set piece got his head to the ball and thumped a powerfully struck header well beyond the reach of the keeper for 2-0.

Forres were far from beaten yet and battled back. Again they found it easier to make ground up to the Formartine box than to penetrate it but in the 60th minute, penetrate it they did. The attack had come down the left side and the ball was played in from wide by MacPhee into a ruck of players of both persuasions. Fly as a bag of monkeys, MacRae nips outside it and with the impudence of Ballocher, back-heeled the ball away from them and into the net from all of five yards out.

This energised Forres for a bit and they threw everything into pushing for the equaliser. A couple of minutes after their goal Pollock from the left corner of the box let fly with a really nasty low stubbed drive that Main did really well to get a saving touch to right at the base of his left upright. This was the nearest they got to turning the game. In the 64th minute, United turned the screw on them with a well worked goal. A sweeping move from centre to left involving Roger, Gethins and MacPhee brought in BARBOUR from the left flank to the corner of the box where he darted between Fraser and Milne before drilling the ball beyond Storrier.

Forres refused to lie down but their attacks were less confident and more easily contained although they still fought tooth and nail for every ball. In the 73rd minute Graeme Rodger, in a great run of form of late, delivered what was unquestionably the goal of this and probably many other games too. From a feed in his own half by Gethins he took off through the middle leaving initially midfielders and then defenders simply unable to halt his blistering run with the ball, leaving them all floundering in his wake until he reached the edge of the box from where he skelped an utterly unstoppable drive that left the keeper almost rooted to the spot as the ball screamed into the net.

There was no way back for the Can Cans and although United continued to press they met dogged resistance until the final whistle.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

None.

Programme cover / Team sheet