Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Shearer (GK)		47 apps	-
Craig McKeown		45 apps	10 goals
Craig Duguid		13 apps	1 goal
Graham Hay		16 apps	2 goals
Stuart Smith		44 apps	1 goal
Stuart Anderson		29 apps	7 goals
Gary Clark		30 apps	1 goal
Neil McVitie		38 apps	7 goals
Marek Madle		13 apps	5 goals
Paul Napier		33 apps	4 goals
Cammy Keith		46 apps	34 goals
Callum Bagshaw (sub)		39 apps	3 goals
Stuart McKay (sub)		44 apps	15 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Formartine travelled to Allan Park with more hope than expectation of victory: in 5 years of trying, they had yet to collect a single point there and Cove after their part in the previous week’s eleven goal thriller at Locos and playing in the miniscule confines of their own back yard appeared, on the face of it, to be favourites. The single goal win was rather more comfortable than the score -line suggests and the monkey was removed from Formartine’s back much more easily than a mobile from a teenager’s ear. Most encouraging from the perspective of the Pitmedden faithful was the manner in which an excellent overall team performance, in difficult [ish] circumstances yielded them their points.

Clark and McVitie, returning after injuries, were restored after to their ball winning partnership in midfield and Munro unavailable for no stated, but unlikely to be ominous, reason was replaced in the right back berth by Duguid. Ground conditions were soft underfoot and there was a gie strong wind blowing from the Stonehaven side – strong enough for Cove on winning the toss to elect to change ends to get it at their backs from the start. It was Formartine however who made the first aggressive move as straight from the kick off the ball was worked to Anderson who curled an elegant pass to meet Napier’s sprint down the left flank. The wee wide guy spun past Yule and drove in a tricky, low, tight angled drive that Wood was forced to poke round the post for an unrewarded corner. Formartine kept the pressure on for a minute or two thereafter as Cove struggled to clear their lines. Formartine were probably just shading the early stages but a spell round the tenth minute saw Cove force three corners in the space of a couple of minutes after former Formartine forward Dan Park had made a strong run through the middle. Such was the strength of the wind that on the tiny Cove pitch, wind assisted goal kicks could clear the cross bar at the other end after a single bounce. Clearly Cove had much more experience of how to operate in such circumstances than had their visitors, but it was Formartine, keeping the ball low and playing conventionally through the channels that took the lead. Anderson had, in his elegant way, been pulling a lot of strings about thirty or forty yards out and one tricky driven ball rebounded from some part of Kelly to yield a corner on the right. Anderson hit the ball hard and accurate, close in all the way to meet the perfectly timed run by McKEOWN who leapt above defenders and headed majestically home in the 21st minute.

Cove retaliated immediately and mounted sustained pressure at the Formartine end. Whenever Formartine lost possession of the ball that they had patiently worked up field Cove could simply hoik it straight back into the danger area using the wind to assist the process. Formartine looked to be coping quite well with this until they made what was really their only mistake of the match. A minor misjudgement/miscommunication between McKeown and Stuart Smith saw each hestitate about committing to a loose ball just enough for Nicol to nip in and from a position close to the penalty spot, drive the ball low past Shearer’s right hand to equalise.

Back on level terms and with fifteen more minutes of wind advantage left Cove needed to press on. Formartine were implacably opposed to allowing this to happen and the game took on a rather towsier aspect. Little side shows of off the ball interpersonal irritation developed: particularly toothsome to those with a taste for such accessories to the main event were those between Webster and Madle and Gary Clark and anyone with a blue jersey that came within two yards range.

The combative Clark now in his 33rd year still has a decent engine in him but the head gasket is sometimes prone to leaking. Any mechanic knows that if the head gasket leaks, the coolant reaches boiling point and melt-down will follow. It was looking that way as half time approached but aided by protective colleagues he was sustained at a temperature just below combustion. Madle, however was winning his wee war and just on the stroke of half time, on the end of a Duguid throw in that comfortably passed the near post at head height [Duguid has a long throw but that still demonstrates the constraints of the Cove pitch]. Marek got away from his bearded marker and was unlucky indeed to see his strong header rebound from the junction of bar and post.

The second period began with Bagshaw replacing Clark withdrawn for health and safety reasons and Cove playing into the wind demonstrating that there was much more to them than the long ball stuff they had employed with wind advantage. For the first five minutes or so they worked the ball about quite slickly while Formartine took about the same time to adjust to wind advantage. Nicol almost made it two with a fierce fifteen yard drive that Shearer did well to block before the drama of what looked like a palpably crass refereeing error unfolded. A long, over the top ball reached Smith who was a good couple of yards ahead of defenders when it was played to him. Unabashed and unhalted, he leathered it goalwards and Shearer blocked the shot. The ball rebounded back to the striker who was by now even further off side. Realising this he rather casually, disconsolately dinked the ball into the net. To his and everyone else’s astonishment ref Beaton, unadvised by his assistant let the goal stand. So stunningly bizarre was the decision that no Cove player had the gall to celebrate.

An infuriated Formartine sought amends and made the gear shift that put them in control for the rest of the game. They were playing quite crisp flowing stuff, moving the ball about at pace and had Cove substantially pinned back in their own quarters. Madle and Keith were beginning to play off each other, Anderson continued to pull handfuls of strings and Bagshaw was creating an opening or two too. McVitie made a number of direct runs into the area and was unlucky to be denied at least once. The pace of Napier out wide was a persistent menace to home defenders. However it was another goal from a central defender that turned the tide as HAY, up for a corner got on the end of a ball driven over to the back stick from the left and outjumped his Cove counterpart to head the ball fiercely home.

From then on it was only a matter of time - and there was nearly half an hour left - before the now dominant Formartine team got their noses in front. Madle broke in through the inside right channel to get one on one with Wood who blocked his opening effort with his feet. Following up, the big Czech should have done better than fire his next effort over both the prone keeper and the cross bar. With a small pitch and an over populated penalty area it was never going to be pretty but these are just the circumstances in which a poacher thrives. No surprise then that it was Cammy Keith, emerging from a lean period who chipped in with the decisive and ultimately winning goal. With the ball bobbing about all over the place in the box it spun across the goal face towards the back post. Cammy read the situation quicker than the keeper did and beat him to the ball to slide in and prod it from close range into the net.

The stretch to the ball injured him and although he hirpled on a minute or two, he was replaced in the 70th minute by MacKay who went on to do a splendid job of keeping home defenders on the back foot by his tactic of continual harassment, constantly chasing and harrying. This was just what was needed as Formartine who could or even should have gone further ahead remained in comfortable control for the time remaining.

Match report by Colin Keenan