Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Shearer (GK)		61 apps	-
Graham Hay		36 apps	8 goals
Calum Dingwall		37 apps	4 goals
Craig Duguid		27 apps	1 goal
Stuart Smith		64 apps	2 goals
Stuart Anderson		49 apps	8 goals
Callum Bagshaw		52 apps	8 goals
Gary Clark		43 apps	1 goal
Cammy Keith		64 apps	46 goals
Stuart McKay		59 apps	19 goals
Paul Napier		51 apps	4 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

The game was played in a strong wind – probably near gale force at times and the determining factor was that Formartine adjusted better to the conditions than did Clach. They used wind against for Mackay to execute a very cute lob over keeper Ridgers to nick an early goal and used wind advantage to finish with a Cammy Keith brace against tiring defenders deep into the second period. Clach who played commendably from box to box and were able to pin Formartine back for periods, struggled throughout to penetrate a resolute visiting defence enough to produce more than a couple of shots on target.

Clach won the toss and sensibly elected to play with the wind from the outset, but it was Formartine who were the first to press. A ball clipped down the right by Hay was taken forward by Dingwall and fed through to Duguid. The wide man held it up enough for support to arrive on the other side of the box before he slung the ball into the path of Anderson who headed firmly goalwards but Ridgers was well positioned to make the save. Initial Clach attempts at attack were over enthusiastic in that they tended to break down when the ball was overstruck in the wind and sailed beyond the reach of intended recipients. While Clach were still trying to find their range, Formartine cashed in. An attack down the left involving Duguid, Anderson and MACKAY was completed when the latter spotting Ridgers forward of his line after an earlier goal attempt had been only partially cleared, drove the ball hard into the wind for it to rise steeply over the keeper before descending just as steeply behind him and into the net.

This superbly executed eighth minute opener was enough for the still managerless Formartine to develop and sustain the belief that they could get and hold the upper hand at a ground where they have traditionally found points none too easy to come by. Inevitably Clach came back at them looking for a quick equaliser. A move down the left by Finnis was one of the few that ended with the ball getting into the United danger zone. He took the ball almost to the corner flag before chipping it back and into the wind for it to fall for the wily Brindle who turned and twisted to make the space for a shot before he was dispossessed by a firm and timely tackle by born again centre back, Stuart Smith.

For the rest of the first period, possession was fairly evenly distributed between the teams although on balance and with no little assistance from the wind the ball was more in the Formartine half than the home one. Territorial advantage is one thing and shots on target are another entirely: Clach were deficient in this respect and the reasons lie probably more with the efficiency of the Formartine rearguard led by captain Graham Hay than with deficiencies on the part of the Lilywhites. For all they pressed their visitors, they tended to play the ball around or across the penalty area more than into or through it. The reason was simple: Hay and Smith in the middle with Dingwall and Duguis to right and left respectively simply worked very hard indeed to make this happen.

Of course there were exceptions to that. In the 28th minute some storming play down the left from Finnis and Fitzpatrick set up Brindle to whip in a vicious left to right dipping ball close to the back post where Morrison got a boot to about an inch shy of turning the ball into the net. There were exceptions too at the other end where Formartine created pressures of their own. Gary Clark beavered away in the middle and could usually find MacKay, Keith or playmaker Anderson. One such move ended with Anderson driving one close past Ridger’s right upright, but the pattern for most of the second period of the first half was of Clach more or less keeping Formartine on the back foot but Formartine appearing to carry more menace when they did breakaway.

The last five minutes of this period saw Clach ratcheting up the pressure as hard as they could: their danger man was Brindle, who after setting up Lawrie for an angled shot that landed on the roof of the net let, fly with a twenty odd yard left to right drive that rattled off the junction of Shearer’s left upright and the cross bar. That was as close as they got. For all the wind advantage, they had managed only four corners and one shot on target.
The wind had dropped significantly over the interval and the game resumed with Formartine enjoying the advantage of what was now little more than a spring breeze. They still set out to make best use of it and employed as a high a back line - a yard or two into their own half - as they could reasonably sustain. They were able for the most part to hold this and did so for the first 15 or thereby. The fluky wind came and went and Formartine went through a rather flat looking spell – they looked a bit like Clach had done in the first, they had more of the possession but struggled for penetration and the game was played predominantly in midfield but nearer the Clach goal mouth than United’s.

They did get the ball into the crowded Clach area from time to time. In the aftermath of a corner on the left, a chip by Duguid was headed across the goalmouth by Hay and Cammy Keith, back to goal, attempted a bicycle kick but just mistimed his effort enough for Morrison to clear. A 59th minute corner on the right was swung in by Anderson and Hay’s header went just over the top.

There was another flat period before Formartine introduced Madle in the 70th minute for the tiring Napier. This produced a new surge of attacks, usually launched from a bit deeper and with the wind on the rise Formartine took much more assertive control again. With Madle and Keith running at pace and wind assisted, defenders started to tire. This was enough for the last 15 minutes or so to go increasingly Formartine’s way. In the 84th minute a loopy ball through the middle by Anderson was pursued by KEITH who slipped between two defenders on his way into the box, waited for Ridgers to advance and calmly slipped the ball past him into the net.

Two minutes more of Formartine onslaught yielded a third goal. A corner on the right by Anderson reached the head of Hay who headed it on for KEITH at the other side of the keeper. This was meat and drink for Cammy who simply nodded the ball into the net to complete the scoreline.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie