Huntly 0 - 6 Formartine United

League - HFL
Saturday, October 31st, 2015, 3:00 PM at Christie Park, Huntly
Attendance: 165
Referee: Dan McFarlane
Huntly v Formartine United, Oct 31st 2015, Christie Park, Huntly
Huntly Formartine United 

Goalscorers
None. Stuart Anderson (29)
Stuart Anderson (38)
Stuart Anderson (55)
Cammy Keith (75)
Cammy Keith (78)
Cammy Keith (87)

Team Managers
Gregg Carrol Kris Hunter

Starting Eleven
Andrew Pennycook
Neale Allan
John Urquhart
Mark Lawson
Darren Wood
Murray Mcculloch
Alexander Thoirs
Gary McNamee
Aaron Scoular
Adam McNamee
David Booth
Andy Reid
Johnny Crawford
Stuart Smith
Calum Dingwall
Paul Lawson
Stuart Anderson
Jamie Masson
Graeme Rodger
Scott Barbour
Garry Wood
Neil Gauld

Bench
Connor Brian
Fraser Hobday
Andreas Mitchell
Dean Donaldson
Sean Croll
Glenn Murison
Ewen MacDonald
Jamie Michie
Cammy Booth
Max Berton
Erik Thomson
Cammy Keith

Substitutions
Andreas Mitchell for Aaron Scoular (60)
Dean Donaldson for David Booth (78)
Sean Croll for Murray McCulloch (79)
Cammy Keith for Scott Barbour (67)
Jamie Michie for Graeme Rodger (79)
Max Berton for Stuart Anderson (85)

Bookings
Mark Lawson (71) Jamie Masson (49)
Johnny Crawford (65)
Cammy Keith (83)

Red Cards
None. None.

Appearances & Goals To Date
Andy Reid (GK) 18 apps -
Johnny Crawford 19 apps1 goal
Stuart Smith 86 apps5 goals
Calum Dingwall 49 apps4 goals
Paul Lawson 18 apps5 goals
Stuart Anderson 71 apps15 goals
Jamie Masson 7 apps1 goal
Graeme Rodger 19 apps8 goals
Scott Barbour 19 apps6 goals
Garry Wood 18 apps12 goals
Neil Gauld 15 apps3 goals
Jamie Michie (sub) 9 apps -
Max Berton (sub) 5 apps -
Cammy Keith (sub) 84 apps62 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Calum Dingwall (22 years 261 days)
Oldest Player:Jamie Masson (32 years 217 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 202 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Cammy Booth (19 years 26 days)
Oldest Player:Jamie Masson (32 years 217 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 336 days
Domestic Players:17 (100.00 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

When manager Chris Hunter said after his side had sent Barry Ferguson’s one tumbling out of the William Hill Scottish Cup, that there was more and better to come few realised that this could be achieved as quickly as it has been. Huntly had also beaten Div 2 opposition last time out but when Formartine came calling on league business they were put to the sword by a fast flowing attacking Formartine side that was relentless in its pursuit and execution of goals. Huntly who are climbing the league after an inauspicious start worked hard all over the pitch but were no match for the efficient and skilled Formartine where every player was on song and delivered everything that was asked and if hat tricks are considered to be beyond the call of duty, then there was a couple of them too.

On a dry sunny and windless afternoon, perfect for football the relative levels of confidence were visible in the line ups as the home side went for a relatively safe 4-4-2 while visiting Formartine set out their stall with attack in mind with a 4-3-3. They squeezed Huntly into their own half and started to apply pressure from the start. A Masson, Rodger, Barbour move down the right set up the latter for a slightly scuffed shot that went wide and a minute or two later, the industrious Gauld held up the ball before releasing it to Anderson whose crisp shot was just too high. Lawson was conducting a master class in distribution and for all that the game was compressed largely into Huntly territory was still well able to orchestrate things in the tight confines. He repeatedly set up moves to link Smith and Masson where the former’s crosses, swerving and dipping caused travails for Urquhart, Scoular and Lawson. The pressure was on: Rodger and Barbour went close and a Masson header from another wickedly flighted cross by Smith just inched over the bar. Huntly, forced to rely on breakaways, were unable to bring Reid into action until the 23rd minute when he comfortably gathered a MacNamee effort off a Booth feed just after a Lawson corner, headed goalward by Crawford, was headed onto his own bar by Scoular.

A Formartine goal was inevitable and against less industrious sides or one with less capable goal keeping would surely have come earlier than the 29th minute. Out on the right, Masson drifted past Allan and burst into the box and struck a goalward drive that hit a number of defenders before being seized upon by ANDERSON, who standing on no ceremony, immediately leathered the ball home.

Formartine pressure continued unabated and Huntly were reduced to breakaways conducted with very little more frequency than teeth are found in hens. Such as they were, they usually involved Booth, but nothing he could muster could break the composure of the visiting rearguard.
In the 37th minute ANDERSON scored the second and bonniest of his hat trick after Masson and Gauld had combined fluently to feed him the ball 22 yards out. His finish was of consummate precision – the goal keeper was almost 7feet high and the cross bar yet Ando’s chip flew over the first and under the second on its way to the net. Class tells.
Visiting pressure continued unabated bar a brief foray from an off-side Booth but Huntly’s hard work kept the score at that level until the interval.

Huntly did have a bit of a go at United at the start of the second half and a Booth MacNamee combination yielded a header which although on target did little to trouble Reid. For the first ten minutes or so of the second spell Huntly gave by and large as good as they got, but Anderson in devastating form, completed the first hat trick of his 12 year senior career. A cunning threaded feed by Lawson provided the ammunition and from the edge of the box he hammered the ball with laser -like precision beyond the muckle Pennycook into the right corner of the net.

The game now utterly beyond the reach of Huntly, continued with Formartine moving the ball about with pace and precision and looking for more goals. Gauld went gie close with a fierce drive from a Masson feed. It was just over the top and Huntly were mostly in holding on mode. Lawson and Masson had shots blocked on or near the goal line and before the 70th minute, arrived subs were made as much to rest players and avoid injury as to change the pattern of the game. Barbour, who had put in a good shift, was replaced by Cammy Keith setting the foundation for the next hat trick. Remarkably this was completed in just 21 minutes – arguably 12 [if counted from first goal until the third]. Number 1 was an audacious attempt to out- Ando Anderson. A Smith foray down the left to pass the ball onto Cammy in the left channel drew the keeper towards the striker to close down the angles. KEITH from a tightish angle at that, cooly chipped the ball over his head and into the net for 4-0 in the 75th minute.

Number two came only two minutes later as he clinically exploited an opening worked by Lawson and Gauld to rattle the ball home from 12 yards out. Formartine with Berton on in place of Anderson running at tired defenders the goal fest was almost guaranteed to continue. With three minutes to go the young sub outstripped the Huntly defence, looked up to check the position of his striker before chipping the ball to Cammy at the back stick. KEITH, unmarked because of the pace of Berton’s run simply drove the ball home to complete both his hatrick and the overall score line.
This was an accomplished, sometimes lethal display by a Formartine side that continues [as promised by management] to improve. Huntly are no mugs, were well organised and worked hard for each other throughout but simply could not contain the pace and fluidity of a Formartine side that delivered to a high standard in every department.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie