Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		20 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		21 apps	1 goal
Calum Dingwall		51 apps	4 goals
Stuart Smith		88 apps	5 goals
Paul Lawson		20 apps	5 goals
Jamie Masson		9 apps	1 goal
Graeme Rodger		21 apps	9 goals
Scott Barbour		21 apps	7 goals
Neil Gauld		17 apps	5 goals
Cammy Keith		86 apps	63 goals
Garry Wood		20 apps	12 goals
Jamie Michie (sub)		11 apps	-
Max Berton (sub)		7 apps	-
Callum Bagshaw (sub)		61 apps	8 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

The score line suggests that this was a very easy win for Formartine: the reality is that it was far from that and that Thistle, for the guts of an hour, matched Formartine in most if not all aspects of the game. The result was an interesting game much less one-sided than one might think where both sides produced spells of good quality play although, surprisingly there were also significant error strewn passages. These more than anything else contributed to the large number of goals.

Formartine kicked off and immediately produced a stunning display of close passing football that concluded after ten or a dozen slickly executed passages with Gauld in at the near post on the end of a Barbour cross only to finish by driving the ball hard but wide of the other post. All this was accomplished before Thistle had touched the ball. Formartine had the better of the opening exchanges and for the first few minutes looked like they could impose a defeat of humiliating proportions on their visitors. They mounted successive waves of attack usually beginning out wide through full backs Dingwall or Smith and had at this stage little difficulty in getting the ball up to Gauld, Keith, Barbour or Masson none of whom were able to get the ball into the net.

Thistle were however a gutsy lot and worked very hard to close Formartine down in all parts of the park; something that they got better at as time went on. An early opening goal for United raised expectations of a potential goal fest. The move was started by left back Smith and developed by Lawson playing in Barbour who scorched down the flank before outmanoeuvring Wardrope to gain the space from which to sling the ball over to near the near post to meet the run of GAULD who had got clear of McShane. From ten yards out and in line with the left post, he drilled the ball past MacCallum and into the opposite corner of the net.

The expectation was that this would serve as the platform on which Formartine would build a big win but Strathspey were having none of it and buckled down to force a quick equaliser which took them all of two minutes to achieve. Formartine were dangerously eager to force Thistle back and missing the organisation of the Anderson in midfield, left gaps between the back four and an over-populated forward line. No problem in this as long as you have the ball but when you lose it danger beckons. A wee spell of Formartine pressure ended with a long ball out of defence and down the middle to MacLeod followed by one out right to Race and back to MacLeod who crossed for PETERS to head the ball past the reach of Reid in the 8th minute.

Although this served as an inevitable wake up call to Formartine it transformed Thistle who, playing with belief, began to serve up a very competitive brand of football. They never got the length of dominating but certainly showed that they could compete. With Formartine struggling to keep their shape at times Thistle were able to ask a few questions. Josh Peters drifted wide at either side and had pace, decent upper body strength and a trick or two to offer. He managed to play in Race and Borthwick with decent chances but although both delivered shots on target neither stretched Reid from his comfort zone.

In the 32nd minute the first of at least two utterly bizarre refereeing decisions was given. Barbour bursting into the box from the left corner is fouled on the way but manages to retain possession of the ball – ref indicates advantage and play continues for ten seconds or so during which time the same Scott Barbour beats another defender or two and drives the ball into the net. A valid goal was what everyone but ref Wilson thought, as he then pulls play back to award Formartine a free kick on the spot of the initial foul for which he had indicated advantage. Many spectators would be fascinated to learn if there are there any conceivable circumstances in which this is not a goal.
This perked up thistle who kept things going in a spirited way until the interval. They started the second half with a wee flurry but Formartine had got their shape back and began to control proceedings. Pinning Thistle back for protracted spells they needed eleven minutes to go ahead although before then Barbour had spurned a good chance from 12 yards out by putting the ball over the top. Formartine had the pressure but Hume on a breakaway hoiked one over the top for Thistle. Cammy KEITH got the crucial second in the 56th with a close range shot after a scuffed clearance by Maley. Only two minutes later GAULD doubled his tally breaking through the centre, drawing the keeper and clipping the ball home.

At 3-1 that looked to be the end of thistle but battling away Peters got through into the box pursued by Wood who made just enough illegal contact to bring him down for a penalty. Peters himself took the spot kick but Reid guessing right was down to his right in a trice to save. Remarkably, given the one on one goal scoring chance the foul denied, the previously booked Wood was relieved not to see red.

Still Thistle plugged away but Formartine were back to their imperious best. In the 69th minute, RODGER almost on his bahoukie at the time, still managed to fire a twenty plus yard low shot through a phalanx of defenders and into the far right corner of the net for the fourth. Four minutes later a GROAT miskick, pursued unsuccessfully by Gauld in search of a hat trick, entered the net for a fifth.

The subs were on by the time the score line was completed. Berton’s pace and trickery were a cruel test for tired legs in the Thistle rearguard and the quicksilver winger wasted little time in skinning Wardrope and Maley down by the left corner flag and whipping the ball across to the lively BARBOUR to drill the ball home from fifteen yards out. Still Thistle soldiered on and Peters with only minutes to go unloaded a fierce twenty yard drive that had Reid scurrying across goal as the ball fizzed past his left upright.

This was an unusually inconsistent performance by Formartine, particularly in the first half. The accumulation of injuries must come at some cost. McKeown, McVittie, and Anderson are all key players who are currently unavailable. Capable though replacements like Dingwall have been, re-arrangements to normal roles lead inevitably to miscommunication and error at times. In the circumstances scoring 6 against a team as hard working and determined as Strathspey is a decent achievement and to criticise them for seeming at times to make heavy weather of it is perhaps churlish.

Match report by Colin Keenan

None.