Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		28 apps	-
Jamie Michie		18 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		26 apps	2 goals
Calum Dingwall		59 apps	4 goals
Stuart Smith		96 apps	7 goals
Jamie Masson		17 apps	2 goals
Stuart Anderson		78 apps	17 goals
Callum Bagshaw		67 apps	9 goals
Graeme Rodger		29 apps	10 goals
Neil Gauld		25 apps	11 goals
Garry Wood		28 apps	20 goals
Cammy Keith (sub)		93 apps	67 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

For a team that seldom finds itself pushing for the league title, Fraserburgh have a disconcerting knack of turning over those who do. Since being comprehensively gubbed by Keith, they have trousered 5 points from Cove and Formartine. To be fair to Formartine, they were always going to face a bit of an uphill task in a game they started without both Lawson and Barbour each of whom was suspended after the accumulation of yellow card points. The effects were visible from an early stage. Lawson more than any other player gives Formartine their shape and regulates the tempo and Barbour provides width and pace. With these missing along with captain, centre back McKeown, and the tenacious ball winning McVitie Formartine listing only four outfield subs, were never going to be at their strongest. That they slugged it out on heavy pitch to take a point at Bellslea may be seen by optimists and apologists as a decent enough achievement, but to surrender two points and failing to leap-frog Cove to take second place on a day when all other teams were idle, constitutes a huge missed opportunity.

They started with a brisk determination and for the first five or ten minutes put Cove under some sort of pressure – enough to play predominantly in their territory but not really enough to put their back four in any real difficulty. Dingwall made some progress down the right and played in Rodger who got the ball to Gauld on the fringes of the box, but the home rearguard marshalled by Hay made sure that the nippy wee striker was denied any time or space to control the ball and the shot was hastily struck well wide right. The Broch didn’t need too much longer to size up their visitors and after about ten minutes, the balance of play started to swing the homesters’ way. Chalmers made himself or was allowed enough space in right midfield and with the veteran McBride operating as much as a support to his forwards as in defence, Fraserburgh began to squeeze the visitors gaining a number of corners in the process. It was noticeable that Formartine were less than comfortable with these as McBride in particular by fair means and foul rumbled up some mayhem in the area round the back stick.

Broch’s second corner was from the right and there was significant jostling between Wood and McBride. The ball was struck deep and in - swinging into the melee at the back post and somehow McBride managed to force the ball through a thicket of hacking limbs and into the net from feet rather than yards out. This 15th minute opener was consistent with the run of play and provided a platform from which the home side went on to establish a pattern where they dominated territory and possession - not by a great deal but just enough for Formartine to be forced into the counter-puncher’s position.

They managed this well enough off the back foot but lacking midfield control they found themselves relying rather more than they would wish on longish balls played up to Wood from deep. McBride, Cowie and Hay were wise to this and although the big forward won more than his share in the air, he was surrounded quickly enough to prevent him feeding the ball on to colleagues.

However, it was by no means all long ball stuff and Roger, Masson and particularly Anderson got into it now and again. In the 32nd minute a ball through the middle to Wood was knocked out wide to Rodger as he and Gauld headed to the box for the return. This came initially to Gauld, or more precisely to a space between Gauld and keeper Barbour. Both went for the ball and collided on the deck as the ball broke free to the left. Dickson attempted a lunge at the ball to clear but slipped and missed. With the keeper still on the deck, hurt, play continued as WOOD gathered the loose ball from the left edge of the box, jinked in a yard or two to improve his angle and neatly drove the ball into the undefended net from ten yards out to equalise.

There wasn’t a lot in it but Broch continued to get just the better of midfield and Formartine did not really look like getting their noses in front. A cunningly threaded ball from Bagshaw gave Gauld the chance to get in behind Cowie and Hay but the alert Joe Barbour was off his line in a flash and got close enough to block the striker’s effort. They managed the odd corner but as Barbour wasn’t there to take them the task fell to Barbour which subtracted a bit from the height of the Formartine presence in the goalmouth. Most of what Formartine did direct in a goalward direction was from long range and lacked precision. Masson was keen, sometimes impatiently so, to let fly from distance but his efforts were hurried and poorly directed.

Broch’s Cowie broke through twice to get one on one with Andy Reid but each time the keeper read his intentions and made the block. A promising break down the inside left channel and into the box by Masson ended when his shot was deflected by Cowie into the side netting for an unrewarded corner.

The second half began with the injured home keeper Joe Barbour being replaced by Edward Flynn whose first task was to get down smartish to block the ball at Garry Wood’s feet as Formartine went straight onto the offensive. Another inside left channel break and shot by Masson was blocked at the near post by Hay and for a while it looked like Formartine had changed up a gear. A decently patterned attack through the middle where Roger, Masson and Gauld combined well to set up Wood for a header that went over the top gave them some impetus but this was matched by a roughly similar move by Broch where Cowie and Noble combined to set up Campbell with a chance from about 15 yards out but either he dithered or the muddy conditions got the better of him, and the delivery was mis-hit and easily cleared.

In the 55th minute Formartine broke down the left and got both Wood and Gauld into dangerous positions left of centre and no more than around ten yards out. The young sub keeper excelled himself with an acrobatic dive to his right to stop an otherwise net-bound effort from the latter. As time went on and the muddy pitch began to turn a bit crisp on top with the return of the frost, Formartine seemed to favour a variation of Route 1 where the ball was passed back to keeper Reid to boot way up the park into Broch territory. While Broch still covered this as they had earlier, they withdrew the tiring veteran McBride after 70 mins and gradually these direct efforts increased in effect as well as frequency. For the last 15 minutes or so, Formartine looked stronger and fitter and the balance of play turned their way as they hunted for an equaliser. Gauld was replaced by Cammy Keith but despite territorial advantage and increased possession Formartine failed to get enough cuttance from a grimly determined home rearguard to earn the additional two points they so badly wanted. With the Broch now in the counter attacking position they made a couple of breaks one of which saw sub P.A.Bruce denied by saving tackle by Smith and another by Cowie from the edge of the area, held by Reid. At the other end a thumping drive by Masson went inches over the top. A series of corners by Formartine as the clock ran down still failed to break the deadlock and their chance of getting into a really challenging position in the league was blown.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie