Appearances & Goals To Date

Ewen MacDonald (GK)		4 apps	-
Calum Dingwall		72 apps	5 goals
Stuart Smith		110 apps	10 goals
Stuart Anderson		91 apps	21 goals
Neil McVitie		69 apps	14 goals
Callum Bagshaw		80 apps	11 goals
Hamish Munro		71 apps	3 goals
Max Berton		13 apps	1 goal
Graeme Rodger		43 apps	12 goals
Neil Gauld		39 apps	25 goals
Garry Wood		41 apps	30 goals
Cammy Keith (sub)		103 apps	72 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

This was the final game of the season and United’s task was clear: beat Thistle by as many or more goals than Brora could inflict upon Deveronvale. The reward although not carrying the kudos of winning the league, was more than the bragging rights of runners up – a top two finish allows entry to the William Hill Scottish Cup a round later than the others in the same league. So, no ifs and buts about it, this was down to getting a big a goal haul as possible and Formartine set out their stall accordingly in a 4-3-3 format with Wood and Gauld spearheading their attempt to steamroller the highlanders into a bit of a slaughter. That was the plan; the execution was not just successful but in some respects, absolutely staggering. Neil Gauld broke the club record for the number of goals scored by a player in a single game at SHFL level leaving the previous one[held jointly by Cammy Keith and Stuart MacKay at 6] a distance behind with a haul of 8. What a haul it was too, two clinically executed penalties and 6 close range finishes, each in its way a perfectly crafted example of the poacher’s art. Gauldy was on fire and simply far too fleet, fast and fly for the home defence to contain. All of this was remarkable enough but remarkable in this game didn’t stop there.

In the midst of all this amongst the two non Gauld goals was one as bizarre as you’ll see in a month of Sundays. Apart from the very rare occasion when a keeper manages a huge punt up the park, usually wind assisted, that beats his opposite number, you are unlikely to see one like that scored by Callum Dingwall from somewhere around seventy yards out. He’d need some brass neck or to be seriously deluded to claim intent in it, but despite claims in some quarters of an own goal by Maley the facts are that in the 20th minute “Dingers”, advancing from defence on the left thumped the ball forward towards Wood who was patrolling his predatory beat on the edge of the Strathspey box. Maley trying to lump the ball forward to safety made an attempt to catch it on the half-volley, missed entirely and ended with his doup in the dubs. He made no contact with it and although probably at fault for the goal, cannot be accused of an o.g. as the bull trundled on goalwards behind him. Gauld nipped in to harass the keeper who failed to reach the ball before it trickled into the net at the base of his right upright to complete the comedy of errors.

Conditions were bitter and vicious wee showers of sleet and snow alternated with patches of watery sunshine in a temperature of 1 C as Formartine began their blitzkrieg. After a couple of exploratoray forays, United opened their account in the 10th minute when Munro flipped the ball right to McVitie who made off down the flank and getting the better of first Maley, then Cairns drove a very precise angled ball towards the goalmouth; in popped GAULD to glance a diving header beyond Hoban into the far corner of the net. At this stage Wood was causing mayhem and Formartine were beginning to terrorise a team that could defend in numbers but not really in depth. As Thistle strung a defensive line across the 18 yard line, United repeatedly breached either down the flanks or by drawing central defenders out before passing the ball round them. Dingwall’s bizarre effort in the 20th minute preceeded a penalty miss a couple of minutes later. Hoban tried to hobble Gauld almost on the bye-line to the left of goal and Wood took a thundering spot kick which rebounded off a rather static keeper. Wood got to the rebound and crashed the ball off the underside of the bar but it was eventually scrambled away to safety.

The respite was brief and Gauld grabbed two in a minute in 32nd and 33rd. The first came off a teasing cross from Berton that GAULD, surrounded by defenders, worked to the left of goal before turning to squeeze the ball in at the far stick from a parsimoniously tight angle. The next was a penalty after McShane tried to pull Wood by the sleeve backwards off the ball. GAULD clipped the spot kick neatly home to complete a hat trick in half an hour. Thistle plugged away but despite some decent individual performances by Cairns, Mair and Groat simply lacked the pace and power of the Formartine machine as it rolled inexorably on. The half time score 0f 0-5 was completed with GAULD’s 40th minute dink past the keeper from 6 yards out. From a Berton corner he simply nipped in between the keeper and the ball and diverted it into the net – poaching of a very high order.

The second half was much of the same albeit Thistle pressed a bit for the first ten minutes or thereby, grabbed a couple of unrewarded corners and in their best patch of the game came close to giving as good as they got – until Formartine slipped back into over- drive again. Inevitably it was Gauld who resumed the scoring but it took until just short of the hour mark for it to happen. Just as Strathspey were beginning to restore some of their shattered confidence, the wee bearded, inquisitor resumed his torture. Making an absolute pest of himself in the box, his trickery lured sub MacLeod into to simply bundling him off the ball right under the gaze of the referee. GAULD took the penalty himself and struck the ball low and hard beyond the reach of Hoban’s left hand. Subs came on: Keith for McVitie (with Wood withdrawing to central defence), Barbour for Berton and Michie for Munro and the pressure continued.

GAULD got his next in the 79th with a near replica of his second: picking up a cross from Barbour he drew the ball and the keeper beyond the far post and near the bye line before clipping the ball from a very tight angle back into the far corner of the net. A minute later Cammy KEITH offered some variety with a ball swung over to the back post from the left side of the box. Whether it was meant for Gauld who had popped up at the back stick to do the necessary or was in itself a goal attempt is academic, the ball birled into the net just inside the back post and had it not, Gauldy would have poked it home anyway. Pressure continued with backs to the wall defending by Thistle in the face of incessant waves of United attack the last of which in the last minute yielded GAULD’s 8th of the day when he seized on a loose ball in the box and drove it past Hoban from close range. What a way to finish the season!

Match report by Colin Keenan