Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		48 apps	-
Jamie Michie		28 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		47 apps	2 goals
Calum Dingwall		83 apps	5 goals
Shane Jamieson		3 apps	-
Paul Lawson		44 apps	14 goals
Stuart Anderson		100 apps	23 goals
Jamie Masson		30 apps	3 goals
Graeme Rodger		56 apps	18 goals
Scott Barbour		51 apps	22 goals
Garry Wood		53 apps	35 goals
Derek Young (sub)		7 apps	1 goal
Conor Gethins (sub)		13 apps	6 goals
Scott Ferries (sub)		5 apps	-

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Some would say it was too early in the season (10th game of 34) to refer to “a must win game” but at very least the side that lost this derby encounter would have a mountain to climb thereafter to fulfil any serious title aspirations. Victory here means that Formartine remain tucked into what increasingly looks like a group of three trailing in the wake of pace-setters, Buckie. After an embarrassing capitulation to Cove the weekend before, the onus was on Formartine to prove that their midweek transformation and 6-1 victory against Rothes was evidence of a sustainable return to winning ways.

They provided that with a battling performance against long-standing rivals to leave themselves tucked into a group of three chasing early pace-setters Buckie Thistle. Turra were clearly up for this one and started with an onslaught down the left that kept Formartine pinned back in their own territory and right back Jamie Michie well occupied for the first three minutes. Both he and United coped well, keeping the ball out of danger areas and before the game was 5 minutes old a disastrously under-struck pass by Young intended for Bowden was snapped up by Barbour who was off like a rat up a spout bearing down on the home goals to rattle in a hard low drive from the left corner of the box. It flashed past Main’s right upright and ended up in the side netting but showed, if evidence were needed, that Formartine were well capable of meting out severe punishment for the slightest of errors.

The game then entered a phase where although Turra more or less shared the spoils in terms of possession, Formartine were the more direct and dangerous side. Shots by Wood – a constant threat to the home defence and the in-form Barbour were only slightly off target. In the 15th minute, Anderson pulled a hamstring and was replaced by Young but the impetus of the game remained with Formartine. In the 17th minute a free kick near half way was thumped by Michie to Rodger who set up Barbour for a low trundler that Main did well to scrape away from his right upright.

Masson had a free role behind or around the front pair of Barbour and Wood and with Rodger in a more conventional inside forward role, Formartine began to ask more questions than the home defence could answer. In the 33rd minute a foul by Darren Wood on Rodger yielded a free kick no more than a yard outside the box and wee bit right of centre. With an assembly of Lawson, Rodger and Barbour around the ball, Barbour suddenly fired in a fierce low shot that fizzed past the left edge of the wall and had Main at full stretch to nudge it away from his right upright. WOOD was utterly ruthless in muscling his way to the ball and clipping it into the net over the still prostate keeper.
Turriff now trailing and at home were expected to show an immediate response but Formartine, savvy to that possibility and buoyed by scoring, simply refused to let this develop and in as far as they had control of the game prior to taking the lead, continued to look the more threatening side. Turriff were by no means out of it, but their attacks seemed fairly ponderous and predictable and Formartine’s relatively new back four of Michie, Dingwall, Crawford and Jamieson coped well. In the 12 minutes from the goal to the interval, United mustered a few shots on or around the target while Turriff attacks were generally contained high enough up the park to be comfortably contained.

Turriff, at home and trailing Formartine could be expected to have a bit of a surge at the start of the second half and, to some extent, they did. Kleczkowski and Booth buzzed about busily enough in positions around the edge of the box but the Formartine back four managed to contain them there, until in the 51st minute, Young threaded a sneaky one behind the united defence to give Keczkowski a one on one from about 8 yards out. Reid, alert to the danger was swiftly off his line, narrowed the angles and made the save. Formartine were to an extent pushed into a more counter punching position than they might have wished but they had the pace and strength up front to do this. With very accurate and perceptive distribution from Lawson the ball could be moved from back to front suddenly and with menace. In the 57th minute one such lightning break set up Barbour for a shot from fifteen yards or so and it was on target but Main was able to make the save at the cost of an unrewarded corner.

In the 64th minute Turra forced a corner on the left. The ball was played in-swinging to the back post area. Bowden did well to ensure that keeper Reid would stay anchored to his goal line by holding him in position to let Darren WOOD have a clear passage to the ball which he then headed past the still impeded keeper. It was his first ever goal for the club and he celebrated very enthusiastically.
This did provide a huge impetus for the home side and for the next ten minutes or thereby they mounted successive waves of pressure on their visitors. This asked questions of the relatively new Formartine rearguard and with Jamieson making only his second start his capacities were subject to close inspection. He passed. The odd pass under pressure failed to reach its intended destination but his positional awareness was impressive and allowed him to create order in the midst of whatever chaos Turra tried to visit upon him. He was instrumental in allowing Formartine to weather the storm that followed the equaliser and eventually regain the upper hand. The game had a more end to end characteristic at this stage and with Formartine looking just a wee bit sharper in most departments, the tide began again to run their way.

A draw would be a disaster for either side – (definitely two points lost rather than one gained) and it began to look like Formartine were the more determined to avoid that scenario. In the end they did so in some style with an absolute stonker of a goal from Gary WOOD. A longish through ball from around the half way line and a shade left was played in and forward by Masson to the big striker. He suckered Bowden about twenty five yards out to create just space for himself to blast the ball high into the roof of beyond the despairing leap of keeper Main. That was a goal fit to win any game and certainly enough to see off the challenge of Turra in this one.

Formartine maintained their high- tempo, quick passing game to sustain enough possession for the five remaining minutes to ensure that Turriff would not rain on their parade. Without being overly defensive about it, they simply closed off the game in the middle, pushed the ball repeatedly into the wide areas and assured themselves of all three points.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie