Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Shearer (GK)		45 apps	-
Craig McKeown		43 apps	9 goals
Graham Hay		14 apps	1 goal
Stuart Smith		42 apps	1 goal
Stuart Anderson		27 apps	6 goals
Neil McVitie		37 apps	7 goals
Gary Clark		29 apps	1 goal
Hamish Munro		40 apps	1 goal
Paul Napier		31 apps	4 goals
Cammy Keith		44 apps	32 goals
Marek Madle		11 apps	5 goals
Craig Duguid (sub)		11 apps	1 goal
Callum Bagshaw (sub)		37 apps	3 goals
Stuart McKay (sub)		42 apps	15 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote that “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive”. For the Formartine faithful, the 200+ mile journey to Berwick was one of great optimism mixed with a reasonable expectation of taking a notable scalp in the William Hill Scottish Cup. Well travelled and well refreshed they had a joyous ten minutes or so at the start of the game before gradually watching a nightmare of increasing intensity as their team comprehensively bottled it against reasonable but by no means insurmountable opposition. As one wag ruefully remarked: “and they were lucky to get nil”.

The anticipation that the starting eleven that had scored eleven in the previous two games would be the one to take the field at Berwick was thwarted with the announcement that Clark would replace Dingwall and much more significantly that Keith was preferred to McKay. In hindsight the first decision there was probably defensible: Clark is a much more experienced and combative player than the silkier Dingwall, but the second-to field the prolific, Keith an out and out poacher at the expense of the quick footed, energetic line-leading McKay, looked then, and still does, a mistake - probably the fatal one.

From the start Formartine flew at the throats of Berwick who were immediately forced onto the back foot as Napier, McVitie, Anderson and Madle moved the ball about at blistering pace and caused some mayhem in the Berwick ranks. McKeown moved forward to ad height and weight to the left side of the attack and no doubt about it, Berwick looked vulnerable. This situation persisted for all of 8 minutes, virtually without respite as on the only two occasions that the ball reached Formartine territory it was promptly returned back into the mix in and around the home penalty area. The pressure yielded three unrewarded corners but ominously, even this early, home keeper Andrews had not a save to make. In the 8th minute, in the second or third phase of play after a corner on the right, Formartine got the ball into the Berwick net. In a maelstrom of threshing limbs at his right upright, the keeper seized the ball before some of the assembled mass of Formartine bodies managed to bundle him and the ball over the line and into the net. The misdemeanour was detected and the “goal” disallowed.

From that point on, Formartine began to crumble at the same rate as Berwick began to get their act together. Initially the turnover was less than dramatic but there were warning signs. Berwick had pace out wide in the form of Gray – who was also quite tricky and Lavery who had height and strength. Diagonal balls out to the flanks for them served to stretch the Formartine rearguard and both Smith and Munro were being put under some pressure. This they initially contained, just, but as time went on it was increasingly persistent. It was also clear that the Formartine defence was unwilling or unable to function as a foundation for its midfield. They relieved pressure on their own department by the simple but unproductive expedient of launching long balls forward that flew way beyond their midfielders and into the territory of Madle and Keith who tried manfully in difficult circumstances. Madle made some impression but Keith looked out of his depth and Young and Currie were definitely in charge. Long balls were generally meat and drink to them and the clearances of the Formartine rearguard were returned at increasingly high rates of interest as Berwick swiftly brought the ball back to Formartine territory by passing it about through midfield and working it out to and in from the wide areas. By the mid- point of the first half, Berwick had not only got back into the game but were beginning to dominate. By the half hour mark, Formartine were being made to dance to their tune, a situation that persisted for the rest of the game.

Lavery got in a couple of deep right to left crosses that Formartine, in the form of Hay and keeper Shearer just prevented reaching Dargo and Gold respectively. Full backs Notman and Hoskins also had some success in getting the ball either forward to the wide players or themselves hoisting crosses into the goal mouth. Shearer looked rather exposed at times largely because Berwick, processing the ball quickly through midfield were delivering it in different ways, through different personnel were out-foxing the Formartine defence. One Formartine breakaway saw Napier getting the ball across to Keith whose glancing header across the goal face was only an inch or two beyond the reach of Madle who had made a good run to the back stick.
In the 31st minute, Currie broke through the inside left/centre channel and unleashed a fierce low drive that Shearer reached but was unable to hold. The forward netted the spilled ball but with eager yet self- defeating assistance from colleagues in front of him to the left, off-side was given.

Pressure on Formartine was mounting to an inevitable breaking point and the 36th minute opening goal was fully consistent with the run of play. Hay ironically electing not to go for the long ball was in some space before attempting a simple ten yard pass to Clark. It was woefully under-struck and easily intercepted by Currie who slipped it on to the speedy Gray who in turn whipped the ball hard and accurate to the back stick to be headed clinically home from about 4 or 5 yards range by GOLD.

Formartine were now pretty much on the rack and Berwick, with the adrenaline rush of scoring running strong, piled on the pressure. The visiting defence was on the rack, nothing was going from defence through midfield and the forwards were thereby isolated. If they were to have any hope they were going to have to advance their defence, get a better grip of midfield and have someone up front to hold the ball. Instead Berwick were allowed to dominate, defence relied on the long ball, and thereby crucified their own midfield, and there was no valid source of supply for the forwards.

Formartine continued in this parlous state until the interval and could probably count themselves lucky to concede only one further goal during this period. This came after Young picked up another long ball from Formartine defence and slipped it to Currie who exchanged passes with Hoskins before crossing to the near post where LAVERY’s head beat Shearers hands to the ball as he dinked a neat loopy header into the net three minutes before half time.

Formartine returned to the fray with the same eleven for the second period and although they had a brief wee flee at Berwick for the first 2 or 3 minutes they quickly fell back into their old habits and proved little other than how difficult it is to get the ball to a forwards feet from forty yards away particularly when that forward is being closely marked by someone bigger than he is anyway. Delusions can be hard to shift and despite brining on Duguid who did try his damndest out on the flank and replacing Madle who had done little wrong, rather than Keith who had done little at all with McKay, there was no substantial change. Berwick were a decent side and had height, pace and muscle in places, but so too had Formartine.

Berwick still dominated the proceedings and looked like they would go further ahead in the 59th minute. After fairly consistent pressure in and around the Formartine area, Currie and Dargo caused panic in the Formartine defence as they slickly passed the ball round defenders to set up the former with a close range shot at the keeper’s right upright. Shearer did superbly well to reach and block the shot which Dargo then seized upon. Starting from the deck, Shearer somehow managed to get his body close enough to the forward to block and parry the follow up effort too. Shortly after Duguid, breaking down the right, got in an angled drive that Andrews grabbed at his near post. Efforts of that nature would not normally merit press mention but this one was much more significant: it was Formartine’s one and only shot on target during the game. Stuart Smith was sent off for a second bookable offence to complete the disappointment of arrival after the long journey.

That says it all; an abject performance against decent, but not really much more than that opposition. It takes a certain type of team with players with a particular skill set and physique to prosper in the long ball game. Formartine don’t have that and on the occasions that they have relied on long ball stuff have, unless against visibly inferior opposition, lived to regret it.

Match report by Colin Keenan