Strathspey Thistle 2 - 6 Formartine United

Highland League Cup - Preliminary Round
Saturday, February 4th, 2017, 3:00 PM at Seafield Park, Grantown on Spey
Attendance: 100
Referee: Alan Proctor
Strathspey Thistle v Formartine United, Feb 4th 2017, Seafield Park, Grantown on Spey
Strathspey Thistle Formartine United 

Goalscorers
James Fraser (23)
Scott Hume (56)
Neil Gauld (17)
Conor Gethins (57)
Neil Gauld (63)
Conor Gethins (70)
Conor Gethins (75)
Scott Barbour (80)

Team Managers
Brian Grant Kris Hunter

Starting Eleven
Michael MacCallum
Scott Hume
Owen Cairns
James McShane
Inaki Fernandhino-Soto
James Fraser
Robert Scott
Dominick Edwards
Jack MacKay
Richard Finnis
Sean o Donnell
Ewen MacDonald
Calum Dingwall
Jamie Michie
Stuart Smith
Stuart Anderson
Paul Lawson
Graeme Rodger
Conor Gethins
Scott Barbour
Scott Ferries
Neil Gauld

Bench
Adam McLeod
Nathan Wilson
Callum Fraser
Jack MacLeod
Stewart Black
Andy Reid
Russell McBride
Johnny Crawford
Max Berton
Jamie Masson
Kieran Lawrence
Liam Burnett

Substitutions
Callum Fraser for James McShane (46)
Jack MacLeod for Robert Scott (69)
Liam Burnett for Scott Ferries (63)
Russell McBride for Stuart Smith (77)
Kieran Lawrence for Graeme Rodger (80)

Bookings
None. Jamie Michie (37)

Red Cards
Inaki Fernandinho-Soto (37) None.

Appearances & Goals To Date
Ewen MacDonald (GK) 20 apps -
Calum Dingwall 100 apps7 goals
Jamie Michie 42 apps -
Stuart Smith 137 apps11 goals
Stuart Anderson 119 apps26 goals
Paul Lawson 53 apps17 goals
Graeme Rodger 75 apps24 goals
Conor Gethins 24 apps15 goals
Scott Barbour 70 apps33 goals
Scott Ferries 18 apps1 goal
Neil Gauld 63 apps35 goals
Russell McBride (sub) 1 app (debut) -
Liam Burnett (sub) 6 apps -
Kieran Lawrence (sub) 6 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Scott Ferries (20 years 339 days)
Oldest Player:Conor Gethins (33 years 104 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 326 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Burnett (19 years 178 days)
Oldest Player:Russell McBride (38 years 138 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 49 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts
Russell McBride(Signed December 5th, 2016)

Milestones
Calum Dingwall played his 100th major competitive game for the Club.

These two clubs were elected to the Highland League on the same day and a rivalry begun in the Junior Leagues which continued into this preliminary round tie of the Breedon Highland League Cup. Formartine have almost always got the better of their Speyside rivals and the odds were that they would continue, relatively untroubled into the next round. However, word on the street has been that Thistle are a rapidly improving outfit and their draw with reigning champions Cove the previous week sent more than a little ripple through the Highland League. For some time it looked that Thistle were giving United a real good run for their money but after losing the splendidly named Inaki Fernandino-Soto for a rather hemipygic attempt at a head butt on Jamie Michie when the teams were tied at a goal apiece, their spirited resistance which took them into the lead for a minute or two, faded in the face of a thirty minute hat-trick by Gethins, a second goal from Gauld and the final nail in their coffin by Barbour ten minutes from the end.

United started in sprightly enough form and definitely had the better level of possession. Initially they pressed down the right with wing back Michie pushing on at every opportunity. However he was well matched by the home left back Cairns who stuck doggedly to his task and contributed to a fascinating side show on the flank. It was from this wee battle that the beginnings of the opening goal emerged in the 15th minute. Lawson had fed Michie from deep and he suckered Fernandino –Soto on his way to a dangerous position to the right of the box. Despite the close attentions of Cairns, he made just enough space from which to clip the ball left to meet the advancing GAULD. Keeper McCallum was quickly off his line and down at the feet of the striker who slickly worked the ball round the prostrate custodian and side footed it into the unguarded net. It was a good move and a well taken goal, but it was only a brief and temporary set- back for the home side who looked quite dangerous when they went forward.

Although United were slightly the more dominant force at this stage, they didn’t always look too secure at the back. In the 21st minute, Strathspey equalised on the back of a quick break from defence. The ball was played through the middle by McShane and with Scott and Fraser advancing there was a two on three situation with the three defenders back pedalling. Scott clipped the ball forward into the box for FRASER who, standing on little ceremony decided to strike before any defender could close him down, let fly from fifteen yards out with a left to right drive that flew into the far corner of the net.

The game was fairly evenly contested at this stage, with some rather competitive wee spats down Formartine’s right. In the 37th minute, the assistant on that flank raised his flag and persisted until he was conferring with the ref: the outcome of their deliberations was the removal of Fernandino-Soto from the proceedings. It did turn out to be the turning point in what otherwise looked to be a closely competed but it took some time for the numerical advantage to show. For the remainder of the first half Thistle – clearly determined not to let the reverse cramp their desire for progress in the cup, continued to give as good as they got albeit, they achieved it by raising the tempo of their game to what turned out to be an unsustainable level.

The second half began with United patiently passing the ball about for lengthy spells of unrewarded possession while the ten highlanders chased and harried as well as their depleted number allowed. The pattern which persisted throughout the second period was of United possession particularly around twenty odd yards out and dogged defending from the home side who initially did reasonably well in keeping their visitors outwith the confines of the penalty area. They also showed that they could break at pace and with enough aggression to rattle United’s defence. After a period of sustained pressure all around the fringes of the Thistle box they managed a speedy break down the right and forced a couple of successive corners in the 52nd and 53rd minute. In the aftermath of the second of these the ball was knocked back over to the right side and back, by Scott , into the goalmouth where Hume under limited challenge, used his significant height advantage to head home from about ten yards range.

That really set the cat amongst the pigeons and asked serious questions of United application and attitude. These were answered in the best way possible by an almost immediate riposte from Formartine. Following a free kick by Lawson from right midfield some slick inter-passing between Anderson, Gauld and GETHINS concluded with the latter in possession about 15 yards out and right of goal. The wee Irishman is lethal in that situation and had the ball nestling in the far corner of the net quicker than Trump can get a tweet out. This was only an equaliser but coming only three minutes after Thistle hopes had been raised it was a bitter blow and not only did it restore United confidence it laid the foundation for the scale of victory that then ensued.

Formartine pressure continued unabated and Strathspey attacks were fewer and further between. In the 61st minute United produced another well-crafted goal, but this time from the left. Dingwall, and Barbour did much of the spade work in getting the ball to GAULD who had jinked away from his markers to head a low cross (it had to be) into the net from close range. Gauld was now on a double so Gethins was looking for a hat trick. This he duly completed with two contrasting aspects of the striker’s art. The first of the pair came in the 70th minute when he burst into the box from the right corner and as keeper McCallum advanced rapidly to close him GETHINS, with well- practised aplomb produced an exquisitely judged chip over him into the net from around 12 yards. His next was barely five minutes later and came from the other side of goal when he applied the coup de grace to a period of frenzied attack and desperate defending by seizing on a slack ball and turning it into the net from very close range - a real striker picking up the scraps sort of goal.

By now Strathspey although ploughing manfully on, were a spent force. Formartine’s tactics of maintaining possession and spreading into the wide areas were exactly the right way to exploit their numerical superiority and by now they had worn their opposition down to a weary, dispirited shadow of the side that had bucked the odds by pinching the 2-1 lead about half an hour before.

BARBOUR had got through a power of work but it took him until the 78th minute to get due recompense for his endeavours. It was a decently worked goal where he broke into the box from the left and wrong footed McShane to give himself the space to fire a powerful low drive from left of the penalty spot.That concluded the scoring but Anderson, Gauld and Gethins all went closeish in the closing minutes, but by this stage Thistle were into serious damage limitation mode and basically stuffed the box with bodies until the time ran out.

Match report by Colin Keenan

Programme cover / Team sheet