Appearances & Goals To Date

Ewen MacDonald (GK)		53 apps	-
Jevan Anderson		23 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		86 apps	5 goals
Craig McKeown		80 apps	16 goals
Calum Dingwall		132 apps	8 goals
Jamie Michie		74 apps	-
Wayne Mackintosh		24 apps	3 goals
Andrew Greig		7 apps	3 goals
Graeme Rodger		124 apps	39 goals
Archie MacPhee		31 apps	25 goals
Garry Wood		93 apps	50 goals
Conor Gethins (sub)		57 apps	20 goals
Scott Barbour (sub)		117 apps	52 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

For the second time in four days and the fifth this season to date, these two Titans of the Highland League faced each other on a cold but relatively windless afternoon in Inverurie (Cove borrow Harlaw Park for home fixtures). The problem for Formartine was that despite getting the upper hand in the final of the Aberdeenshire Cup, the Cove Titans have been less sinkable than the Pitmedden ones and so it proved again albeit by a narrow margin. Being reduced to ten men for almost an hour did not aid Uniteds cause and the denial of what most saw as a stonewall penalty claim immediately prior to that gave them valid reason to criticise not the impartiality but simply the competence of a referee barely out of his teens, attempting to manage a game between seasoned pros, mostly in their mid twenties and thirties, who know every trick in the game. It contributed to an ill disciplined card fest throughout the first half.

Formartine, with a line up changed from the previous encounter, brought in Callum Dingwall as a straight replacement at left back (where he delivered a steady performance), for the injured Stuart Smith, releasing Archie MacPhee to his normal attacking role. Jamie Michie was a straight midfield swap for Liam Burnett as was Andrew Greig for Scott Barbour. It was this last change that produced the most immediate and obvious impact as the wee forward began by giving Ross a bit of a roasting on the left flank. There was no cagey, sizing beach other up phase in this game: they went at it from the start and there were three goals in the first twenty minutes. Initially the visitors were giving at least as good as they got. McKeown stood strong to block a thumping edge of the box drive from Robertson and remarkably given the force of the shot, brought the ball under control before releasing it neatly left to Dingwall who made ground down the flank before releasing the ball to Greig. The forward twisted and turned before shaking off Strachan and Ross, cut into the box and released a vicious dipping drive towards the far top corner. Keeper McKenzie watched as the ball whizzed past only an inch or two wide of his left upright.

A minute later in the, 8th, Wood shook off the attentions of Campbell to unload a slightly too high 20 yarder. From the resulting goal kick the ball was fed on to Megginson who unloaded a furious low drive that rebounded to safety from the base of MacDonalds left upright. The pace was more than brisk and the tackles more than tepid; something had to give and unsurprisingly, given his initial success down the left, it was GREIG who broke the deadlock. With a mesmerising run that started about twenty yards into Cove territory, he worked the ball with the aid of a one two with Rodger towards the edge of the box. Jinking his way past Strachan, Watson and others, he made the space to ping the ball ever so neatly beyond the reach of McKenzie and into the net.

That put Formartine ahead in the 13th minute, yet by the 20th, they were behind. Formartine – on a bit of an adrenaline rush sought to press home the advantage and created a decent chance a minute later as Rodger and Mackintosh combined to play in MacPhee whose shot from the middle of the 18 yard line has hoiked well over the top. Cove however were astute enough to exploit the Formartine commitment to attack and made a series of lightning thrusts spearheaded by McManus and Megginson. By the 18th minute they had forced a corner, the first phase of which was dealt with by a decent clearing header from Jevan Anderson. Cove picked up the ball in the hole beyond the 18 yard line and worked it right before Strachan drove it back into the mix. In a maelstrom of threshing limbs a yard or two from the keepers right post MEGGINSONs striker instincts prevailed and by some means he found a chink through which to drive the ball into the net.

Coves appetite for revenge was not yet satisfied and they ramped up the pressure and within three minutes had another. Again it came from Megginson. They sustained pressure on the United rearguard almost unbroken after levelling. The final third was densely populated and United were struggling to clear their lines. Cove had advanced their back four to the halfway line to sustain compression of United who were going through some serious backs to the wall stuff. In the 21st minute, Strachan and Robertson took the ball a bit wider on the right before playing in MEGGINSON, who bursting into the still crowded box at the right hand corner, carried the ball to a position about 12 yards out but wide right of goal before lashing it high into the net.

United had to dig deep and dig deep they did by going back on the offensive. That required some serious midfield battling and the tackles and challenges from both sides got meatier and tastier. It was not really dirty but little quarter was given or asked. The ref who seemed to view every tackle as a foul and every foul as a booking was struggling to keep control and in the 28th minute with United pressing Cove hard, Watson decided that it would be OK to flatten Michie in the box by reversing full force into him, in order to get a better angle from which to head the ball. A stane dyker for a penalty if ever there was one. Nothing happened and play continued until it was stopped for the ref to book McKeown for arguing (presumably about the no penalty decision). A minute later a vigorous challenge between Mackintosh (booked earlier) and Cambell ended with the former giving the latter a bit of a swearing for leaving the boot in. The referee, apparently thinking the invective was aimed at him, (some might say he deserved it) showed the yellow to Mackintosh and was about to resume play when he was saved the embarrassment of a Graeme Poll moment by a posse of Cove players reminding him to get out the red card which he eventually did. Mackintosh walked.

United were incensed but channeled their anger into producing a superb response by chasing and harrying. Cove tried to wear their opposition down by swinging the ball wide and stretching United. United did very well by holding the ball and backing each other up. The game was evenly contested for the next hour. United gave as good as they got over that period and the only time when the numerical imbalance was noticeable came in the 76th minute when a period of sustained pressure by United gave way to a long ball out left to near the half way line and another in to STRACHAN piling through the middle. As the keeper advanced to narrow the angles the big defender thumped the ball past him into the net from about 20 yards out.

United still refused to lie down and won the lions share of possession for the remaining minutes. A period of siege to the Cove goal ended in the 90th minute when Garry Wood rumbling up defenders battled his way to force the ball over the line from a few yards out for 3-2.

Cove still have the upper hand over United but over the piece there was not a lot in it. If ever there was doubt about the shortage of suitably capable and experienced referees at this level, this game sadly revealed just how acute it is.

Match report by Colin Keenan