Huntly2–6Formartine United

Revenge is said to be a dish best tasted cold and Christie Park on a windy December evening is capable of providing its own special level of cold. United provided the other part of the equation by extracting ample revenge for the rather unexpected defeat by Huntly at North Lodge back in April. This Aberdeenshire Shield game started at breakneck pace with Huntly attempting to cash in on first half wind advantage and United maintaining their now customary high octane opening salvo. It took barely five minutes for the match to transition from no scoring equality to level again at a goal apiece.

United set the pace when new-signing Andrew GREIG hammered home a twenty plus yard shot from the left side of the area but the home side responded promptly and with some style when former United striker Mike EWEN caught a glimpse of keeper Sim forward of his line and taught him a salutory lesson by promptly lobbing him from no more than a yard or two off the halfway line. This was going to be a free flowing high scoring game and the hectic pace continued. Crawford and Ferries were combining with overlapping runs and down the right for Formartine while that wily old fox, Dennis Wyness was pulling a fair few strings for the home side. Greig, too, was slotting in with increasing comfort as the half progressed – a pass on the run was only inches away or a millisecond too early for Ferries arrival on the 6 yard line and a few minutes later another cross found Roger in a decent shooting position but his on-target effort was blocked, then cleared by Clark.

Huntly got their noses in front for the first time in the 31st minute. A corner by Napier found CLARK arriving late and not really noticed. He had the sort of time and space that Dr Who expects and used it to deliver a crashing header past Sim for 2-1. That lapse aside though, United did not deserve to be behind and it took them only 6 more minutes to restore equilibrium. Again, Greig had a hand in it. The move was started by Crawford on the right feeding the ball to Greig whose cross to MacKINTOSH left the former Nairn midfielder still with work to do. The ball looked to be almost behind him before he checked, and crashed a stunning drive beyond the reach of Reid for a spectacular equaliser.

The high intensity end to end stuff continued until the interval. Huntly with the wind at their backs were doing their best to establish some sort of lead before the interval but wind or no wind, Formartine were more than a match for them. A header by Henry, from 18 yards out put a Rodger corner from the left just over the top and a McKeown shot from a Wood feed looked net bound before rebounding off one of a clump of defenders.

With wind advantage the initiative for the second half lay with United and although Huntly initially did a reasonable job of hanging onto their coat tails, United were not long in impressing their stamp on the game. Within five minutes they were beginning to sustain some pressure. Lawson found McKeown with a superbly weighted ball through the middle but the finish, decent enough really, was on target but was hacked away by one of the increasing numbers of home players allocated to defensive duties. The pressure was ratcheted up a notch or two and Huntly started to struggle. Another Greig to Mackintosh cross went close after the latter tried his luck from twenty odd yards out, but the turning point came in the next minute when Still was booked for a foul on Rodger. Already on a yellow card from a similar foul on the same player a minute before the interval, he was dismissed. Against the already dominating Formartine and the wind, the reduction in manpower was simply more than Huntly could sustain. Initially some rearrangement into an even more defensive formation and a rather desperate increase in tempo kept United at bay for a while. It lasted ten minutes and even during this ten minute interval before captain for the night Craig McKEOWN forced home the third, Lawson, Greig and Mackintosh had all gone close enough with shots from various angles to suggest the tide had turned substantially in Formartines favour.

From then on the only significant question was about the eventual scale of the inevitable victory. The remaining three came possibly a tad later than expected but they showed the extent of Formartine superiority. In the 78th minute Smith breaking forward found LAWSON to his right. With an impudent dummy and a nifty turn, he left Murison in no mans land before ripping a spectacular 25 yard shot for number four. Jevan Anderson on as a sub only a couple of minutes before he slipped a peach of an 85th minute pass to RODGER who simply rolled the ball home from close range for five.

The rout was complete two minutes short of the allotted 90 mins with a typical LAWSON whizz bang from twenty yards out off a feed from Smith. The ball took a deflection on its way past Reid who, rooted to the spot, could do no more than watch it reach the back of the net.

Mission accomplished, revenge savoured, Formartine face Cove in the next round, but following the Cup Final victory against the toonsers, this time it will be a case of facing a side looking to extract revenge from United. A different proposition entirely.