Appearances & Goals To Date

Kevin Main (GK)		14 apps	-
Craig McKeown		97 apps	19 goals
Johnny Crawford		102 apps	5 goals
Stuart Smith		200 apps	19 goals
Stuart Anderson		172 apps	32 goals
Graeme Rodger		144 apps	49 goals
Andrew Greig		24 apps	10 goals
Ryan Stott		6 apps	3 goals
Gary Fraser		6 apps	2 goals
Archie MacPhee		49 apps	35 goals
Garry Wood		107 apps	53 goals
Jevan Anderson (sub)		39 apps	1 goal
Conor Gethins (sub)		74 apps	31 goals
Liam Burnett (sub)		47 apps	7 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

It took a less than full strength Wick side to trouser all three points and stop United's remarkable run of 21 straight victories dead in its tracks. Without either of the two Stevens or Davie Allan, they sat in, worked hard and hit Formartine on the break. United it can be said did not enjoy the best of luck, particularly in front of goal where a number of rebounds from woodwork and assorted parts of the anatomies of various players restricted their goal tally to less than it might, in fairness, have been but “the harder you work the luckier you get” is an adage that appears not have penetrated some of the United team who certainly, until their side went behind, persisted with a more casual approach than the occasion justified. Some, particularly in defence, gave a convincing impression of having underestimated the quality of the opposition they faced. On the back of a run of results like United have had there is a danger of complacency creeping in and it looked suspiciously like that for some time during this game. Once behind, cool heads were needed but panic, rising in tandem with time running out was what they delivered.

It was a game where United achieved considerably more possession than the visitors (at a rough count 60/40 in their favour) but were unable to develop or maintain the crisp passing, high tempo approach on which most of their success has been based. They were the authors of their own destruction. “If ye flee wi the craws, ye get shot wi the craws” comes to mind. The inability to match skill in possession with pace and workrate was their downfall. There was far too much casual playing of the ball back and forth along the back line and not enough direct connection between defence and midfield to overcome a tidy, stuffy side who adopted a much more direct approach with the limited possession they achieved.

Formartine usually start at a high tempo; this time they didn't. Wick clearly set out their stall to sit in and soak up pressure while looking to catch United on the breakaway and United initially looked like they could deal with that by spreading play wide to the flanks, stretching the visitors. Greig, on the left, had the pace and trickery to torment both the trialist full back and Farquhar (often simultaneously) while the pace of Stott on the other side likewise carried a degree of menace.

The first goal threat came from United in the 9th minute when some clever stuff around the fringe of the Wick box saw Crawford, MacPhee and Greig combine to carve the opening for Fraser to get a clear sight of goal from just shy of the 18 yard line. The shot was accurate but lacked venom and was comfortably taken by keeper McCarthy. Two minutes later came a clear and dangerous portent of things to come when lack of organisation as well as pace in the United defence let MacAdie through one on one with keeper Main. The keeper was quickly out to close down the striker and did well to block the ensuing shot which broke away for a fruitless corner.

There then followed a period within which United should have had the game won. They had Wick well hemmed into their own half of the park and in the 20th minute consistent with the pressure they were applying they got the opening goal. Almost predictably it came from GREIG who, making a perfectly timed run through the inside left channel, collected the ball from the remains of a previous assault on the Wick goal and hammered it home from twenty yards out, left of centre to put it well beyond the reach of McCarthy.

United looked like kicking on from this and in the words of manager Paul Lawson “had enough chances to win the game – but didn't manage to take them”. A twenty yard free kick from Fraser in a central area looked net bound to the right of the keeper before deflecting off a Wick shoulder enough to slide past the wrong side of the upright.

Some close passing between Rodger, MacPhee and wing back Crawford left Rodger one on one with the keeper who went down quickly and bravely at the powerful midfielder's feet to smother the ball around the half hour. The balance of play was well in United's favour but breaks by Gunn and Henry were swift enough to cause the odd flutter before they were dealt with. 5 minutes before half time there was a concentrated push by Formartine that yielded three corners in quick succession. The last of these might well have changed the outcome of the game: the ball was swung across by Fraser straight to the head of Crawford whose fierce header deserved a better fate than to rebound off the upright. MacPhee was first to the ball but was crowded out as he attempted to get it over the last few yards to the net.

Wick were looking flat by then but emerged much revived for the second session. United still had the lion's share of possession and territorial advantage but Wick were breaking more often than they had by the tail end of the first half. Before the half was ten minutes old, they were level. Formartine encamped in the Wick half lost possession about 35 yards out and the ball was played to MacAdie who slotted it through to meet the run of McNAB who already had a few yards on the central defenders but still had full back Smith to deal with. The defender got goalside of him but not close enough to make the tackle before the cunning forward simply moved away from him to create enough space to thump a fifteen yard drive between the keeper and the near post.

The fat was the fire now: Wick proved they could do as much with few chances as United could with many. United tried to ramp up the pressure but their luck was out and Wick's was in. Just after the hour mark United came very close as an excellent MacPhee header from a Greig Cross was turned round his left stick by the keeper who then excelled himself with an outstanding reflex diving stop to deny a cannon ball from Greig from the edge of the box. United were piling on the pressure but were less attentive to defence than was wise. In the 70th minute Wick delivered the killer blow. With United resources heavily or over committed to a seige on the visitors penalty area, Halliday saw a gap and with HENRY blasting through the middle, he played him in with a well weighted long ball. Neither McKeown or Wood could catch him as he outpaced what little obstacle was placed in his way, advanced on the keeper and calmly slipped the ball past him into the net.

United fought back hard but there was something panicky about it and there was a lack of composure to much of their finishing and with McCarthy on top form, the Wick goal somehow survived the remaining twenty minutes. MacPhee with a fierce downward header was again denied by the woodwork then, not for the first time in the game, put his finishing effort over the top with only the keeper to beat. Crawford too looked like he would level the game when his on-target header went beyond the reach of McCarthy only to be hacked off the line by Halliday. MacPhee did everything right when he pinged one goalward through a thicket of limbs from about eight yards out only for Mackay to slide across to the ball and deflect it with the sole of his boot to safety.

With United pressing Wick got another couple of sniffs on break but tired legs produced weak off target shots. They held out and pinched the points. Manager Lawson reflected on his first defeat since February: “We had a couple of sloppy moments at the back --- they punished us and have walked away with three points. We need to be bigger and better at breaking teams down – they were able to sit in and hit us on the counter attack”.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

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