Coleraine 1 - 1 Formartine United

(Lost 2 - 1 on pens.)
Scottish League Challenge Cup - 2nd Round
Saturday, September 8th, 2018, 7:45 PM at The Showgrounds, Coleraine
Attendance: 973
Referee: David Morgan
Coleraine v Formartine United, Sep 8th 2018, The Showgrounds, Coleraine
Coleraine Formartine United 

Goalscorers
Josh Carson (31) Archie MacPhee (20)

Team Managers
Trevor McKendry Paul Lawson

Starting Eleven
Chris Johns
Ciaron Harkin
Stephen Lowry
Eoin Bradley
Josh Carson
Gareth McConaghie
Aaron Burns
Ian Parkhill
Aaron Traynor
Aaron Canning
Kevin Main
Joe MacPherson
Jevan Anderson
Johnny Crawford
Stuart Smith
Stuart Anderson
Graeme Rodger
Andrew Greig
Ryan Stott
Archie MacPhee
Gary Fraser

Bench
Adam Mullan
Steven Douglas
Alex Gawne
Paul Owens
Ewen MacDonald
Johnny Crawford
Gregor Whyte
Liam Burnett
Conor Gethins

Substitutions
None. Liam Burnett for Johnny Crawford (63)
Conor Gethins for Ryan Stott (84)

Bookings
Stephen Lowry (40) Jevan Anderson (31)
Graeme Rodger (51)
Johnny Crawford (54)
Gary Fraser (54)
Andrew Greig (83)

Red Cards
None. Graeme Rodger (88)

Appearances & Goals To Date
Kevin Main (GK) 18 apps -
Joe MacPherson 5 apps -
Jevan Anderson 44 apps1 goal
Johnny Crawford 106 apps5 goals
Stuart Smith 205 apps19 goals
Stuart Anderson 177 apps32 goals
Graeme Rodger 149 apps51 goals
Andrew Greig 29 apps11 goals
Ryan Stott 10 apps3 goals
Archie MacPhee 54 apps39 goals
Gary Fraser 10 apps2 goals
Liam Burnett (sub) 49 apps7 goals
Conor Gethins (sub) 79 apps33 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Joe MacPherson (18 years 8 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (36 years 178 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 184 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Gregor Whyte (17 years 143 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (36 years 178 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 205 days
Domestic Players:14 (93.33 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

A 680 mile round trip to see your team play is a long way to travel but the Formartine players, staff and their merry band of supporters travelled in good numbers to support the club in what some critics have dubbed ‘the fizzy pop’ cup.

Coleraine undoubtedly started as favourites despite having lost their manager earlier in the week. Oran Kearney swopping Coleraine for Paisley. They were participants in the Europa League in July and winners of last season’s Irish Cup, these achievements gave the hosts a more obvious advantage but the underdog tag was played well by Manager Paul Lawson, citing afterwards “it probably worked in our favour as the pressure was off us as a lot of people thought we would come over here and get turned over. I’m disappointed but proud for the players as they gave it maximum effort and it was a fine team performance overall”.

From the off it became clear that United were up against a tough side as Coleraine quickly went about their way creating 3 chances in the opening 10 minutes. The first was only 2 minutes old when striker Eoin Bradley’s strike flew narrowly over the bar, Ciaran Harkin was looking dangerous as he whipped a fast paced ball in the penalty area that seemed to miss everyone and Kevin Main then saved a shot well from the alert Bradley following a dart in from the right hand side.

Coleraine then had a goal chopped offside, Josh Carson floated a ball into the penalty area and his cross was turned into the net by Bradley. The referee saw Carson in an offside position before the cross was made and signalled no goal.

The opening goal on 19 minutes came a little against the run of play with one of United’s first forays forward, the ball was played long out of defence for Ryan Stott to chase, he darted into the penalty area and with a surprise to everyone including the home defenders managed to skilfully cut the ball back into the onrushing Archie MacPhee whose first time shot was easily side footed home. The Scottish non league side were a goal up and those supporting the red and white could scarcely believe it.

This goal gave Formartine quite a bit of belief and they started to get forward in greater numbers than before and were able to pass the ball better. A couple of minutes later chances from Graeme Rodger and Ryan Stott both narrowly fizzled past the goal and those present began to sense a slight uneasiness from the home supporters in the main stand. Coleraine still looked dangerous going forward and eager to find the equaliser but it looked as though they were a little shell shocked.

When the equaliser did come it was a cracker of a strike from Josh Carson from 20 yards out, his first time strike was volleyed past Kevin Main from the edge of the penalty area. Then just 2 minutes later Jevan Anderson fouled Aaron Burns in the penalty box and the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty, how things can change so quickly. Eoin Bradley stepped up and although his kick was not struck that well, Kevin Main guessed correctly and dived to his right to keep the score all square.
Formartine left the field at half time with wild jeers of encouragement from the small faithful band of fans who were buoyed by their first half display. The players efforts and the penalty save had given them hope that maybe we could cause an upset.

The second half was fast paced but yielded very few proper chances for either side. Coleraine continued their dominance but the two central defenders of 17 year old Joe MacPherson and 20 year old Jevan Anderson comfortable dealt with everything that came their way. If the ball did make it past the midfield it was quickly dealt with. The home side were getting a little frustrated and Formartine’s pattern of play nullified any real threat.

With the game into injury time and heading straight to penalties both sides pushed for a winner. On 88 minutes Graeme Rodger was adjudged to have handled the ball and the referee produced a second yellow card and off he went. Paul Lawson was incensed and whilst protesting the decision sent the manager off to watch the remaining minutes from the stand.

Coleraine had a great chance to win the tie in injury time when Harkin saw his finely struck free kick sail over the bar. This was the last chance of the game as the referee blew for full time and we headed into the lottery of penalty kicks to decide the winner.

It’s somewhat of a rarity to see the first five penalties of any shoot out not converted. Stuart Anderson seeing his shot saved and Gary Fraser’s try hit the left upright being balanced by two superb saves by Kevin Main kept the score line blank. Out of the five Formartine penalties taken only Andrew Greig found the net and it was the home side who progressed to the next round.

It was a disappointing end to what could have been and the expressions on the Formartine players faces at the end told the real story. It was a different kind of game from Formartine being that they are normally used to having plenty of time on the ball but this match that saw them soak up large amounts of pressure, all the players worked hard and stopped any real creativity from the home side and that was the most pleasing aspect of the performance.

Lawson lamented after the match “I’m really gutted for the lads but we can take many positives from that performance. It was more a team effort in terms of the shape and how we worked off the ball. We kept our shape very well and you tend to sometimes forget the age of our two centre halfs and to put in a performance like that is very pleasing and speaks volumes for their development so far. I was pleased also with the goal we scored as we pressed high up the field and it was a good cut back and finish. We spoke a little bit at half time about maybe we had given them too much respect in the opening spell but the goal gave us a lift and seemed to give us a bit of belief. We now move onto another tough game this weekend away to Cove Rangers, we are fully aware that our league performances of late have not been great and this is the ideal opportunity to put things right”.

Match report by Ken Morton



Programme cover / Team sheet