Albion Rovers 0 - 2 Formartine United

Scottish Cup - 2nd Round
Saturday, October 20th, 2018, 3:00 PM at Cliftionhill, Coatbridge
Attendance: 246
Referee: Duncan Smith
Albion Rovers v Formartine United, Oct 20th 2018, Cliftionhill, Coatbridge
Albion Rovers Formartine United 

Goalscorers
None. Archie MacPhee (3)
Andrew Greig (pen.) (78)

Team Managers
John Brogan Paul Lawson

Starting Eleven
Daniel Potts
Sean Fagan
Lewis Wilson
Barry Eley
Alan Murdoch
Paul McGeough
Larry McMahon
Gary Fisher
Lewis McLear
Steven Smith
Aaron Reid
Kevin Main
Jevan Anderson
Johnny Crawford
Stuart Smith
Stuart Anderson
Graeme Rodger
Andrew Greig
Archie MacPhee
Aaron Norris
Kieran Lawrence
Garry Wood

Bench
Chris Wylie
John Cunningham
Mark Greene
Scott Forrester
Jamie Watson
Jack Gordon
Daniel Moran
Ewen MacDonald
Joe MacPherson
Liam Burnett
Conor Gethins

Substitutions
Mark Greene for Steven Smith (55)
John Cunningham for Larry McMahon (60)
Jamie Watson for Barry Eley (66)
Liam Burnett for Kieran Lawrence (60)
Conor Gethins for Andrew Greig (70)

Bookings
Gary Fisher (29)
Paul McGeough (43)
John Cunningham (88)
Johnny Crawford (53)
Graeme Rodger (53)
Kieran Lawrence (56)

Red Cards
Gary Fisher (70) None.

Appearances & Goals To Date
Kevin Main (GK) 23 apps -
Jevan Anderson 50 apps1 goal
Johnny Crawford 110 apps6 goals
Stuart Smith 211 apps19 goals
Stuart Anderson 183 apps32 goals
Graeme Rodger 155 apps53 goals
Andrew Greig 35 apps13 goals
Archie MacPhee 59 apps42 goals
Aaron Norris 5 apps -
Kieran Lawrence 32 apps2 goals
Garry Wood 114 apps59 goals
Liam Burnett (sub) 54 apps7 goals
Conor Gethins (sub) 84 apps34 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Jevan Anderson (18 years 235 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (36 years 220 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 13 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Joe MacPherson (18 years 50 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (36 years 220 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 106 days
Domestic Players:14 (93.33 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Jevan Anderson played his 50th major competitive game for the Club.

As a reward for finishing runners up in the league last season, Formartine started their campaign in the 2nd round of this years' William Hill Scottish Cup in Coatbridge, home of Albion Rovers who are firmly entrenched at the bottom of League 2. Their Cliftonhill stadium, which was opened as long ago as Christmas Day 1919 is clearly showing the ravages of time and is currently sponsored by Reigart, a Company of Demolition Contractors.

However demolition remained the theme of the day as the Highland League side utterly outplayed the higher league opposition and ended with a score line that understated the margin of their superiority where only a “man of the match” display by home keeper Dan Potts stood between his side and a more embarrassing defeat. Either way it was enough for manager Paul Brogan to part company with the club immediately after the game ended.

Formartine shook off any effects of a lengthy coach journey by starting the game at a blistering pace. From the kick off the ball was played out right to the pacy Norris who took it rapidly down the flank before knocking it back and inside a bit for Rodger to play it on to the advancing Wood; as defenders swarmed around the striker Greig pinched the ball and fired in a decent if over the top shot. United's intentions were perectly clear: they were up for forcing an early opener. It only took two minutes for them to achieve it. Again the initial thrust was down the right: an interchange of passes between Greig, Rodger and Wood was completed by Archie MACPHEE taking the ball about thirty five yards out, to the right of centre and advancing forward left before skelping it viciously past the outstretched right hand of the keeper from twenty yards out. If recent disappointing results had undermined the home side's confidence, the way United carved open their defence to create this early opener would have been utterly demoralising. They coped the best they could but it didn't take long for it to be clear that not only were United winning the lion's share of possession, they were also more creative and direct when they had the ball. Even this early it was apparent that the home side faced an uphill task against a United side clearly back on song.

What pressure Rovers could muster came chiefly from the left and relied on Reid on the flank feeding McLear inside him. Once or twice this took them to the outskirts of the United area but they lacked the guile to get the ball past a back four of Crawford, Smith and Jevan Anderson with Stuart Anderson brining his considerable nous to bear as a sweeper behind and in front of those three who all looked rock solid throughout. The teenage Jevan delivered what was probably his best United performance to date and completely neutralised whatever threat McLear offered. Save for pulling a couple of crosses out of the air and one decent diving save to comfortably take an Eley shot which had travelled through a ruck of players on its way to the base of his left upright, United keeper Main was otherwise under worked throughout the first half.

The same could not be said of his counterpart Potts who was being regularly and severely tested at the other end. A full stretch dive to his left to block a thumping twenty yarder from Rodger in the 17th minute kept the deficit down as did other top drawer saves from Wood and MacPhee. The period around the twenty minute mark saw Formartine exert considerable and sustained pressure on the Albion goal. Greig had sight of a virtually open goal, but from a difficult position close to the bye line near the left post, he could only direct the ball onto the opposite post before the rebound was hacked away by Murdoch. A couple of minutes later he was in close again but after creating the space to get the ball away from about 6 yards out it was deflected off Wilson's left knee and grabbed by Potts. Wood led the line very well and held the ball up impressively bringing Greig, Rodger and MacPhee into regular and dangerous action prompting a series of corners for United but despite each causing its own particular brand of havoc in the home box, they were all eventually cleared.

As the interval approached some of the United momentum looked like fading. Having weathered such an opening storm from United, the idea of starting the second session only one adrift was probably quite attractive to Albion. It's not that the United tempo dropped significantly nor that Rovers were able to raise theirs, but it simply looked like Potts was going to stop anything on target. MacPhee wasn't far away with a thirty yarder that went over and a neat clip by Wood off a clever ball in by Norris was turned away by the keeper in the 42nd minute.

A single goal is a tenuous lead at the best of times but in the winner takes all situation of a cup tie, it can look exceedingly slender at times one of which came just early enough in the second period to offer a hint of salvation if not victory to the home side. United were back on top and Potts was again hard worked dealing with a fierce angled drive from Greig and other closer range efforts from Wood and Norris. However a long punt up the park out of defence and a fairly chaotic charge after it set was all it took for the fragility to be exposed. The ball was played into the box and more or less cleared before being picked up by Fisher and knocked right to McLear. From the edge of the crowded box, he tried a shot. Somewhere in the middle the ball struck a defender's hand, possibly Stuart Anderson's. It looked a clear case of ball to hand rather than the converse, but the penalty was given.

Main has an a amazing knack of saving penalties and brought it to bear for this one. McLear took the spot kick and it was a decent effort: low, hard and no more than a foot or two inside the keeper's left upright. That would usually do the trick – but not with Mainser there: he was down in a flash and got both hands to the ball to make an outstanding save.

Frustration was rising rapidly in the Albion ranks and it was more than the thuggish Fisher could handle. He was already on a yellow card for persistent fouling (particularly of Wood and Roger) and following another scything apology for a tackle was again booked and summarily dismissed in the 68th minute. United were able to exploit the numerical advantage and spreading the ball wide had Rovers vainly chasing about pursuing a ball that United retained comfortably and spread about to telling effect. Norris had too much pace for the hosts to handle and linking with the powerful runs from defence that Crawford was making provided Wood with plenty of ammunition. In the 77th minute this combination set up Wood to break into the box pursued by Wilson. The big striker paused his run near the right edge of the 6 yard box and drew a rash rearward tackle from the defender. The ref was having none of this from behind stuff and as the defender tried to wrestle big Gary to the deck the inevitable penalty was awarded. GREIG was the man for the job and stepped up to confidently slam the ball past Potts to double the margin of victory.

This was an excellent performance from United who were superior in every part of the pitch and each aspect of the game. They ran the show from start to finish. For their pains, the same cup draw fates that sent them to Coleraine in the Irn Bru Cup have now decided that their next outing will be against high achieving Championship side Queen of the South at Palmerston Park Dumfies on November 24th.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

Programme cover / Team sheet