Formartine United 3 - 0 Keith 

League Match
Saturday, February 16th, 2019, 3:00 PM at North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Attendance: 137
Referee: Dan McFarlane
Formartine United v Keith, Feb 16th 2019, North Lodge Park, Pitmedden
Formartine United  Keith

Goalscorers
Andrew Greig (pen.) (18)
Ryan Stott (75)
Garry Wood (90)
None.

Team Managers
Paul Lawson Dean Donaldson

Starting Eleven
Kevin Main
Joe MacPherson
Jevan Anderson
Craig McKeown
Stuart Smith
Andrew Greig
Graeme Rodger
Paul Lawson
Kieran Lawrence
Archie MacPhee
Garry Wood
Greg Simpson
Stewart Hutchison
Ryan Spink
Macauley Rae
Jamie McAllister
Ryan Robertson
Craig MacAskill
James Brownlie
Cammy Keith
Scott Begg
Callum Paterson

Bench
Johnny Crawford
Wayne Mackintosh
Ryan Stott
Liam Burnett
Conor Gethins
Andrew Smith
Max Berton
Marc Young
Scott Gray
Sammy Stewart

Substitutions
Liam Burnett for Jevan Anderson (51)
Ryan Stott for Andrew Greig (57)
Wayne Mackintosh for Paul Lawson (75)
None.

Bookings
Garry Wood (70)
James Brownie (78)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Kevin Main (GK) 39 apps -
Joe MacPherson 19 apps -
Jevan Anderson 66 apps3 goals
Craig McKeown 107 apps19 goals
Stuart Smith 226 apps21 goals
Andrew Greig 52 apps21 goals
Graeme Rodger 173 apps61 goals
Paul Lawson 77 apps19 goals
Kieran Lawrence 49 apps2 goals
Archie MacPhee 77 apps57 goals
Garry Wood 131 apps67 goals
Wayne Mackintosh (sub) 39 apps6 goals
Ryan Stott (sub) 24 apps8 goals
Liam Burnett (sub) 71 apps8 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Joe MacPherson (18 years 169 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (36 years 339 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 276 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Joe MacPherson (18 years 169 days)
Oldest Player:Kevin Main (36 years 339 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 99 days
Domestic Players:15 (93.75 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Inevitably there was some price to pay for United's cup final exploits in lifting the Aberdeenshire Shield on the Wednesday evening before this league fixture which they started with right back Johnny Crawford on the bench and unable to list speedy forward Aaron Norris at all. Captain Stuart Anderson also sat this one out in the course of his recovery from the thigh injury that has sidelined him for a couple of weeks now. That meant starting berths for Joe MacPherson and manager Paul Lawson.

Keith have been something of a surprise package this season and after a period in the doldrums are showing encouraging signs of recovery and look set to finish the season in the bunch of clubs battling it out for a mid table position. They have height and muscle at the back and with Cammy Keith up front have the threat of one of the league's most consistently prolific goal scorers to aid their cause. They are a team that even those in the upper echelons of this league ignore at their peril. United certainly avoided that trap but it did seem for most of the first half and part of the second too that they might have gone a tad too far in the other direction and accorded them a wee bit too much respect. One way or another, Formartine, began this one a bit more cautiously than they do most home games. Their workrate and passing tempo were fine enough and they had plenty of the ball but it was a studied approach more than a hammer and tongs one. Keith of course had a significant say in the matter and with a lot of height and muscle in key places like Rae, Robertson and Porteous they had the capacity to stifle Formartine's creativity.

However what they didn't have was the vision, experience and quick feet of United's Paul Lawson who within a few minutes of the opening whistle had started what turned out to be a 75 minute masterclass in the art of distribution. Situated normally a few yards in front of the back four, he produced a succession of perfectly judged balls up to the forwards particularly Garry Wood who led the line and additionally to Greig out wide and MacPhee who worked the inside channels.

United's first threat came from the right after a break down that flank by MacPherson who worked the ball virtually to the corner flag before full contact was made and kept it in that area long enough for McKeown to make a run to the back post to get his head to the wing back's cross. Keeper Simpson was just smart enough to pick it off the greying locks of the veteran defender. A forty yard Lawson pass found Greig on the left but a combination of Hutcheon and Rae impeded him enough to prevent him making the pass that both MacPhee and Wood were yelling for. The balance of play was with United and although the visitors had a decent share of possession they found Cammy Keith well marked and very hard to reach. Their threat was fairly limited and MacPherson, Smith, Anderson and McKeown were giving little away. Kieran Lawrence was also tenacious in breaking up play and had the capacity with persistent well timed tackles to nip any Keith fluency in the bud and they had little penetration into the home box.

On the other hand United were beginning to press a bit harder and both Rodger and MacPhee stretched keeper Simpson around the 15th minute mark the first with a low clipped twenty yard shot saved at his right upright and the second with a header stopped just under the crossbar

In the 18th minute, following another well judged ball from the back by Lawson up to MacPhee who slipped it on to Wood who was on a charge into the box and progressed the ball two or three yards into the area heading towards the penalty spot. Rae, chasing, tried a long legged tackle from behind and almost inevitably brought the striker to the deck. Ref McFarlane awarded it straight away and GREIG finished the job with a low effort just past the right hand of Simpson.

From United's perspective, it was a good time to open the scoring and there was a reasonable expectation that they would become more dominant as a result, but Keith to their credit had different ideas and battled hard to get back on terms. They didn't have the creative capacity of Formartine and for all that their effort could be commended the fact remained that keeper Main had little cause of action - a situation that persisted until after the interval.

Turning round only one goal adrift was probably all the encouragement Keith needed to sustain enough belief to have a go at Formartine right at the start of the second period. From the whistle they piled forward and within a minute got the ball and Brownlie together in a central position in the United box. Although both were pretty well surrounded and the player with no sight of goal, was in a position with his back almost facing the target, he tried to move to his right away from Anderson who was marking him. The teenager is still of an age where impulse can overide judgement and got a grip of the forward's shirt to hold him back. Another penalty.

Cammy Keith took it, but the experienced Main knows the penalty takers in this league and their preferences and got this one right. Diving immediately to his right he took the ball superbly just inside the upright to put Cammy's gas at a peep.

That was a crushing blow to Keith whose attacking impetus, along with their confidence began to fade. United came back to exert a more dominant position and began to call the shots. From the hour mark on or thereabouts, the pattern of Formartine battering away at a spirited and determined Keith defence emerged. Keith were firmly on the back foot and with United's Greig who had run himself almost to a standstill in midweek was replaced by the pacy Stott in the 59th minute, it was clear that not only would United win this one but that they would score some more goals in the process.

It took them until the 73rd to get the second, but it was well worth the wait. It began with a piece sheer class from sponsors' man of the match, Paul Lawson who not far outwith the centre circle on the Keith side spun off Robertson and wrong footed Rae to make space through which he threaded the ball through to Rodger who slipped it a yard or two left to MacPhee who furthered its left ward progress after holding it up a tad, by releasing it into the patch of STOTT, afterburners alight, had scorched through the inside left channel, simply side footed the ball into the net from 3 or 4 yards out. Lawson had done his job by then and gave way to Wayne Mackintosh who is being re-introduced for periods as part of his come back from an injury that has kept him out for most of the season to date. Getting him back is almost like finding a new player and brings to mind the adage of Mae West that “a hard man is good to find”.

United were rampant by now and Keith were reduced to keeping 8 or 9 behind the ball. Despite this it took until the 90th minute to get the 3rd and final goal. It came after a period of pressure in and around the right corner of the Keith box that persisted until the ball was swung over to the opposite side about twenty five yards from goal where lurked the predatory Wood. The angle was tightish but there was only the keeper to beat. Simpson advanced to close him down but WOOD simply computed the angle and the range and cooly lobbed the ball over the keepers head and into the far corner of the net. Game over: job done.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie