This was the penultimate game in Formartine's programme of pre-season friendlies and by some margin against the highest level club involved. However the devil can be in the detail and in this case the Roman numeral appendage to the opponents' team title indicates that this was not the top team of the Premier League outfit that came calling at North Lodge but an assembly of players that would most accurately come under the rubric of their under 20 side. Youngsters or not this was a side that had quality running right through it. It would be naïve to assume that each one of these visiting players will one day be plying their trade at the top end of the game, but it is also clear that they wouldn't be where they are unless they looked like having the potential to do just that. It was also clear that they were well managed and functioned well as a unit. Often with younger players what they do on the ball can overshadow the less spectacular off the ball contributions: not so this lot - they had enough guile and organisation about them to make real demands of their more experienced opponents. They were fit fast, skilful and well drilled.

The United starting eleven was near to what might be considered their first pick line up although top goal scorer MacPhee was on the bench and team captain Stuart Anderson otherwise unavailable. The absence through injury (acquired in the first pre-season game at Montrose) of centre back Michael Clark probably eased the passage of Joe Macpherson to the starting line up, so all in all this was a strongish rather than the strongest possible United line up. As an indication of the overall strength of the squad once injuries and suspensions play their part of the course of a season it was a good rule of thumb to the standard they might achieve when competition starts in earnest at Keith next Saturday.

For a friendly the game started at a more brisk and competitive pace than might have been anticipated with United the first to show. A ball played across the back by McKeown to the advancing Crawford set him on a run down the right flank where he pressurised Fraser enough to yield a corner at the opposite side. Greig hit an inswinger that Wood got his head to a yard or two past the back post. The header had a bit of pace on it but was too high and zipped over the junction of upright and cross bar. Relative newcomer Jordan Leyden was getting through a fair bit of work on the right flank and showed an encouraging turn of pace as well. In the 10th minute he managed to whip a low drive across the 6 yard box that was only inches beyond the reach of both Wood and Rodger. County were moving the ball about quite slickly at times and one or two of their players were beginning to stand out midfielder Dunn was involved in nearly every forward move his team made. He had the ability to find space to receive the ball regularly and did well in holding and advancing it through midfield. Further forward the chunky Wallace was playing a classic number 10 role and kept popping up in dangerous areas. He was stocky with obvious upper body strength good close control and worked the defenders hard.

However after 15 minutes or so had elapsed United were beginning push them into their own backyard and forced a couple of corners (both taken by Greig) each time there was a measure of threat from the aerial presence of Wood but each time he was marked closely enough to have his options severely restricted. There was a sense that United were beginning to build up a head of steam and in the 19th minute they opened the scoring through McGowan. The move started with McKeown about twenty yards out from his own goal slipping the ball through to Mackintosh who battled forward until he released it to Greig who took it to a place a few yards wide of the right corner of the County box. The ball was driven over through a fair throng of players with what looked like the intention of meeting a run towards the back stick by Wood. The hyper alert McGOWAN saw the opportunity, intercepted it at full stretch and whacked beyond the left hand of Hodge to open the scoring.

United did well enough over the next twenty minutes or so but it was clear that this team of young pro's was beginning to gel enough to as questions of their more experienced hosts. Initial attempts to play things through the centre were reasonably countered by United having a bit more height and muscle in that area. Dunn was an influential playmaker and in the 23 minute made himself enough space out left to chip a diagonal ball that stretched Main enough to push the ball away for a corner. Formartine were doing well enough at this stage and a Leyden drive from a tight angle on the left hit the side netting no more than a foot or so to the wrong side of the post, but the sense was that this side had it in them to get a goal or two – and they did.

Their opener came five minutes before the interval just after a well patterned move executed by Dunn, Wallace and MacBeath ended after Main saved a fifteen yard shot the first named. The ball was retrieved in midfield by Gallacher and he carried it forward enough to draw the attention of McKeown and MacPherson. The wily WALLACE timed his move to sneak between them to take the pass and from the edge of the box and leathered ball past Main to level.

The second half started well enough with both sides still playing reasonably well patterned football before what began as a trickle of substitutions ended in a deluge that while giving the maximum number players a run out quickly sucked the fluency from the game that ended with United completing it with only four of their original starting eleven and gie near the same applied to the visitors.

As fluency faded passes inevitably went astray at times and in the 63rd minute, almost out of nothing, MacBeath found himself the recipient of a loose ball 30 or 40 yards out. All he did was run forward through no man's land until he got within shooting range and fired the ball powerfully and accurately beyond the reach of Main.

United battled a bit in a perfunctory sort of way to get back on terms but the more the subs came the less their chances were of getting a result. These conditions sometimes suit the opportunistic Gethins but he wasn't getting much of the ball and the game ground to a rather unpatterned conclusion.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie