Appearances & Goals To Date

Andy Reid (GK)		6 apps	-
Craig McKeown		57 apps	11 goals
Johnny Crawford		7 apps	-
Stuart Smith		75 apps	3 goals
Stuart Anderson		60 apps	12 goals
Neil McVitie		58 apps	14 goals
Graeme Rodger		7 apps	4 goals
Paul Lawson		7 apps	4 goals
Scott Barbour		7 apps	4 goals
Cammy Keith		73 apps	55 goals
Garry Wood		7 apps	5 goals
Stuart Axten (sub)		2 apps	-
Calum Dingwall (sub)		43 apps	4 goals
Neil Gauld (sub)		5 apps	-

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

Milestones

That Formartine have now scored twenty five goals in their last three games, two of which have been away from home will not pass unnoticed in the ranks of those who share serious title hopes this season. That is in itself significant, but more so is how they went about putting this run together. Those who have watched this three game blitzkrieg have noted visible improvement in team performance game by game. Against Vale there was a period either side of the interval where pace and tempo dropped a shade before being resumed, at Lossie pressure was more consistent and sustained although a moment or two of defensive miscommunication was seen. In this game they produced a display of utterly remorseless, unremitting football played at a blistering pace sustained throughout, yielding nine goals [although some splendid stops by Scott Riddoch did enough to keep the score in single figures] and allowing their opposition only two corner kicks and only one shot on target. Credit where it’s due, though – Rothes worked their socks off from start to finish and never really gave up the unequal struggle although with a depleted bench and some injury enforced substitutions, they faded in the latter stages.

On a sunny afternoon with a pitch of velvet green and a wee bit of breeze against them it took United a matter of a few seconds to work the ball into an already densely packed Rothes box – you could see damage limitation was on the visitors’ minds from the start- and with slick movement in the danger area Wood got the ball left to right to the feet of Keith whose stab from a few yards out was close enough to the right upright to give notice of his intent to do serious damage later. Formartine were quickly able to establish their backline somewhere around the halfway line and squeeze the game on from there. McVitie restored to the starting eleven after injury alternated with Smith on the other side to push on either flank and with the viciously energetic Barbour playing wide ahead of them and switching flanks, Formartine attacked on a much broader front and with more depth too than Rothes really knew how to handle. In the centre the unequal contest between centre back Donaldson and Garry Wood, was on the level of a reluctant heifer trying to hold off a rampant bull.

Barbour had a go from the left, Rodger from the right and Anderson had a pop or two from the fringe of the box before, in the 7th minute the first goal started a hat trick that Cammy KEITH took less than an hour thereafter to complete. On the left Barbour tied Brian and Gallacher in knots but gained only a corner for his troubles. Lawson’s delivery was clean, neat and direct to Cammy who headed the ball firmly past the outstretched left hand of the keeper.
The pattern was established and Formartine hammered remorselessly on at Rothes who with two banks of four and a supplementary defender between them were trying, rather grimly to contain the Formartine storm. The second goal, still only ten minutes in, was a peach. Wood, near the right corner of the box was holding up the ball under some challenge from Brian. Suckering the full back, he poked the ball between his legs to meet the run of McVITIE from his left. “Biscuits” finished the job from about twelve yards out with a low drive beyond the keeper’s left hand. Even this early it was clear that there was only going to be one outcome to the game, but Rothes had their pride and showed no signs of capitulation as they chased and harried and did all in their power to close down their hosts. The will was there, so too the effort but it was Formartine who had the guile, shape and cohesion to keep the ball away from them for sustained periods.


To an extent Rothes endeavour looked like it was going to limit damage as they succeeded by working very hard indeed for each other to persuade Lady Luck to give them respite enough until a couple of minutes before the interval. During this period shots bombarded the visiting area, several went close, many, particularly from Wood cannoned off knees, shins and even a couple of backsides as Formartine continued to put them to the sword. Rothes managed two fleeting forays into Formartine territory: the first through the middle as McMillan latched onto a clearance only to be dispossessed by a Glayva tackle– sweet, nippy and very strong from McKeown -and a determined run with the ball down the left flank by Paterson that Crawford ended yielding nothing more than a throw in in the process.

The third was another of Paul Lawson’s special brand of free kick from the twenty yard range where he is so deadly. With a right foot with more culture than a jar of mouldy jam he drilled the ball inch perfect through a chink beyond the wall into the net in the 41st minute.
As the second half started, the temperature had dropped as the wind strengthened a little to aid Formartine’s pressure from the Meldrum end. Taking full advantage they immediately had Rothes pinned down in their own penalty area and hammered away at them. Within a couple of minutes another Lawson chance was offered by a free kick just left of centre about 22 yards out. Again the midfielder saw the chink and got the ball through it only for it to rebound to safety off the inside of the far post. Pressure continued and after a decent enough shout for a penalty was denied when Donaldson seemed to wrestle Barbour to the ground with a shoulder hold, the defender emboldened by his escape tried to repeat the manoeuvre but this time with a neck hold. The ref did give the penalty this time around and Garry WOOD despatched the ball to the net classically low and left.

Formartine still on song and looking for more, continued to apply more and more pressure. Rothes had only pride to sustain them and with 8 or 9 players in effectively defensive roles it was more the difficulty of manoeuvring the ball in such congested conditions than anything else that impeded Formartine progress. A quick double by KEITH to complete his hat trick stretched the lead to 6 before the 63rd minute. The first was the result of a neat one two initiated by WOOD to let the striker into slot the ball right to left across the line of the advancing keeper in the 58th minute and 5 minutes later, with a typical poacher’s finish close in at the keeper’s right upright as he reacted quicker than Smith to force the ball over the line. He was then subbed to let Gauld have a go at a crumbling visiting defence but it was full back McVITIE proving that some biscuits don’t crumble who was next to net. By this stage almost the entire Formartine outfield had excursions into the Rothes penalty box. The full back broke down the right then diagonally into the box and from about a 45 degree angle and fifteen yards out drilled the ball well beyond the reach of Riddoch and in at the far post.

Two more were to follow as Rodger and BARBOUR each got no more than their efforts deserved. Sub Gauld had jinked his way past a couple of defenders to find further progress blocked by sheer weight of numbers ahead of him. A wee shimmy and he made the space to slip the ball right into the path of RODGER whose later run had got him free to collect the ball and hammer it home from about twelve yards out in the 70th minute.

Five minutes later the scoring was complete with a rather cruel blow to Rothes. Having managed a rare, almost unique, foray into Formartine territory they had left just a wee bit more space at the back than usual. This hemipygic attempt at attack being simply enough broken up, was immediately countered. The ball was then clipped forward to Barbour around ten yards into opposition territory. He took off at great pace dodged some tired attempts to tackle, drew the keeper and buried the ball. Double figures look more likely than not but the weary defenders, all ten of them, did just enough to prevent that humiliation.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

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