The curtain came down on Formartine’s inaugural campaign on the Highland League when 9 man United stormed back against Wick to seal a deserved point in a competitive encounter at Harmsworth Park only marred by some over zealous refereeing.

This was no end of season affair with both teams keen to show the fast flowing football that had secured a top half league finish with Formartine keen to secure at least a point to leapfrog Huntly into a credible 6^th place.

Injuries and call off’s forced united into 4 changes from the midweek encounter with Nairn with both Kenny Coull and Stewart Gray failing to recover from knocks while Bobby Maitland and Ritchie Singer absent through holiday commitments.  They were replaced by young Canadian goalkeeper Scott Chalmers making his highland league debut with starts also given to Patrick Vigurs, Scott Morrison and Andrew Bagshaw,

With heavy rainfall just before kick off ensured that the pitch was perfect for fast football with the home side taking the early plaudits through the industrious Gary Weir in the heart of the Wick midfield utilising the pace MacAdie and Allan to get behind the Formartine defence and create opening for himself without bothering Chalmers in the Formartine goal. 

It took United 13 minutes to create their first real opening when both Vigurs and MacKay combined on the right to set Bagshaw free only to see his shot from 18 yards blocked by the advancing More.  This only delayed the visitors from taking the lead by five minutes.  Cumming found Stuart MacKay wide on right and after beating Cunningham he cut back the perfect low ball for the predatory Barry Somers to strike home a fierce dipping shot over More from 18 yards to open the scoring and take his own league tally to 26 for the season and 27 in all competitions.

The audacity of the visitors to take the lead at fortress Harmsworth stirred the home side into action almost immediately when first David Allan through on goal had is shot blocked by Chalmers legs with Simpson on hand to block his second attempt before Shearer blazed his effort over from the edge of the box.

The home side were taking the game to their visitors playing neat short passes in the middle of the park before releasing the wide men behind the United defence exposing the visitors lack of pace at the back.  A MacAdie corner in the 26^th minute was cleared off the line by the attentive Cummings after Chalmers lost the flight of the ball. with Cummings to the rescue shortly afterwards blocking a Weir effort on goal.

Sam MacKay and Cunningham’s pace continued to cause problems leading to first Seivwright and then Graham receiving bookings for bringing down their respective opponents, bookings they would regret later in the match.  While Simpson was also spoken to for clipping MacAdie’s heels.

As the half drew to a close the home side continued to press the visitors with first Somers clearing a powerful MacAdie free kick before a mix up between Simpson and Chalmers allowed Allen in wide on the left only for his cut back to be driven over by MacAdie once again.

The home teams half time cuppa obviously contained a bit of local hospitality as Academy came out of the blocks on fire to catch their visitors napping with an equaliser on 48 minutes through David Cowie.  A Manson free kick released playmaker Weir who found the overlapping Manson’s run that took him to the byline.  Manson picked out MacAdie who quickly moved the ball to Sam Mackay, then it was on to Craig Shearer who dinked a ball to the back post where Cowie drifted in to head home into the bottom left corner from 6 yards giving Chalmers no chance.

Formartine’s forays into the Wick half were infrequent, however Andy Bagshaw continues to provide a threat in his comeback and forced and excellent save from More in the 56^th minute from a free-kick.

With Wick continuing to press, Formartine’s management made a change bringing off Scott Morrison for the more defensive Callum Irvine. In the 64^th minute Formartine were reduced to 10 men when James Seivwright received a second yellow card fro what we can only assume as foul or abusive language for contesting the far side linesman’s lack of an offside flag when MacAdie was through to lob wide of the goal.  This resulted in a second defensive reshuffle in a few minutes with Irvine moving from right back into partner Simpson in the heart of the defence and Cumming moving back into his original full back role vacated by Irvine.

Wick took full advantage for the additional man and the defensive alterations to take the lead within a minute, Sam MacKay drove infield from the left and played a neat one – two with MacAdie to split the Formartine defence before driving the ball past Chalmers from 8 yards inside his front post.

With the all important point for 6^th place now slipping away it was the 10 man visitors turn to find the grit and determination to pull themselves back into the contest.  A Somers free kick from 25 yards was placed perfectly to More’s right corner only for the keeper to stretch and make the all important save.

From the subsequent set piece, Young’s corner was weakly pushed away by More, under pressure from the Formartine attack, only to see the ball drop perfectly for Mark Simpson to take a touch and drill the pall passed a packed defensive line into the net for the equaliser.

Formartine now had the bit between their teeth and the pace of Bagshaw drove narrowly past after a good run.

Skipper MacKay almost gave Formartine the lead in 77 minutes when a Farquhar slip allowed Kaiser the chance to drive a 25 yard shot in on More who once again brought out a top drawer save.

Formartine’s quest was further hampered when Ally Graham received a second yellow card for apparent dissent.  This did not prevent United from trying to secure all 3 points when Bagshaw had a shot cleared off the line after he was put through by Young with Manson on hand to block MacKay’s follow up in what was to be the last significant chance of the game.

Despite Academy winning the possession contest and playing some neat passages of play, Formartine definitely made Wick keeper More work harder than debutant Chalmers with the visitors showing the required grit and determination to pull themselves back to gain a valuable point and ensure 6^th place.

Teams:

Wick Academy: More, Cunningham, Manson, Farquhar, MacLeod, Shearer, Weir, Mackay, Allan, MacAdie, Cowie.  Subs: Gunn, Lamb, Allan, Duffy, Bokas.

Formartine United: Chalmers, Cumming, Simpson, Seivwright, Graham, S. Morrison, Somers, Vigurs, Young, MacKay, Bagshaw.  Subs: Irvine, Tait, Taylor, McGuiness, Boddie.