Clachnacuddin 2   Formartine United 3

There is no doubting the extent of Formartine’s achievement in fighting back from being twice behind to take the game with a last gasp equaliser, but the manner of its execution was short of impressive.  They started slowly looking as if they were waiting for things to happen rather than setting out to make things happen for them and, unsurprisingly paid the price of conceding a clearly preventable opening goal through defensive laxity in the 12^th minute.  After a period of probing for some weaknesses in the home rearguard they lost possession up front to right back WILLIAMSON who played a one two with Macdonald regaining the ball on the halfway line. He then slipped past Singer and carried on forward.  Taking a direct route towards goal, he simply ran between Simpson and Gardiner and found himself one on one with the advancing keeper.  Keeping his head he cooly lifted the ball over the committed custodian and into the net.

 This should have prompted some response from the visitors, but it was Clach who seemed the more energised by the goal and almost went further ahead ten minutes later when Pollock played in Smith with an over the top ball that wrong footed Cumming and Simpson but the striker’s effort flew past Gray’s right upright.  This however did seem to do the trick for Formartine and they showed an increased appetite for the fray and began to put together, albeit patchily, a more fluent passing game.  Mackay, industrious as ever was occupying more than one defender at a time and attacks were beginning to be sustained.  Notman forced some action from keeper Harrison and  Bagshaw went close with an angled drive in the 28^th minute. Although the visiting defence looked jittery at times and vulnerable to the pace of Lawrie and Smith they were less occupied by this stage as the thrust of the game kept Formartine increasingly encamped in Clach territory.  The equaliser came in the 38^th minute.  Gardiner took a free kick from  slightly right forward of the centre circle to Singer who sold the dummy to let in Bagshaw who swerved out to the right drawing Finnis and Davidson with him.  He then turned to whip in a fierce dipping cross that SINGER met near the back post with a diving header that beat Harrison all ends up.  Formartine maintained their impetus until the interval but although well in command were still struggling to penetrate the home defence.

The second half began much as the first with Formartine looking a bit jaded and Clach showing more appetite.  Barely two minutes had elapsed before Clach  almost restored their lead and again the visiting defence were embarrassed as Lawrie outpaced Graham and floated a cross to the head of Smith who headed the ball firmly downwards but past the left post.  One or two niggles were developing in the central areas and Simpson who was not at all his normal reliable self was lucky to remain on the park after using an elbow on Leslie.  The referee and linesman seemed unable to determine the identity of the offender and he resumed unpunished before being substituted  a few minutes later. 

The next flashpoint came when Lawrie, who had a previous booking, was shown a second yellow and dismissed in the 72^nd minute.  With Formartine pressing to exploit their numerical advantage they were caught by a breakaway down the left by Pollock who worked a corner out of sub Irvine. This went straight over the box, past the central defenders to the relatively unmarked Williamson who simply poked the ball home from about 5 yards out.  Formartine had it all do over again and the tempo of the game went up another notch or two.   Bagshaw and Mackay were thorns in the flesh of an increasingly stretched home defence. A thumping Gardiner free kick from thirty yards out was well taken by Harrison and a Bagshaw snapshot flew past the right post.  After a cute Singer lob into the box, Bagshaw tried to get in a shot but was denied by Davidson’s challenge.  Their heads clashed and both required a period of attention. Formartine concerns about the consequences of another injury to Baggie were allayed when it was revealed that the extent of his injury was no more than a dislocated eyebrow.  Formartine were now firing on all cylinders and an equaliser looked inevitable.  Cute work by Mackay forced a corner on the left that Singer deep and in swinging.  GARDINER out-jumped the defence and headed firmly home to equalise with tem minutes to go.

 The belief was now there within the Formartine side and the only real issue was the relatively short period of remaining time in which to find a winning goal.  They hammered away at a doughty home defence but such was the pressure in the final third that the extra man advantage was all but neutralised. In the 89^th minute of elapsed time an almost solo effort by Bagshaw secured the points.  Having turned Davidson he found a bit of space about twenty yars out and unleashed a low searing shot that scorched through the defence and past the diving Harrison.

In the end it has to be said that this was a decent enough battling performance at Grant Street where points are never lightly given. The lack lustre start to each period remains a cause for some concern – Buckie had previously exploited this in the Aberdeenshire Cup encounter and Clach managed to get a couple of goals out of it. The usually steady defence were a bit off song but given the difficulties posed by injuries and suspensions their league position, only a single point adrift of leaders Cove, is undeniably a major achievement for the Pitmedden men.

Teams:

Clachnacuddin: Harrison, Williamson, Finnis, Macdonald, Davidson, Sanderson, lawrie, Leslie, Smith, Trialist, Pollock. Subs: Kennedy, Craig, Shields, Maclean, Trialist.

Formartine United: Gray, Cumming, Graham, Urquhart, Simpson, Gardiner, Singer, Notmam, Mackay, Bagshaw, Davidson. Subs: Cadger, Young, Irvine, Booth, Somers.