Lossiemouth 2 Formartine United 2
A close encounter on Halloween produced little in the way of tricks and less in treats as Formartine ended up chasing a game that with a bit more application they should have had put to bed early on. They had the lion’s share of possession but never displayed much in the way of menace until they were two down. The first half was played out with Formartine taking the game to the seasiders and playing high balls into the home box which were comfortably contained by the lanky defenders. Donaldson, Milton, Sim and Stuart were kept busy enough but rarely in that period did they have to deal with anything particularly difficult. Once or twice it looked like the wiles of Coull and Mackay were fit to pass their way through this back four but generally the service with which they were supplied by Fyfe and Young from the wider areas was too often high and seldom to feet.
In the 10th minute, Coull hammered a twenty yard free kick hard into the wall and Somers reached the rebound to thump a low one just past Masterson’s left upright. Four minutes later Fyfe won a corner on the left after being slightly impeded by Donaldson. It reached the head of the advancing Simpson but the big defender got under rather than over the ball and it went skywards over the top. Formartine were sustaining some level of pressure although they looked more disjointed than of late and the connections between defence, midfield and forwards were much less than silky smooth. A jittery, picky referee who blew for anything that remotely resembled a petty infringement, didn’t help the game to flow in the first half and resulted inevitably in a rash of bookings for persistent infringements in the second.
Lossie were quick and sometimes quite slick on the breakaway and it was clear that the longer Formartine went without converting their greater possession and territorial advantage into goal, the more vulnerable they would become. The diminutive Smith was a persistent and pestilent presence. In the 20th minute he was on the end of a long ball from Sim in what seemed like the tail end of a breakaway. Back to goal he spun to face goalward and went down over the leg of Simpson who stood his ground and looked to have won the ball. The contact was enough for ref Ross to award a penalty which was received with equal surprise and gratitude that the Halloween trick had earned the treat that “Biscuits” SCOTT duly converted with a low raking drive into the left hand corner.
Formartine did not seem unduly put out by this reverse and persisted with more of the same. They were sound enough from box to box but showed little in the way of penetration. Winter put in a few tackles but usually with his doup on the deck so that he could manage the dispossession but not the distribution. Fyfe and Young were making heavy weather of it on the flanks and MacKay and Coull were being fed like they were anorexics. As the half progressed it was clear that Lossie were increasingly comfortable in containing their visitors and with the trickery and unpredictability of wee Dan Smith, they had the advantage of an element of surprise. The half continued with little of note beyond a good thumping drive by Stuart that was deflected and forced a superb dive by Gray to tip it round the right stick and a slick move by MacKay and Coull that ended with a crisp shot from the former being finger tipped away by Masterson. Just before the half was complete, Simpson who seemed to have pulled something, limped off to be replaced by Seivewright.
The second half began with Bobby Maitland on for Fyfe. Although this was a like for like substitution there was the hope that the more physically robust, direct style of Maitland would add some bite to the wider midfield areas. He worked away in typical never say die fashion and probably challenged the defenders a bit harder than his predecessor, but still Formartine were struggling for penetration. Again they had the better of the box to box stuff, but still Lossie looked cool enough at the back and could pick their moment to make a telling thrust at their visitors.
Formartine had something new to offer, however, and loan signing from Caley, Andrew MacAskill made his debut [for Young] for the last 30 minutes. He so nearly made it the dream debut when with his first touch of the ball he reached a clever wee angled dink from Mackay and squeezing past Stuart clipped the ball against the upright. Lossie were still up for extending their lead and with another breakaway in the 71st minute really laid it on the line for Formartine.
Dan Smith played a one two on the right with his namesake sub Nick Smith and between them the two Smiths forged and opening that ended with the latter hoisting a simple lob across the goalmouth. While defenders ball watched, they left Gray indecently exposed and there was big Biscuits looking for crumbs in a huge gap at the back of the box. Unchallenged, he simply slid the ball in at the back post.
This was the wake up call that Formartine needed and heeded. Suddenly they started to play with more spirit and belief. The system shifted to something like a 4-3-3 and Somers joined the forward line. MacAskill was a fair torment to the home side rearguard and suddenly Formartine were carving out the chances. It took them barely two minutes to reply: some MacAskill magic through the inside right channel and he fed SOMERS. Powering his way through the middle, a further one two then suddenly Big Baz was in almost on the goal line and the ball was in the net. MacKay grabbed the ball from the net and it was on the centre spot in a trice. There was hope. From there on in it was all Formartine offence and increasingly rocky home defence. MacKay and Somers combined [again fed by MacAskill] before the latter’s shot was blocked on the line by Milton with Masterton stranded.
In the 87th, Winter saw the merest chink between defenders and threaded a low sizzler through it that Masterton, who could only have seen it late, managed somehow to tip away for an unrewarded corner. Time was running out but with the punctiliousness of the refereeing, there was some stoppage time to be played. In the second minute of that period, SOMERS again brought home the bacon. Rising above the defenders he made an awesome connection with a MacAskill corner and headed the ball well wide of the keeper and high into the net for a very last gasp equaliser.
It might be said that Formartine did well to come back from two down away from home, but if you credit them with that you still have to consider how on earth they let themselves get into that position in the first place. You simply can’t give an SHFL team a two goal start and expect to come home with all three points. Had the game ended a minute earlier they would have had nothing at all and been as pointless as putting mud flaps on a snail.
Teams:
Lossiemouth:
Masterton, Donaldson, Milton, Sim, Stuart, D.Smith, McMullan, Urquhart, Scott, MacIntosh, Bagley. Subs: Flett, N. Smith, Matheson, Main, Stewart.
Formartine United: Gray, Cumming, Simpson, Irvine, Graham, Young, Winter, Somers, Fyfe, Mackay, Coull.
Subs: A. Maitland, B. Maitland, Seivewright, MacAskill, Horne.
