Forres Mechanics 1 Formartine United 0
This was a poor result that derived from a poor performance and having taken only one of the last nine points available to them, Formartine are slithering and sliding down that slippery slope in the lower half of the league that is still comfortably above Fort William, Rothes and Strathspey but little better than the likes of Brora and Lossiemouth. The games they have in hand that once offered the hope of rapid ascent into the higher reaches of the league now look more like obstacles in their way to avoiding embarrassment.
Forres looked the livelier and more enterprising outfit from the start and relishing home advantage, took the game to the visitors from the off. Whyte streaked down the right flank to cut in just before McGuire was close enough to get in a challenge and found himself with time and space to clip the ball into the path of advancing centre back Sharp who took it on the half volley and launched a beautifully accurate drive towards the postage stamp corner. McGuire had read the situation astutely and was in place to arrest its net bound progress with a saving header that cost an unrewarded corner. Even at this stage, just 5 minutes in, certain patterns that repeated throughout the full ninety minutes were being set: one was that Formartine were again defending dangerously deeply and that ref Cobb was making some rather odd decisions. In the 7th minute these two combined. Wardrop was trying to jink his way into the box past Simpson and looked not only to have been legitimately dispossessed but also to have clearly handled the ball in the process. The ref thought otherwise and to howls of Formartine protest, awarded a free kick barely a foot out side the front edge of the box. In what looked like a well worked training ground routine, Grant clipped the ball to Allan at the left hand post. Gray did very well to block the point blank drive but WARDROP was first to the rebound and slipped the ball home.
The extent to which Formartine were stung by this was hard to determine but if they were chasing an equaliser they were not prepared to alter their pattern to do so. The striking pair of Coull and Mackay were left alone to occupy the home back four as the Formartine midfield joined the defence in getting eight behind the ball whenever Forres had possession. Since Formartine offered little in midfield presence this became the norm. Neither Coull nor MacKay had the height to pose aerial threat to Allan, Youngson Grant and Sharp but, given the depth of midfield and defence, had to content themselves with trying to get on the end of balls played up to them from thirty and more yards behind. Balls from that range can rarely be played to feet and the striking pair became increasingly isolated.
To their credit, Formartine did show endeavour and Fyffe and Bob Maitland made sporadic forays down the flanks. One such saw the former break free on the left and get in position to whip in a decent thirty yard effort that brought Knight into diving action to tip the ball to safety. It was then quickly worked through the midfield wide of the sluggish and well fed Winter and onto the lively Wardrop who fairly leathered it goalwards. The shot was well timed but marginally too high. With Formartine defending deep and in numbers shots on target were few and generally from long range and the half drifted to a rather desultory conclusion with Forres looking as comfortable as a team on a single goal lead can ever get, and Formartine reasonably successful in keeping them at bay but offering few sustained or consistent attempts to get back on level terms.
The second half initially offered to show Formartine in a more enterprising light as Cumming combined with Somers to play in MacKay on the right. A well timed and weighted ball reached Coull who had run across the defensive line to head flick it back across them but just fractionally wide of he goal.
At the other end Wardrop again made his way easily through an under-populated midfield and got himself in one on one with keeper Gray who did very well to hold his ground and narrow the angle enough for the forward to fire wide. Two minutes later he again found himself with the goals in sight albeit this time with an array of defenders in between. He tried an angled curling ball that bent round the defence and rebounded from Gray’s left upright. By now [49th minute] the first half pattern resumed and Formartine sat back allowing Can Cans the freedom of the midfield with Coull and MacKay again left in splendid isolation. In the 52 nd minute, Whyte was pressing forward through midfield before being halted rather vigorously by a late rearward tackle by centre half Simpson. The challenge was clearly illegal but whether it was the challenge itself or a combination that included it alongside a diatribe to the ref that earned the booking, it was the defender’s second of the game and yielded a dismissal that put Formartine at significant disadvantage and in a position from which they were unable to recover.
Forres were unable to capitalise on their numerical superiority and to be fair to Formartine, the home side were fairly well contained. They almost extended their lead on the hour mark when a Duncan free was whipped in dipping over the Formartine defence for Whyte at the back stick to have a close range effort superbly beaten away by Gray. Sub Adam Maitland was onto an astute threaded ball from Winter and fed Mackay. The ball was hacked clear to the sub who had followed in and let fly with a fierce twenty yarder that fizzed past the keeper’s right up right.
In the latter stages, Formartine pushed Somers forward and began to sustain brief periods of pressure. In the dying minutes they almost retrieved something when the Coull - Mackay combination found the former on the end of a cunning diagonal ball behind the home defence. The captain had sight of goal, measured his angle but miscalculated ever so slightly and the tight angled shot grazed the wrong side of the far post. That and a decent Somers header across goal but wide of the right upright was as close as the visitors got to an away point and with two defenders red carded in successive weeks they will need to reconsider their formation for a game or two.
Formartine worked away for 90 minutes but their performance could never be described as inspiring. Their curiously deep lying defence seems to offer the opposition unnecessary midfield latitude as well as severely limiting the quality and quantity of the supply to the forward pair. If it has only yielded one point in nine from variable opposition, it may need to be reviewed.
Teams:
Forres Mechanics: Knight, Allan, Youngson, Grant, Sharp, Bremner, Whyte, Milne, Green Wardrop, Duncan. Subs: Penwright, MacPherson, Scott, Moore, Harkness.
Formartine United: Gray, Irvine, Cumming, Simpson, McGuire, Fyfe, Somers, Winter, McGuire, R.Maitland, McKay, Coull.
Subs:MacAskill, A.Maitland, Young, Shinnie, Vigurs. |
