Formartine United 2 Rothes 0
It is never easy to live up to expectations and playing at home against the bottom team of the league, the level of expectation thereby placed on Formartine was immense. Significant pressure came from the common knowledge that Rothes under new management and with a strengthened squad are a fast improving side. This was on a Saturday when so many other games were cancelled that a Formartine victory would guarantee them entry to the top half of the league. It had banana skin written all over it. It was never dirty; but seldom pretty and in the end Formartine ground out the win that was expected of them showing a measure of character in the process.
The game started at an unsustainable pace that yielded corners at opposite ends in the opening seconds. Lamberty and Duncan played one or two one twos down the right before the former’s header from the latter’s cross was pushed round the post by the alert Gray. The corner was cleared straight up the park and a Shinnie cross was met by Coull who tested Willie Ridgers with a late dipping snapshot.. The next 5 minutes were occupied with similarly breathless end to end stuff until Formartine got the early goal that should have settled them: a precisely struck corner from the right by Shinnie was met by Bagshaw who peeled off Duguid and whipped in a crisp shot that Ridgers was able to get his body behind but was unable to hold. The ball squirmed away to the feet of the nippy MACKAY who neatly clipped it in at the back post.
Rothes came straight back at heir hosts and a break down the right by defender Grant saw him skip clear of Graham to supply Duncan who just held off the advancing McGuire enough to get the ball across via Robison to Lamberty who was man to man on keeper Gray. The shot was wide and feeble. From this point on the game settled into a more predictable pattern with Formartine showing decent build up skills and Rothes demonstrating those directed towards damage limitation. They were adept in getting bodies behind the ball, defending in depth and mounting the odd quicksilver break. Formartine were in the driving seat and enjoying huge territorial advantage.
They were playing some good stuff too. A seven pass move involving Mackay, Coull and Lamberty ended with Coull whipping one across the goal face and inches past the back stick. A similar slick episode a couple of minutes later brought in the impressive Bagshaw whose strike from the edge of the box flashed a hair’s breadth past Ridger’s left upright.
Although Winter still looks as if he is no stranger to the buffet table, his influence on the side is growing with every game. He provided a decent supply of intelligent flicks, chips and through balls for Bagshaw and Coull that helped to pin back the visitors for most of the remainder of the first half. One of Winter’s supply of over the top balls found Mackay who took it to near the corner flag before flighting it over to Coull whose fierce header hit the deck but slipped past the post. A Shinnie foray down the left ended with splendid opportunism as spotting Ridgers a step or two [no more] off his line, he hit a viciously accurate lob that had the keeper backpedalling furiously and desperately to tip it over the top. As the half ran out there was a sense that either Rothes were gaining in composure and confidence or that the Formartine foot was easing just a little of the pedal.
The second began briskly but not quite so frenetically as the first before settling into the pattern of well worked Rothes damage limitation in the face of Formartine persistence. It was also apparent that Formartine had the appetite and persistence to push on for an increased margin. It nearly came in the 59th minute from the expected source as a Somers header rebounded from the base of the upright to hacked away by Shortreed. The occasional Rothes break came with some pace and precision as More, Duncan and Dougal managed once each to get behind the Formartine rearguard. They lacked the guile to trouble Gray and it was only a matter of time before Formartine pressure produced the goal it deserved. In the 68th minute, Graham fed Shinnie from deep and the wily veteran drifted thirty yards forward, elegantly slipping past Grant as BAGSHAW made a superbly judged run right to centre. Shinnie’s curled ball fell perfectly into the path of the advancing striker who leathered it well beyond Ridger’s reach.
Two goals to the good and there was never an iota of doubt that Formartine would retain all the points. They persisted well, maintained their shape but continued to struggle against a doubty team that contested everything. The home task was eased considerably by the dismissal of Lamberty who reacted to a firm but fair tackle from Graham by inclining his rather inflated adolescent head towards the face of the defender and was given an immediate red card by the ref who was barely a yard away at the time.
The remaining 12 minutes were run down with Formartine maintaining superior possession and pressure but unable to get anything further from their visitors.
This was a good if unspectacular performance by a Formartine side who have now picked up 7 of the last 9 points available to them. They have reached the upper half of the league and although they look fluent in only in flashes are beginning to show a solidity that suggests that they can hold onto the position they have worked hard to attain.
Formartine United:
Gray, Cumming, Simpson, McGuire, Graham, Mackay, Somers, Winter, Shinnie, Coull, Bagshaw.
Subs: Maitland, MacAskill, Fyfe, Young, Seivewright.
Rothes:Ridgers, Grant, Shortreed, MacRae, Duguid, Flett, More, Robison, Lamberty, Duncan, Dougal.
Subs: Smith, Forsyth, Sutherland, Robertson, Silford |
