Lossiemouth 2 Formartine United 1
A fortnight ago Formartine completely outplayed Lossie at home to record a 5-0 victory. Although Lossie were a player or two short of full strength that day, the manner and margin of victory was still impressive enough to suggest that Formartine coming in on the back of another 5-0 win in mid-week, should have had little difficulty in progressing to the quarter final stage of the Foster’s Highland League Cup. The fact that they failed to do so indicates something amiss about appetite and attitude in some quarters. They seemed to approach this match as if they expected to win while Lossie, having something to prove, taught them a lesson about pride, grit and graft.
The pitch was dry, dusty, bone hard and led to some unpredictable bumps and bobbles by the ball but conditions favoured neither side. Formartine started reasonably well and put Lossie under some pressure over the first twenty minutes. 12 minutes in and Bob Maitland made some ground down the left flank before being illegally dispossessed by Sim. The free kick by Singer was head flicked back from the box to Somers who let fly from about twenty yards. The shot was good enough to exercise but not beat Masterton who managed to beat it away for an unrewarded corner. Macdonald Strathdee and Scott were lively on the breakaway. Strathdee got onto a threaded ball by Macdonald and had a pop from the edge of the box but pulled his shot wide right. At the other end Formartine offered some serious threat as Cumming, fed by Gray played in Coull ahead of him. The striker opened the defence with a ten yard pass to Singer but the shot again was insufficient to seriously trouble Masterton.
Lossie had less of the ball but nevertheless looked just as likely to score as their visitors. Scott was set up by Ross with a loping lob from about twenty five yards out and got marginally the better of an aerial tussle with keeper Gray only to see the ball hooked clear from the goal line by Seiverwright. Strathdee forced his way through the middle but hooked his shot wide left.
Formartine were still enjoying a bit of territorial advantage but offered little real goal threat. Mackay got the better of Stuart and set up Coull but the ball bobbled, came of the captain’s knee to be humped to safety by the recovering sweeper. He showed the resilience to recover from being beaten by the quick, tricky, Mackay and get back goal side to clear. That sort of attitude seemed more apparent in Lossie than Formartine.
As the half neared its end Formartine frustration seemed to mount. “Biscuits” Scott is the sort of player who likes to make his presence felt both physically and orally on and off the ball and was beginning to nip the heads of the odd Formartine player. He latched onto a feed from Urquhart but was closed down quickly by the advancing keeper. He was astute enough to get the ball over to Strathdee but Seivewright was on the line to clear.
On the stroke of half time, the “Biscuits” wind ups almost paid off when a clearly frustrated Cumming went well over the top of the ball to bundle the striker into touch. Ref Cob apparently saw none of it and the right back continued unpunished.
The second half began pretty much as the first had been with Formartine having some territorial advantage but precious little penetration. It was also clear that Lossie were growing in confidence. They looked like they could cope with what Formartine had to offer and knew how and when to break. They did so in the 62nd minute . Again “Biscuits” was in the thick of it. The ball was played out of the box by Urquhart and on to Biscuits on the left. He powered his way forward about twenty yards before releasing the ball to STRATHDEE on his right. Barely breaking stride, he hoisted the ball side-footed over the advancing Gray to the roof of the net.
Formartine woke up and set about retrieving their situation. There was at last a sense of urgency to their play and it was clear that they were going to get back in it. In the 71st minute Singer floated a decent cross to Somers whose looping header beat Masterton but was cleared from the line by Stuart. Two minutes later Kenny Coull was on the end of a cunning wee through ball by Mackay and fairly hammered it goal wards from about ten yards out but somehow or another Masterton got some part of a leg to it and blocked it to safety.
By this point the Formartine pressure was almost incessant. In the 76th minute they levelled the tie. Singer floated a ball across the box to the head of Somers who flicked it on to Coull. He headed for goal but the ball was pushed back to him by the keeper. He then nudged it right to Mackay who shot from close in but the ball was again blocked by the busy keeper. Kaiser tried again only to find the ball pushed back to his feet. Persistence is its own reward and he eventually stabbed the ball over the line just inside the keeper’s right upright.
It now looked as if Formartine would go on to win in either normal or extra time. They sustained their pressure as sub Marc Young came in at the back post but found the angle too acute and found his shot rebounding from the post. In 78 minutes Mackay was rather cruelly denied when he headed in at the back stick after a Somers effort had rebounded off Urquhart. The ref thought that a hand was involved but many more would hold a contrary view. Formartine piled on the pressure but left the back door a chink open in the process.
Inevitably it was a route one effort that settled the tie. A long hump up the park from McMullan found Scott in a space that looked suspiciously off side. Spurning any sense of embarrassment Biscuits simply took aim and thumped the ball home from the edge of the box. Over and out. Mission accomplished, the Coasters progress and Formartine learn another lesson in their debut year.
Teams:
Lossiemouth: Masterton, Sim, Milton, Stuart, Urquhart, MacMullan, Ross, Macdonald, Scott, Strathdee, Flett. Subs. Smith, R. Archibald, L.Archibald, McNicol, McConnachie.
Formartine United: Gray, Cumming, Seivewright, Irvine, Graham, Singer, Somers, Shinnie, Maitland, Mackay, Coull. Subs: Young, Vigurs, Morrison, Taylor, Simpson |
