Concerted drive to move Formartine United forward this season
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June and July are the two months of the year when normally there are no League and Cup matches at the senior level of football -”the closed season” as it is commonly called.
It would however be unwise to assume that little happens in that period which in reality is one of intense behind the scenes activity.
For Formartine United there has has been a concerted drive to move the club forward towards reaching its primary goal of building and fielding a team capable of winning the Highland League.
Encouraged by strong run from the start of 2023 United finished the season in fourth position and the only club to have defeated eventual winners Brechin in the process.
The squad strengthened over the course of the season with new signings contributing strongly during a run of a dozen victories on the trot.
The “closed season” this year has seen significant activity on the transfer front as well as a programme of 7 friendly matches against teams from levels above and below Highland League in order to help new signings to slot into the patterns of play United plan to deploy in the coming season. The comings and goings are unlikely yet to be complete but the club report the following:
Arrivals-
Marc Lawrence is an experienced and versatile midfielder who has signed for United from Fraserburgh .
Jake Stewart, last season’s players’ player of the year with his former club Rothie Rovers is a free scoring forward who hit the net almost 43 times that season
Brodie Alberts signed his first professional contract on stepping up from age group football in United’s Youth Academy where he regularly made outstanding performances at under 18 and under 21 level as well as several appearances from the bench with the first team.
Lewis Wilson is a big, strong central defender who has been plying his trade in the USA before returning here to his roots.
The club expect his international clearance to come through in time for the forthcoming season.
Young goalie Jake Ritchie has been training with the other United keepers for some time but has now formally signed for United . He returns on loan to his club of origin, Buchanhaven Hearts, where he will gain more regular game time than he could expect at North Lodge.
Departures-
United signed Mark Gallagher from Aberdeen F.C. a year ago and he was an almost instant hit with the United faithfull. An ever- present in the top team throughout last season he is a powerful midfielder with a driving box to box presence that gained him admirers across the Highland League and from a number of full time teams further up the professional pyramid. Cove Rangers saw his qualities and undoubted potential and signed him on a full time contract. United never stand in the way of a player moving up to further his career and he leaves Formartine with best wishes for a future which many think could take to even higher levels of the game.
Jack Maciver was a striker who made a number of appearances [mostly from the bench] last season. Elgin City saw some potential in him and he has moved there.
Friendly Games.
These games are played with large numbers of substitutions and the deployment of a number of players as trialists not all of whom for a host of of reasons can or should be named.
Although play itself can be quite competitive with a number of players keen to make regular first team berths for the season , the need for experimentation by managers often matches or exceeds the desire for victory especially when the consequences of defeat are negligible.
First off United visited Cove Rangers and acquitted themselves well enough against a team containing such big names as Fraser Fyvie, Ian Vigurs and Mitch Megginson . The home side ran out comfortable enough 3-0 winners with goals by Kyle Connell, Fraser Fyvie with a spectacularly opportunistic long range lob from a yard or two in his own half and an unnamed trialist substitute. United came close to scoring when T yler Mykyta got one on one with former United keeper Balint Demus before the big custodian managed to close down the angles and blocked the shot away .
The home match against Culter FC stars of theJunior Superleague was quite a tight encounter for the first half. The visitors were clearly well up for the challenge of measuring themselves against higher level opposition and worked very hard to keep things tight for the first half. United moved the ball about a tad slicker and made a number of chances.
The best of these probably fell to Mykyta and Campbell each of whom was denied by deflections of their final shot in a crowded penalty box. United were the fitter side and as the game entered its final quarter the direct aggressive running at tiring defenders by inspirational captain Graeme Rodger took him from about 45 yards out into a gap at the front dge of the Culter box to accept the product of Rhys Thomas’ break down the right. ,to rip a searing drive that looked goalbound even before CAMPBELL got a touch to put it further beyond the right hand of the diving keeper and into the net.
Culter wilted thereafter and United extended their lead shortly after when a Mykyta free forty yards out and wide left was headed home by Brodie
ALBERTS to seal the scoreline.
Forfar Athletic from League 2 were a sterner test and United did well to get back into the game at Station Park in the second half after a relatively sluggish opening spell where they soaked up significant pressure but still managed to reach the interval trailing by no more than a single goal .After successive attacks were contained by United who were forced into a counter puncher role by some quick, slick interpassing by Ray Mackinnon’s men, SKELL Y opened the scoring in the 20th and held onto their lead until the interval.
United’s response was encouraging and they pressed high and hard from the start of the second period and had the homeside on the back foot from the restart, A couple of probes down the right tested the home defence who were pressured enough to concede a free not far from the left corner of the box. MyKyta showed his class with a cunning stab at the ball that sent it dipping and swerving low at the base of the keeper’s right upright where it deceived the custodian as it spun into the net.
Forfar restored their lead 5minutes later through MOORE but from then on the game hung pretty well in the balance and United gave as good as they got before a proliferation of substitutions by each side led to less shape and cohesion by both and although a decent tempo was maintained, neither side had the fluidity to seriously threaten the other and the score line didn’t change for the last half hour.
