Early lead for Formartine proves to much for Turriff
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Formartine United 2 - Turriff United 1
When these two last squared up a month ago at the Haughs it was a close run thing where United were twice behind before emerging victorious by a slightly flattering two goal margin.
This too was a very closely contested league game although it looked nothing like that for the first fifteen minutes or thereby .
The visitors were slow to settle and Formartine cashed in big time with an opening salvo that threatened to blow Turra to Kingdome Come.
Perhaps their recent victory over reigning Champions the Broch had lulled them into the belief that they would be able to do the same at North Lodge as they had at Bellslea.
Whatever the reason, they started this one sluggishly and paid a penalty for it.
Formartine tore into them from the start and had them back on their heels before they knew what hit them.
United revealed their pace, class and awesome fire power to establish a two goal lead before even ten minutes had elapsed and for the first twenty minutes or thereby looked as if they would run riot and win by a wide margin.
It took the loss of these goals and probably the threat of more to come to bring the best out of Turra who went on to battle every inch of the way for the remaining 70 minutes in a match where the result was in some doubt until the very end.
United’s opening spell was a sight to see as they flooded forward from midfield where Gallagher, Park and Rodger powered through the centre to feed a front pair of Campbell and Wade whose reputation as prolific goalscorers is well founded and not to be taken lightly.
In the 4th minute Gallagher swapped passes with Crawfors before feeding Gallagher who immediately set course towards the front right corner of the box to be felled by a panicky, hemipygic attempt to disposses him .
This yielded a free kick thirty yards out that Park struck sweetly to curl the ball over and beyond the wall to meet a back post run by ADAMS who powered his header beyond keeper Dey and in at the left stick.
Thus encouraged, Formartine committed to wave upon wave of attack and gave every indication that they could overwhelm the visitors.
Wade led the line and caused panic with a range of tricks and turns that took him past and away from defenders and into dangerous areas. In the 8th minute a blistering run took him
down the inside right channel away from Stuart , past Cheyne and into enough space short of the bye line to whip the ball across the 6 yard box and into CAMPBELL territory .
The big striker did what he does best getting ahead of defenders to stab the ball right footed into the net between keeper and the back stick for number two.
This left Turra with an enormous task to thwart United’s obvious dominance and claw their way back into game that was fast getting away from them.
To their credit they did just that.
United had clear momentum and continued to press.
Wade , Crawford, Rodger and Rodger all had decent half chances that were either blocked ,just off target or saved.Turriff battled hard but initially had little territorial reward for it.
However by the mid point of the half they were beginning to string passes together and make headway in United territory.
After half an hour they were giving as good as they got and in the 41st minute gained a free kick wideish right and ten yards in that Cheyne struck hard and low towards the back stick and
SMIITH turned smartly into the net from close range.
It set up a stonker of a second half.
Both sides pressed hard over the second period and Formartine were forced to react to Turra’s high tempo and hard tackling game without regaining their earlier dominance.
They did however protect their lead and twice came near to extending it.
Gallagher went very close after a counter attack down the right when his 15 yard drive fizzed inches wide of the left post. yard in the 62nd and ten minutes later Wade drilled one from near the penalty spot that was somehow hacked off the line by Chalmers.
United held on well although some desperation just short of the box led to some frees in dangerousa reas and a yellow for Adams. In the last minute Cheyne was dismissed for a second yellow for handball while trying to block Wade.
