Formartine climb to third after defeating Forres
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Formartine United 2 Forres Mechanics 0
The anticipation of this game was of a close run contest between two sides that most seasons have shown the capacity to take points off any team in the league.
This season the visitors have had a relatively sluggish start to their campaign while United after the recent disappointments of a losing out after a penalty shoot out and drawing away after a stoppage time equaliser were looking for a win that could [ results elsewhere permitting] propel them upwards to third place in the table.
Formartine have had to overcome significant injury derived selection restrictions and were still without the services of Rodger, Lisle, and Mykyta for this one while Park was restricted to a contribution from the bench.
From a Formartine perspective this was a good one to win.
Win it they did and the convincing manner with which they did so will only add to their confidence.
It’s never easy to overcome the Mechanics but United dominated possession and apart from a couple of ten minute spells in each half set the tempo of play and enjoyed fairly clear territorial advantage throughout.
Opening encounters looked nervy and in the second minute a kick from home keeper McDonald went straight to a rather surprised looking Barron who immediately shot straight at the donor who was then able to redress his mistake.
United were quickly into their stride and in the 6th minute Dimov pinched the ball off the toes of Davies and progressed down the left flank before feeding itl forward right to Maciver who outpaced and outmanouvered Wood to swing the ball into the box where Gallagher and Cole ANDERSON promptly arrived and the latter leathered the ball home from just shy of the 6 yard box.
Wade who was to be a considerable thorn in Forres flesh all afternoon all but doubled the lead in the next minute when after wrong footing Graham Fraser,got one on one with the advancing Knight who managed to block the shot.
Five minutes later a long punt up the park from Knight found McLeman facing a square looking United defence and with space to shoot.
The ball rebounded to safety off the cross bar.
Formartine were back up the park in a flash and as Lawrence advanced towards the Forres box he was crudely brought down by G Fraser.
Gallagher’s free kick all but reached Wade at the back stick but R Fraser hoofed the ball clear.
Wade continued to cause mayhem up top and had a snap shot that went just over from 15 yards out and another from closer in but further right that fizzed inches past Knight’s left upright .
Formartine looked more likely to score again than Mechanics did to equalise and, generally a bit sharper overall ,managed to extend their lead.
A humungous 38th minute throw in from the right by McLean ascended over the goal -mouth before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere just above CRAWFORD.
In the midst of a goal line stramash, a Mechanic hand appeared and diverted the otherwise net -bound shot.
The lanky full back then clipped the ball into the net for United’s second.
The stand side assistant’s flag was up .
The two officials conferred and Ruari Fraser was yellow carded for the hand ball.
The fact that the goal stood may have saved him from a red card for a deliberate attempt at illegally denyining a goal -scoring opportunity.
Forres tried to battle back and had a bit of pressure before and after Macdonald denied a close range effort from Barron but the final scoreline had been established before the interval.
Visitor pressure continued for a few minutes after the resumption but as time went on the sharper passing game of United increasingly prevailed and they spent lengthy periods in visitor territory. The game became nigglier as time went on but as the side ahead were definitely dominating the possession statistics the one chasing the game showed increasing frustration and conceded a number of rather cynical looking fouls.
Wade continued to threaten until being subbed in the last minute or so of ordinary time to allow Brody Alberts to make his debut.
