Formartine United manager delighted to reach cup final and welcomes new signing
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Formartine United manager Paul Lawson praised his team's resilience to beat Buckie Thistle in the semi-final of the Aberdeenshire Cup.
The Jags created a number of chances to win the game at North Lodge Park on Wednesday evening but United's defence and a standout performance from goalkeeper Ewen Macdonald kept them at bay.
A 0-0 draw at full-time saw the game go straight to penalties, which United won 7-6.
Lawson said: "I'm delighted to get through to the final, ultimately that was the aim.
"We rode our luck at times and Buckie created a lot better chances than ourselves and their argument would be they deserved to go through and they were probably the better side.
"But I thought our boys dug in well considering some of the personnel we had out on the park.
"I thought young Cole Anderson was outstanding up front and put in a great shift. He's never played there before, so you're asking him to do a job he is not used to doing but he did that very well."
United's goalkeeper Ewen Macdonald had a great game pulling off a number of saves to deny Buckie and stopped the final penalty from Jags captain Kevin Fraser, which won the game.
Lawson was full of praise for the keeper and said: "He was brilliant. Ewen has waited a long time to get his opportunity and his attitude has never dwindled.
"He has been spot on since the day he came to the club and it can be hard for a goalkeeper to motivate yourself at times if you feel you are the second choice.
"Full credit to him, he's deserved his chance and he made some outstanding saves."
The manager admitted he couldn't watch the penalties but was glad that his team managed to progress.
He said: "I didn't watch the penalties, I got told they were good so I will take that.
"You look at Kevin Main and his time with us he's been outstanding in shootouts and saving penalties in regulation time.
"He knows a few of our lads and had that advantage but full credit to the boys and everyone who stepped up."
Lawson is now looking forward to taking on the winner of the other semi-final between Fraserburgh and Keith.
He added: "It's not often there is a chance for a cup final so early in the season and that's what we are playing for.
"This time last year we had the same sort of scenario against Rothes and we let ourselves down, so you want to go one better and we have done that.
"There is still a lot of things we can work on and do better, we know that. It has been a stop-start pre-season but everyone is on the same boat."
Meanwhile, the club has signed Aberdeen FC youth team midfielder Tyler Mykyta on a temporary transfer.
Tyler (18) previously had a spell at Turriff United and will remain at North Lodge Park for the whole of the 2021/22 Highland League season.
Lawson said: "Once we became aware that Tyler would be available to us, we were keen to get him involved straight away and we thank Aberdeen FC for allowing us the opportunity to assist in his development.
"We are excited to introduce Tyler as our latest addition to the squad."
Related story: Formartine United beat Buckie Thistle in penalties to reach Aberdeenshire Cup final
