Formartine United victorious at Banks O'Dee
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Banks O'Dee 2 Formartine United 3
The scoreline here is a poor reflection of the dominance enjoyed almost throughout this game by United.
With the exception of two 15-minute periods, one at the beginning and the other at end of the game, United were either in comfortable control or even more dominant in a game where they were able to impose their shape and tempo on a workmanlike opposition that lacked the flair and creativity to seriously threaten the visitors.
The home side opened promisingly when after an exchange of attacks they gained a free kick a yard or two shy of the right corner flag which was collected by Gilmour midway between the touchline and the right corner of the box from where he jinked forward to make himself the space through which he hit a hard low drive beyond the right hand of Macdonald for a fourth minute opener.
This was enough to ignite a few minutes of excitement in the home side who continued to press for another.
United were in no mood to collude with that and calmly dismantled any further attempts to press home the advantage.
Crawford and Smith are a long established pairing at right and left back respectively while in the centre of the back four Rhys Thomas made a very promising debut alongside McLean. They dealt comfortably with what Banks had to offer.
Within the next 10 minutes or so Formartine began to look the sharper side and winning a greater share of possession and territory began to press Banks increasingly further back with a series of sustained attacks.
The foundation of much of this derived from the sheer graft and determination of the United midfield where Rodger and Gallagher dominated and with the support of Norris and Wade fed a succession of balls up to Lisle and Campbell yielding a number of corners in the process and making Shearer by far the busier of the keepers.
An equaliser looked imminent around the half hour mark when Shearer had to grab the ball off the top of Campbell’s head before watching a fizzing low drive from Wade go skirling past the base of his right upright.
Twice in five minutes the quicksilver Lisle was through one on one with him but failed to hit the target.
The pressure was maintained right until the interval but the home side’s lead survived intact.
After the restart United went straight back onto the front foot and squeezed Banks hard into defensive mode.
Within three minutes United had their breakthrough. Rodger pinched the ball from a home throw in and fed it through to Wade ahead of him. He played it to the speedy Lisle who carried on at a blistering pace and released to Campbell who hit it venomously past Shearer from about eight yards to level.
United were well in charge by this stage and all the action was in the home side’s half while the United one was as unused as the left side of the Countdown clock.
The home side were subjected to a fair pummelling as United worked on getting their noses in front and balls whizzed across the Dee goalmouth which saw many crosses.
The pressure was irresistible and after a sustained bombardment Rodger picked up the ball near the right corner of the box, drove forward left a few paces before unleashing a scorching drive over and beyond Shearer to the back of the net in the 52nd minute.
United's dominance continued interrupted by the very occasional foray into their territory by the hosts.
These were dealt with comfortably and capably until Paul Campbell completed the remarkable feat of scoring his eighth goal in three games.
The groundwork was laid out on the left flank in the 75th when McLean took a short throw in to Lisle who returned the ball to him.
The big centre back moved forward right a few paces before flighting a devastatingly accurate pass to the striker who simply directed a precise header between Shearer and his right upright for number three.
The game was all but won by then but to save embarrassment the home side raised their tempo for the final 15 minutes and managed after much huffing and puffing to add some respectability to the scoreline when Winton managed to put a long range effort past Macdonald in the 89th minute.
United had the game well won before that and it was effectively the end of a well worked and fully deserved victory for the visitors.
