Formartine win but see Turriff put an end to their clean sheet record
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Turriff 2 - Formartine 4
Formartine came to Turriff after three successive wins achieved without the loss of a single goal.
That succession of clean sheets ground to a halt before two minutes of this game had elapsed.
It was a crazy goal to lose and made life unnecessarily difficult for Formartine who who had to come twice from behind to overcome a home side, who were clearly buoyed by their rather spectacular opening to the game, before securing a hard wrought but nonetheless well merited victory.
United went at their hosts from the kick off with a foray down the left that ended with a cross from Combe that was only inches beyond the reach of the advancing Wade and Campbell.
The ball was worked up to the town end and fed out right when under challenge from Formartine centre back Mathew McLean, Gray attempted a long range shot at goal but the ball ricochetted off the big defender over the keeper and into the net.
The jury is out on whether this was a splendid piece of opportunism by the forward or a dreadfully unfortunate o.g. by the big defender.
Either way it fired up Turriff and pressured United who certainly looked determined to overcome the deficit even if it was possibly at the expense of composure.
They pressed forward at every opportunity and regularly got the ball to the opposition area.
In the sixth minute interplay betweed Combe and Wade resulted in a low drive from the latter fizzing inches wide of the keeper and also the back stick.
A charge through the inside right channel by Campbell took him past Stuart and Foster and despite close attention he found a chink through which he fired the ball from about 5 yards out but it was hacked clear by O.Kinsella.
Although Formartine had slightly the better of possession and were persistent in the attack , Turriff were working hard to increase their lead and made a number of breaks , all contained by a steady united back four with Adams and Maclean at the heart and Smith and Norris either side..
United’s persistence was rewarded in the 34th minute with a goal that was made in the Broch.
Recent signings from Fraserburgh:, winger Combe and striker Campbell combined as often before when Combe delivered a perfectly judged cross from the left straight to the head of CAMPBELL who crashed a powerful downward heeador inside the back post to equalise.
It took Turra only two minutes to restore their lead.
Their attack started from deep and was initially played through the middle before Cooper threaded it through and to released Smith whose vicious low drive was saved by Macdonald but who was unable to hold it.
The ball spun to Gray who was on hand to place it neatly between the keeper and his right upright..
The psychological boost of equalising just before half time often underpins a victory for the team that scores it and so it was for Formartine.
Wade’s trickery took him on a foray into the Turriff box past two defenders in the process.
Still closely attended he managed to turn, shimmy and release the ball a few yards further left to just inside the back stick and just in the range of Campbell and SMITH who nicked the ball in past Findlay at the base of his right upright.
The pitch had been heavy from the outset but with rain getting heavier and a bitter gusting wind conditions dreriorated to make the game an ordeal more than a pleasure.
Undaunted the man from the sunny climes of Dominica, Ju Ju Wade brought his own sunshine to the proceedings with a goal two minutes into the second session.
With their tails up after the equaliser on the stroke of half time, United were quickly back at the throats of Turra and with a sweeping attack covering both sides of the pitch they soon got the ball to WADE in his favourite inside right track where he collected t before whacking it home from twelve yards range .
Ahead for the first time in the game Formartine, were going to be hard to dislodge from the track to victory and with a bit more guile to them than their hosts gradually increased their share of possession.
Conditions were difficult as the rain and the pitch both got heavier.
With Formartine slightly superior in ball retention they were slower to tire than Turra and looked, albeit marginally at times, the more likely to score .
This they did not long after they had introduced the fresh and very fast legs of Lisle to proceedings.
In the 71st minute CAMPBELL added his second with a powerful finish picking up a ball from Gallagher on the right and slamming it into the far corner .
That was a right nail in the coffin of Turriff who although persisting manfully for the remaining 20 minutes never looked like making serious inroads of the deficit.
Formartine maintained a remarkably high tempo in difficult conditions and maintained their 100 per cent record in 2023.
