Penalty shootout disappointment for Formartine United in Aberdeenshire Shield
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Formartine United 2 Aberdeen FC 2
(Aberdeen won 3-5 on penalties)
This was an Aberdeenshire Shield game where The Dons find themselves facing relatively local clubs drawn from the ranks of Highland League and some top end juniors.
The dilemma for the Pittodrie club in this competition is that there is an element of a “hiding or nothing about it.”
They inhabit a much higher realm of the game and are expected to win easily against opposition from several levels down the pyramid; anything short of that would constitute major embarrassment.
In reality they face such games by selecting a team strong enough to win but without exposing many big name, big budget players to the risk of either injury or embarrassment.
They got that balance absolutely spot on and in selecting a team composed of a mixture of Barry Robson’s under 18s and other rising stars who have already gained some top team experience, played out an enthralling end to end cup tie conducted at a rip roaring pace that needed kicks from the penalty mark to determine who moved on to face Buckie Thistle in the semi-final.
The Formartine line-up was effectively their normal first pick squad.
The game started with Formartine showing more cohesion and maintaining their shape a bit better than the visitors who initially dealt with this by prodigious use of youthful energy, chasing and harrying before eventually consolidating shape and tempo.
It looked initially as if their chosen route forward was down the left where the interplay of Hanratty and Hamilton produced two or three promising moves although they ultimately yielded nothing to exercise keeper Macdonald.
The vast majority of play was in the box to box area and it looked like United were more likely to get their noses in front. A crisp shot from Cole Anderson was held by Oluyemi and United managed to get a few balls into dangerous areas.
In the 36th minute, and a little against the run of play, Aberdeen took the lead. A ball was played forward from halfway by Towler to Duncan and onto Hanratty, who rode a challenge just outside the box and continued forward to hammer a low drive that Macdonald got his hands to at the base of his left upright but it skidded free into a throng of players. Bavidge reacted quickest and lashed the ball high into the net.
The game continued its fierce pace until the interval but without any other clear cut chances either way.
United ramped up the pressure in the second half and although they did not quite get the young Dons tied down in their own territory, definitely had more of the ball.
You can hardly describe a game played at the pace this was as slow burn but it took until the last 20 minutes of normal time before it yielded three of the four goals.
In the 61st minute, a break down the right by Wade had a rather widely spread defence backpedalling as he whipped the ball over to the back post for Anderson but the youngster struggled to reach it and delayed just long enough for it to be blocked.
The pressure continued in waves and in the 72nd minute, with the Dons again on the back foot, United carved open the defence as a beautifully judged Combe ball was clipped left to right between two defenders into an area just beyond the near post to meet a blistering run from Wade who slammed home a close range equaliser.
Within five minutes United had the lead. The goal was a thing of exquisite beauty. From a throw out by keeper Macdonald, Combe took off on a run right through Dons territory where in a few yards shy of the left corner of the box he outmanoeuvred the challenge of Milne and continued forward to curl a peach of a shot high into the top corner.
The youngsters had spirit though and battled back with a late equaliser from Bavidge.
A bit of Marshall trickery saw him squirm through into the United box to feed the young striker at the back post to squeeze the ball through a throng of players into the net.
The game concluded still level and went directly to kicks from the penalty mark. That lottery was won 5-3 by the visitors.
