Victory for Formartine United at Strathspey Thistle
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Strathspey Thistle 0 Formartine United 2
In the context of a clean sheet and a two goal away win, any expression of disappointment by the North Lodge faithful at the nature of that result might seem churlish.
There is no doubt that the better side won and that the victory was gained on merit rather than good fortune.
That said United’s performance during a goalless first half against a team that had won only once and drawn twice in 17 games was singularly unconvincing.
During that barren 45 minutes the nearest United came to breaking their duck was when a hopeful 25-yard effort from Jack MacIver struck the crossbar before being booted upfield to safety.
United had an initial couple of minutes of pressure round the fringes of the home side’s box after Combe had drifted past Austin and McDade.
The recent addition to the United squad managed to get the ball over left to right into a promising area near the back post, where lurked Jonny Smith but the area was densely populated and the shot was blocked as it left the forward’s boot.
Thereafter came a spell when Thistle had United back pedalling as a series of raids down the flanks yielded shots on target from Davison and Cruickshank, neither of which occupied keeper Macdonald unduly.
Possession and territory were fairly evenly spread between the sides but passing by both teams was too often untidy with balls being under or over struck. Conditions were not an obvious cause of this as there was little wind and the surface was a bit soft but by no means difficult.
United won three successive corners around the 15th minute mark and a loopy header by Crawford from the second was pulled down from under the bar by Kelly.
There was some sort of limited box to box stuff by both sides but play was ragged and defences were on top.
Wade, mostly at the edges rather than within the box, gave brief flashes of optimism but penetration was limited and, with the exception of a decent diving save low to his left from a Park drive, Kelly was never troubled.
Throughout this half United got the ball into the home six-yard box more often from McLean throw-ins, which were regularly prodigious, than from open play.
Management had clearly found the right way to instil some interval urgency into United and they opened the second half with a visibly increased tempo and almost immediately had Thistle on the rack.
Pass and move stuff was crisper and more urgent and shots rained in on the Thistle goal area, rather than the keeper, from all angles.
The problem was that accuracy was poor and composure in delivery was limited. The consequence was that the keeper was not worked as hard as he could or should have been.
That said he still made a couple of good reaction saves – one to knock away a close range effort from MacIver and to touch a fierce, low Wade drive round his left post.
Strathspey were in survival mode but still clinging grimly to their clean sheet. Norris and Rodger came on for Park and MacIver and the welcome return of the club captain after injury earlier in the season was transformational.
Almost instantly he provided a distribution point through which balls were relayed with perfect timing, pace and precision to attackers.
It took six or seven minutes of this before he flipped one into the inside right channel just ahead of Wade who immediately slipped inside Austin and blasted off towards goal.
A step or two into the box he was tripped before he could let fire. He blasted the ensuing penalty low to the keeper’s left for the 70th minute opener.
The pressure was sustained and there was little the home side could do about it. United were ruling the roost and firmly encamped in Thistle territory.
The high quality and volume of supply continued and the fresh legs of Norris began to torture the tiring defenders.
In the 80th minute a drive from Rodger rebounded from a group of players in the box and he picked it up again about 20 yards out and jinked right to create the gap through which he ripped a shot past the keeper to put the result beyond any doubt.
The pressure continued until stoppage time when United gained a further penalty in the midst of a melee just inside the left fringe of the box.
Wade attempted to replicate his earlier effort but Kelly guessed right and made an excellent save at the base of his left post.
