FOR the first time in three years, Formartine completed a six game winning run.
They also did so convincingly against a Wick side that is known, when on form to be the equal of any in the league. The manner of their victory was mightily impressive. Having given the visitors a goal of a start in the first minute, they dominated t
he match thereafter and produced as convincing a display as North Lodge has known in long enough.
Buoyed up by their winning run, Formartine had the confidence to have a go at the visitors from the start. Within seconds, Maitland had made sufficient progress down the right to get the ball into the far edge of the box to Coull who swirled, turned and let fly with a half-volley that rebounded from the nether regions of Cunningham as far as the advancing Young. From the fringe of the box, he took a measured skelp at the ball with a birling shot that dipped only fractionally late to graze the cross bar on its way out of play.
Wick were keen to show their credentials and were little short of impressive. Bokas' clearance found Gunn on the right and the ball was knocked back to the advancing Shearer who clipped the ball into the inside right channel for Allan. Mackadie was with him and peeled off left for the one-two. This found the forward, riding the challenge of Grahams scything tackle and in at the near post with the rest of a rather square Formartine defence back-pedaling furiously. The slippery wee MacAddie was in at the near post. Keeper Gray seemed to have the area covered but SEIVEWRIGHT, attempting to poke the ball out for a corner managed only to slip it past his own keeper into the net. Some might even say that he nutmegged him in the process.
A minute in and a goal down, you could forgive Formartine for panicking. The real evidence of their enormous progress in this first SHFL season is that they displayed no signs of this at all. Instead they continued to apply a patient, disciplined and well organised squeeze on the visitors' rearguard. Five minutes later they came gie close after some trickery by Mackay who had drifted right to exploit the rather pedestrian Campbell, showed him the ball, withdrew it and clipped it over the box to Young who took a well measured shot that was only inches high.
The home pressure grew and grew and the Wickers were mostly confined to the final third of the park. From here they showed that not only could they defend in depth but that they had an outstanding keeper in Bokas who kept their lead intact despite well placed efforts from Somers with a vicious header that was beyond the keeper's reach but just wide right of the left stick, Coull who flicked one that had the keeper at full stretch to tip away for an unrewarded corner and a bobbly one from Singer that almost touched the right post on its way out. They were riding their luck like a bucking bronco with whooping cough and it clearly could not last.
It held out until the 30th minute when home captain COULL showed his class. There is nothing cooler than "Couller" when he's hot and was he hot. In the space of one minute, he turned the game on its head with two very different strikes; each of which had a wee touch of genius about them. The first came after Formartine's third corner in as many minutes. This was headed out by MacLeod but hit the butt of Farquhar and spun over to Couller who was barely 3 yards in from the bye line.
With surgical precision he dinked the ball over the advancing keeper at the near post, inches beyond his reach and a teasing millimetre or so inside the back post. It was like threading a needle.
In the 31st minute, he produced a screamer. Maitland had worked the ball about twenty yards down the right and poked it forward to Mackay. The "Kaiser" comprehensively skinned Campbell, jinked over the long-legged tackle of Macleod and floated over an inch perfect pass to Coull at the opposite corner of the box. The captain dropped his left shoulder and leathered a thunderous, unstoppable volley that showed unequivocally who was boss.
Wick tried and tried over the remaining minutes of the half, but Formartine were still well on top. Wick were however potentially lethal on the breakaway. Despite home dominance, Wick showed that Allan, Weir and MacAdie were fast, tricky, goal hungry and needed careful watching. A cunning through ball from Mackay to Allan was enough to let Weir get in one on one with the home keeper. From about 15 yards out he let fly with a furious effort but it was prematurely struck and slipped past Gray's left post.
The second half saw Wick trying to push forward attempting to occupy more of the midfield area, and for some time, they just about managed to do so. Formartine were still on top but not quite so much as before. With only a one goal difference, it was nervy stuff for a while. At this stage, home keeper Gray had to show his capabilities by taking a hard hit shot from Sam Mackay with almost cynical ease and beating down one from Allan before flopping on it.
For Wick, there was going to be no way through and Formartine gradually increased their territorial advantage and the dominance of the first half was resumed. They had turned the tide but it had not been easy and they were still only one goal to the good. Centre half Simpson had a conflicted relationship with referee Shaw with several authority issues in dispute. A yellow card had infuriated him and the defender, who is as doughty and hard as a goat's knee channelled his aggression into the positive side of the game. A corner by Singer was hit beyond the back post to the three Formartine big guys (Somers, Seivewright and Simpson].
SIMPSON powered his way past Cunningham, Farquhar and MacLeod to thump a prodigious header past Bokas to absolutely seal the game.
Perhaps Formartine might have sealed the game earlier, but they were up against a well organised outfit that had lots of skill yet still dominated them throughout. They played with discipline and enough confidence not to panic after an early reverse from a young defender who went on to show some class thereafter.
If anyone had suggested a year ago that they could produce such sustained form at this level, few would have believed it. The fact is that they have delivered 6 successive victories, mostly against teams occupying higher league positions and are now guaranteed to finish comfortably in the top half of that league at their first attempt.
Teams: Formartine United:Gray, Cumming, Simpson, Seivewright, Graham, Maitland, Somers, Singer , Young, Mackay, Coull. Subs: Vigurs Tait, Morrison, Irvine, Bagshaw.
Wick Academy, Bokas, Cunningham Campbell, Farquhar, Shearer, Gunn, Mackay, Allan, MacAddie, Weir. Subs: Cowie, Coghill, Taylor ,Hughes, More.
