Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield Quarter Final.

Wednesday 18th October 2023, North Lodge Park.

Formartine United 0  Banks O’Dee 5

Scorers:  Lachie MacLeod (15), Max Alexander (30, Pen), Kane Winton (43), Hamish Macleod (50), Dayshonne Golding (61).

There was no denying that this defeat in the Morrison Motors Aberdeenshire Shield was a bitter pill for Formartine to swallow. They didn’t play particularly well and certainly not well enough to cope with the loss of the highly versatile Aron Norris to a straight red a minute short of the half hour point. The double jeopardy of a “last man” foul in the penalty area is rough justice with the loss of a player for a non violent foul in addition to the sanction of the penalty kick. It cost United the player, a crucial second goal and arguably the match.  Manager Stuart Anderson commented “We’ve played with 10 men before and dealt with it a lot better than we did on this occasion”

Versatility is crucial in these circumstances and Norris is arguably the most versatile of those United fielded that Wednesday evening and his presence was sorely missed at a time it was needed most.

United started well enough to suggest that they would overcome the loss of an excellently finished 15th minute opener.  The opening came from deep in Dee territory when Phillipson lobbed the ball to Alexander in the centre circle who raced goal ward to be tackled by Adams, but the ball broke kindly forward right and into the path of MACLEOD who leathered it home from the edge of the box past Macdonald.

Formartine pressed for an early equaliser but Banks resisted well enough until the penalty and red card incident doubled their advantage after ALEXANDER’s text book spot kick fizzed low to the keeper into the right hand corner. United looked to have handled their numerical deficiency quite well and managed to apply and sustain a few bursts of pressure that had the visitors on the back foot before the killer third goal. This came from a corner on the left by Gilmour, WINTON’s movement in the box was not well tracked and he moved all but uninterrupted to a spot closer to the near post to bump a loopy header high into the net a minute before the interval.

 From then on it was as much a case of damage limitation as any realistic chance of salvation for United in the course of a second half that saw Banks add another couple to their tally. 7 minutes into the next period the ref decreed a dropped ball after he lifted a leg to avoid contacting it and may have unsighted players of either side. Gilmour got the ball easily and threaded it through into MACLEOD in the box who swept it left to right to the far corner for the fourth.

In the 62nd minute insult was added to injury with a goal that could charitably be described as being a “route 1 job”. A huge hoof up the park by the Banks keeper found only two players in the Formartine half and the ball set to land a couple of yards ahead of them. Cove’s GOLDING appeared to shove Formartine’s Adams to the deck to give himself exclusive access to the ball, collected it, ran in on goal and slotted it past the keeper; That looked like insult being added to injury.

An uncharacteristic defeat for Formartine this will test their resilience when they face Clydebank in the Scottish cup at North Lodge on Saturday 28th with the manager’s words ringing in their ears “we need to pick ourselves up because we’re top of the league and you don’t become a bad team after one result. It’s how you react to it is the important thing”

Formartine United Team: 1. Ewen MacDonald, 2. Lewis Wilson, 3. Stuart Smith, 4. Kieran Adams (15. Rhys Thomas 68 min), 5. Matthew McLean, 6. Marc Lawrence, 7. Julian Wade (12. Jake Stewart 68 min), 8. Graeme Rodger ©, 9. Paul Campbell (14. Ryan Spink 60 min), 10. Aaron Norris, 11. Scott Lisle. Unused Subs: 16. Lucas Smith, 17. Brody Alberts, 18. Stuart Anderson, 19. Aaron Angus, 21. Archie Mackay (GK).

Banks O’Dee Team: 1. Daniel Hoban, 2. Ramsay Davidson, 3. Marc Young, 4. Darryn Kelly (18. Jevan Anderson 60 min), 5. Alasdair Start, 6. Kane Winton © (14. Matthew Wallace 66min), 7. Max Alexander, 8. Mark Gilmour (17. Kacper Lewecki 73 min), 9. Lachie Macleod, 10. Michael Philipson (16. Dayshonne Golding 60 min), 11. Hamish Macleod. Unused Subs: 12. Magnus Watson, 15. Jason Selbie, 19. Luke Emmett 21. Robert Donaldson (GK).