North Lodge, Scottish Youth Cup 2nd Round, 19/9/25
Me still 358, Wee Man still 215
Formartine United Football Club
Founded – 1948
Nickname – United
The CIS Insurance Cup is not the only cup on this weekend, also on the go is the countries national youth cup which is in it’s infancy and at it’s regionalized stages. This giving us Friday some night lights, at our most local HFL ground complete with the best kick about in the land. Whats not to like about that? Chuck in two teams with decent youth set-ups and it was set up for a sound Friday night.
The Scottish Youth Cup, a tournament I have watched since I was a kid. One that always sets off memories of watching Aberdeen midweek from the Main Stand with my old man and brother wondering who would be the next big thing for the my red hereos. Nowadays the cup sees me and the Wee Man but with wider spread wings and not solely watching Aberdeen’s participation, although we have watched them at Kingsford in this cup on a few occasions.
Walking into North Lodge early to get our quality kick about, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the condition of the the pitch. A well used cliche alert here, but it really is like a bowling green and that also goes for the training pitch where I was away to rocket shots at Wee Man on too. A hell of a lot of praise needs to be directed at those involved as they clearly take huge amounts of pride in their work.
On the fantastic pitch we were treated to a highly entertaining first half which opened up with an early Theo Watt strike off the bar. The Broch man letting rip from 25 yards leaving United keeper Lennox Greig to grasp at fresh air. The early minutes of the half was littered with chances at both ends, some more clear cut than others. The next big chance was for Formartine man Kaiden Cameron was found in behind the Broch defence but he seemed to be caught in two minds on whether to go for power of lob the keeper. By the time he had made up his mind the angle was against him seeing his looping effort land on top of the net. But the Broch were the first to stick the ball in the net, it came in a superb multi-pass attack at pace which culminated in Hamish Gordon smashing the ball home from the edge of the six yard box after being picked out by Alex Gibb. A very aesthetically pleasing goal. As was Fraserburgh’s second eight minutes later. Again a move at pace up the park saw Gibb as provider when he found Billy Jones who made no mistake from close range. 0 v 2 and two very well worked goals. Very good stuff on the eye. Then came a contentious moment when Formartine were handed a lifeline from the spot when Tome Nadji was judged to have been upended by a Broch defender. He may have been forced down but the defender clearly got a touch on the ball, the upward change of direction of the ball proved he got a toe on it(well it certainly did not hit a bobble on this fine surface), but the ref gave it and the lino next to me agreed. The latter I cannot understand as he had the same view as me. No mistake was made from 12 yards by Nadji. The half ended on a near calamity from Formartine keeper Greig when came rushing out only to miss the ball leaving Gibb to nick the ball past him, The Fraserburgh man’s touch took him slightly wide allowing a home defender to recover block and save his keepers blushes.
HT 1 v 2
After the inevitable half time kick about the action on the park had tailed off somewhat. Not on the training pitch where Wee Man remained with a couple of other kids and some unstripped Broch players who decided to have a bit of fun with the nippers and good on them. The match excitement was not to the levels of the first half. That’s not saying it was a bad half, just it didn’t have the final third action of the opening period. There was an early stramash in the Formartine box which saw a run of three consecutive back heels two attacking and one defensive. The ball was only a couple yards out but just wouldn’t find its way in during a game of pinball between two defenders and two forwards. Feom here there only looked to be one winner. Hamish Gordon should have put the game out of sight for the Broch when he received the ball as Greig was miles out of position, the finish at the empty goal was poor and curled past the far post. He really ought to have been scoring. Following this the same two players had a battle against each other. With Gordon looking to add to his first half strike was thwarted well on three occasions by the United custodian. However the keeper could do nothing about the Brochs third when Max Wiseman sent a shit pinger past him from distance. Surely game over given the little time left on the clock. The Broch were not done though as they poked in a fourth. A corner found Hugo Watt, his instinctive first effort was saved with equal levels of instinct by Greig but the rebound was hit immediately by Watt seeing the Broch comfortably into the next round. Worth the visit for sure, some good goals, tidy players and Wee Man got an extended kick about. All factors for a good night. First game of the season with a tourie on though. That time of year is upon us.
Entrance – Both Free
Attendance – 158 (Rough Head Count)
Pie – £5.50, Pie, Coffee, Twix
Pint – Bar shut
Score Predictions – Me 2 v 2, Wee Man 1 v 2
Season Score Prediction Totals – Me 2 v 1 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 