Formartine United 3 v Keith 0

TALE OF TWO PENALTIES

Newly crowned Aberdeenshire District Shield Winners Formartine leapfrogged back up into fourth spot in the league, following a hardfought match at North Lodge against a batting Keith outfit. It was a tale of two penalties, with the homesters edging ahead from the spot, and the visitors squandering the chance to level with a saved penalty.

Formartine player manager Paul Lawson was happy with the win and said "We played well and deserved the three points, it was good to get back to winning  ways in the league. They set themselves up well, it was tough at Kynoch Park earlier in the season, but with a bit more quality from us we could have scored more. They looked dangerous on the break, but we kicked on from the penalty save, and showed our fitness after a tough midweek match".

The Maroons looked bright in their first outing for four weeks, but it was Formartine who drew first blood in the 18th minute when Garry Wood was adjudged to have been impeded inside the box, and Andrew Greig sent Greg Simpson the wrong way to slot home his 14th goal of the season from the spot.

The visitors had the perfect chance to square matters two minutes into the second half when Jevan Anderson fouled loanee Callum Porteous, but Cammy Keith's weak spot kick was easily saved by Kevin Main. Then on the hour mark the Maroons top scorer was presented with another opportunity following fine play by Porteous.  He turned quickly and fired goalwards only for Main to save well.

Formartine doubled the score in the 75th minute thanks to the visitors losing the ball in midfield and substitute Ryan Stott capitalised by rifling home his 8th goal of the season. Then, in the dying seconds an unfortunate Macaulay Rae defensive slip allowed Wood to pounce and lob the ball into the empty net for his 12th goal of the season.

Keith manager Dean Donaldson was disappointed with the outcome saying "Over the piece our game plan worked, we set ourselves up well, and defended well.  They knew they were in a game. I felt their penalty was soft, and it's not really sour grapes but I thought their second goal was offside. It would have been a different game had we scored our penalty, and it just wasn't Cammy's day when he was denied later on as well".

Saturday 16th February 2019, KO 3pm
Report by Charlie Simpson