Formartine Utd 1 v Keith 1
ZAK MAKES FORMARTINE “TO” THE LINE!
The Mighty Maroons belied their lowly league status at North Lodge Park where they fought tooth and tail against high flying 4th placed Formartine Utd. The 31st League meeting between the sides, stretching back to October 2009, ended in a well deserved share of the spoils, thanks to a stunning last minute free kick from Aberdeen loanee Zack To at the tender age of 17 years 188 days. Coincidentally, that first ever league tussle, also at North Lodge, also ended 1-1 with big Kris Niddrie notching for the Maroons.
I’ll tell you what, you can keep your Scottish Premier and English Premier Leagues, this Highland League encounter was thrill a minute, with constant end to end action throughout, finishing off with a missed penalty, a superlative free kick goal, and at the very death, a red card for Formartine’s Marc Lawrence, following a “discussion” with the referee.
Right from the first peep of the referee’s whistle the action abounded. Craig Reid pulled off a superb one handed save to deny Rory McAllister, whilst Horace Ormsby forced a save from Stuart McKenzie at the other end, before the home goalie also parried a well struck Jordan Cooper drive.
Formartine got their noses in front with 28 minutes played, the visiting rearguard failing to clear their lines and Michael Dangana, a one time Keith trialist, made no mistake from 12 yards. Ach!
To be fair, Maroon heads didn’t droop one bit and within a minute ex-North Lodger Jordan Lynch raced through only to curl his parting shot over the bar.
The rousing action continued and four minutes from the half- time cuppa a deep Lynch corner was headed inches wide by big Connor Bird..jings that was close Birdy! Then, almost right away at the other end, a terrific Reid block thwarted McAllister.
After the half-time refreshments, Keith showed they were up to the task, constantly taking the game to their hosts, and a super move in the 65th minute ended with Ormsby curling inches over the bar. Really, apart from scoring, the Maroons couldn’t do much more, then with 8 minutes remaining, Maroon hearts in the crowd sank when the homesters were awarded a penalty. However, Scott Adams shot weakly past Craig Reid’s right hand post with the resultant spot kick.
That seemed to give Craig’s Commandos renewed hope and a minute from the end of normal time ex-Maroon loanee Rhys Thomas committed a foul 22 yards from goal. The homesters set up a defensive wall in vain, as wee Zak stepped up to curl an absolute belter beyond the helpless McKenzie – we were up aff our seats like bullets! YA WEE BEAUTY ZAK – FANTABULOUS STRIKE!! Shades of Charlie Elvin in the 1970’s and John “Jigger” Wilson in the 1990’s!
The North Lodge Park faithful were stunned into silence, and worse was to come when, five minutes into stoppage time, Lawrence earned himself a straight red card.
It wasn’t a win, but nobody begrudged the Maroons a point, and if they keep playing like that, every man jack of them, the tide will turn for sure.
KEITH – Reid, Addison, Ormsby (McAllister 80), Bird (R Robertson 70), Spink, Ironside (C Robertson 70), To, Cooper (Duncan 80), McKeown (Searle 90), Lynch. Subs unused – Gill, Paterson, Angus, Smith.
Referee – S Donohoe
Saturday 23rd August 2025, KO 3pm
Report by Charlie Simpson