Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland League: Lack of ‘conviction’ costs Huntly at Formartine; Garry Wood treble for Inverurie Locos v Deveronvale

Formartine manager Stuart Anderson. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson
Formartine manager Stuart Anderson. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

Goals from Kieran Adams and Aidan Combe saw Formartine United seal a 2-0 home win over Huntly in the Breedon Highland League.

United manager Stuart Anderson admitted it was a game of two halves at North Lodge Park.

He said: “In the first half, Huntly probably had the better of the game, but in the second I think we edged it and took our chances – and I’m delighted it’s another clean sheet for us.

“Every game in this league is difficult and it probably took us 45 minutes to get going.

“Kieran Adams got the first, and we do set our defenders a target with goals in terms of going up for corners and, to be fair, they’re adding to their tally. You need goals all over the park.

“Likewise, Aidan Combe has done really well since he joined with six goals in eight games and he’s got a great attitude and we’re delighted to have him here.”

Huntly came close after three minutes when Angus Grant got round the back of the home defence before rolling a shot wide.

Three minutes later, a trademark long throw from Formartine’s Matthew McLean picked out the head of Stuart Smith, but he was denied by a Fraser Hobday save.

With a minute of the first half remaining, James Connelly’s throw for Huntly picked out Grant, who cut back for Gavin Elphinstone, only for his low drive to come off the base of the post. The ball rebounded for Cameron Blacklock, but he could only find the side-netting.

Huntly continued to create chances after the break and, five minutes into the second half, Grant played the ball on for Blacklock, who was kept out by a fingertip save from home keeper Ewen Macdonald.

‘The boys are devastated’

Formartine broke the deadlock after 70 minutes. McLean sent long throw from the right straight into the Huntly six-yard box and Kieran Adams rose to head his first goal since mid-September.

Formartine United’s Matthew McLean has been causing havoc this season with his long throw-ins. Image: Chris Sumner/DC Thomson

United doubled their advantage four minutes from time when Combe fired past an advancing Hobday for his seventh of the season.

Huntly Manager Allan Hale admitted it was a tough defeat to take.

He said: “The boys are devastated, we put a lot into the game and I don’t think they’ve done a lot wrong.

“What separates the two teams is conviction in front of goal.

“We’ve created numerous opportunities, but, ultimately, it’s goals that win you games and we didn’t do that”.

Wood hat-trick in Inverurie’s win over Deveronvale

A Garry Wood hat-trick lifted the spirits of supporters of managerless Inverurie Locos, as they beat Deveronvale 4-0 at Harlaw Park.

With Locos expected to appoint a new boss to replace the departed Richard Hastings in the coming days, co-interim gaffer Richard Davidson was delighted to have steered the team to victory – aided by a goal in the opening minute.

He said: “You go into these games with a wee bit of trepidation.

“John Farquhar and myself were not sure if the players would be listening to us – you just want them to go out and play for themselves and the supporters.

“You couldn’t have scripted it better – 55 seconds gone on my watch for the first goal.”

Locos did indeed grab the lead within seconds, when a free-kick from Calum Dingwall was headed in by Wood.

‘Couldn’t have scripted it better’

There would be no further Inverurie goals in the first half, but it was not for the want of trying. Greg Mitchell and Dingwall had powerful shots saved by Vale keeper Sean McIntosh, while a Mark Souter header went narrowly over

The visitor’s best effort at levelling the scores was a Harry Noble shot which went narrowly wide on 55 minutes, and they were then dealt a significant blow on 57 minutes when a knock meant goalie McIntosh had to go off, with Gavin Still serving as stand-in keeper.

Lloyd Robertson got the second Locos goal on 64 minutes – his deflected long-range effort flying high into the net.

Vale’s Jayden Goldie brought down Inverurie’s Robert Ward inside the box on 83 minutes, and Wood confidently converted the resultant spot-kick for his second of the afternoon.

And, in the last minute, the striker completed his treble with a header after his initial effort was saved by Still.

Co-interim boss Davidson felt Locos should have sealed the win over Deveronvale earlier than they did, but was pleased with the performances of several of his players, including those returning to the squad.

He said: “Jay Halliday came back in, he’s been out injured. He and Garry Wood have played up front together on a few occasions and have a good partnership.

“We had options – Calum Dingwall and Lloyd Robertson had a great partnership, Sam Burnett came back in as a substitute and was clever on the ball when you want to take the sting out of the game.”

With Vale boss Craig Stewart absent due to illness, senior player and coach Grant Noble stood in.

He said: “It was a poor free kick for us to give away early and we didn’t defend it. That’s never a perfect start and over the whole game we didn’t create enough.

“We didn’t have the killer final pass or touch in front of goal to make it count.

“With the change at Locos you could see they were up for it, but we’ve battled well against top teams recently.”