Formartine had a comparatively straightforward passage into second round of the Scottish Cup with victory against Gretna.
United opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a superb Scott Barbour strike but in the 42nd minute Gretna equalised through Dean Smith from close range.
It took Formartine until the 59th minute to regain the lead with a bullet header from Jonny Crawford.
Garry Wood scored his seventh goal of the campaign from the penalty spot to end any hope of a comeback from the visitors after Connor Casey had been shown a straight red card.
United manager Kris Hunter was pleased to go through but disappointed at losing a goal.
He said: “I suppose it was comfortable enough win in the end but we should have scored a few more goals in the first half before they snatched an equaliser just before the break with their first attack of the game.
“That was disappointing, as it gave them a boost going into the second half.
“Overall, some of our play was superb and the players were desperate to get into the next round of the Scottish Cup to try to put a run together and it was pleasing to maintain our current unbeaten run.
“We had three different goalscorers which was equally pleasing.
“We have goals within our team but it was a wee bit disappointing that we also conceded one.
“We had kept a couple of clean sheets on the bounce and it would have been good to go on and make it three in a row, but it was not to be.”