Cans five-star display delights their boss

Forres Mechanics 5 Fort William 0

Forres Mechanics returned to winning ways with a performance that Charlie Rowley hailed as being their best against a Highland League opponent this season. The Can Cans completely dominated this match from start to finish with the sort of powerful display that the fans became used to seeing last term.

The key for manager Charlie Rowley was the work rate of the players as he highlighted in his post match summary, “It was a tremendous performance and the catalyst for it was that we worked harder than we have done in any other game except possibly for the Rangers one.

“All over the pitch the attitude and desire was there, we were working extremely hard when they had the ball and were able to win it back in good areas from where we could go on to create chances.

“It was back to basics. We stopped the opposition first and foremost, indeed they only had one shot of note in the entire game and it was a 25 yard free kick that Knighty could have thrown his hat on, and we were taking chances when they came our way.”

Top scorer Scott Lawrie was back in the squad but was listed as a substitute leaving five different players to grab the goalscoring limelight. Testimonial man Ryan Green maintained his impressive goal per start ratio this term while Matty Davidson notched his first of the campaign.

Both players were highlighted by their boss, “We are pleased for Matty to have got off the mark this term. It has been stop-start for him once again especially having broken his ribs recently. He is probably not 100% yet but it was good for him to be getting in amongst the goals.

“As for Ryan, well that is now four goals in four starts and he is looking really sharp. He was probably disappointed with the fact that we took him off when we did but it was for his own protection more than anything else.

“He is on a good run of form and we didn’t want him picking up any niggling injuries which have bothered him of late. We wanted to protect him as much as we could because of what he is providing for the team. He is doing really well for us just now.”

Green started up front alongside Kyle Scott in a physically formidable front pairing that were to set the standard for the team performance. Both were involved in the opening goal which arrived in the tenth minute.

Craig McGovern played a free kick in from the left and after Iain Macleod saved Kyle Scott’s initial effort Ryan Green was on hand to place the ball into the net for his fourth of the season.

Not to be outdone Kyle Scott then produced a candidate for the goal of the season on the 18th minute. Nathan Sharp laid it into the feet of the PE teacher and he spun his marker with a sharp turn before striking an unstoppable 30 yard effort into the top corner of the net. It was an instinctive touch, turn and finish that would have graced a game at any level.

The only surprise of the remainder of the first half was that the home team never added to their advantage. The Mechanics dominated in every area of the field, pushing the wide midfielders into advanced positions to pressurise the full backs with a formation that was more of a 4-2-4 than a 4-4-2.

The third goal finally arrived just before the hour mark. A free kick delivery saw the ball swung in by Kevin Duguid on the right and Nathan Sharp pounced on a Kyle Scott knock down to place the ball into the bottom corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

It was 4-0 soon after with Craig McGovern adding his name to the scoresheet. Ryan Green turned creator with a dart down the right wing, then a jink back inside onto his left foot before curling an inviting ball into the far post area where “Gov” arrived to power a diving header past the unfortunate Fort keeper.

Ryan Green, Kevin Duguid and Scott Moore all went close to adding to the tally as Forres kept the pressure on the visitors defence. The fifth and final goal of the afternoon arrived three minutes from time. Graham Fraser’s long free kick into the danger area wasn’t dealt with by a now beleaguered Fort defence and Matty Davidson pounced to drive the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net, opening his account for the season.

Having been pleased with the victory over Fort William the Forres boss is expecting a totally different style of match when they host league leaders Wick Academy this weekend.

Rowley concluded, “It was a good hard working weekend and a clean sheet to boot which is great for the confidence. We will look to carry it on next weekend but it is going to be a much tougher test with Wick currently sitting at the top of the table.

“I am not surprised that they are doing well. They have been improving year on year and are a stable club both on the park and off it. We will need to raise our game another level up which I am sure we can do.”

Forres Mechanics: S Knight, G Fraser, S Fraser, G Grant (J Main 68), N Sharp, R Macpherson, M McMullan (S Moore 68), K Duguid, R Green (M Davidson 78), K Scott, C McGovern Subs: S Lawrie, S McIntosh

Scorers: R Green (10), K Scott (18), N Sharp (58), C McGovern (67), M Davidson (89)

Booked: G Fraser (87) Sent Off: -

Fort William: I Macleod, F Macrae, L Campbell, I Foggo, A Martin, M Gillespie, M Groat (R Macdonald 79), D Quigg, D Forbes, L Barker (S Hunter 78), D Duncan Subs: L Corbett, J Smith

Scorers: -

Booked: D Quigg (57), M Gillespie (72), S Hunter (89) Sent Off: -

Referee: C Spence

Gazette Gold Star: With a number of potential recipients it was a tough choice this weekend but in the end it was Kyle Scott’s wonderful goal added to a couple of assists that gave him the edge on the rest.