Controversy and some degree of
confusion came in the 24th minute of the game. Mark Chisholm drove
at the Academy defence and from the edge of the penalty box he fired a shot on
target that MacMillan did brilliantly to save, diving to his right and palming
the ball around the post. With the players turning to run back up the park
referee Hasson blew for a free kick, as he adjudged Chisholm to have been fouled
as he took his shot. Steve Dolan took the free kick and fired it over the wall and
into the top left hand corner. The players and most of the crowd though that
the goal stood and the players returned to the centre circle to kick-off, but
referee Hasson disallowed the goal, as the free-kick was indirect and Dolan had scored
without the ball touching another player, although it did look as if Macmillan
may have just got finger-tips to the ball as it past him.
The Bannfers attacked again 2
minutes later and MacMillan again foiled a headed attempt by Chisholm, with
Lamb clearing the ball for a corner as it bounced off MacMillan's chest. The
resulting corner was fired into the box and Scott Fraser rose above Lamb to
head towards the right corner of the net, but MacMillan was on-hand again to
turn it round the post.
The play raged from one end to
the other, and minutes later Cowie sent in another great cross from the right
wing and the crowd were on their feet as Macadie's glancing header flashed inches wide
of the post with Blanchard rooted to the spot.
Good attacking play was
complimented by solid Academy defending, and this was typified on the half hour
mark as Alan Sinclair made a perfectly time tackle in the box as Mark Cowie
homed in on goal.
2 minutes later Gary Clark and
Gary Farquhar had a minor tangle in the middle of the park and referee Hasson
booked them both, which seemed a bit harsh.
In an incident that was not in
the spirit of the game the Vale number 11 Paul Urquhart had a clash with
Shearer. Urquhart seemed aggrieved not to have been awarded a free-kick, and in
what can only be described as an instance of "red mist" he chased after Shearer
and as Shearer received a pass he went straight through the back of him in what
could be described as a very dangerous tackle with intent. Referee Hasson
surprisingly saw fit to just award a free-kick, keeping his cards on this
occasion in his pocket.
With seven minutes of the half
remaining Scott Fraser again managed to get above Lamb in the box from a corner
kick, but his header went wide of MacMillan's right hand post.
Urquhart must have been injured
in his earlier encounter with Shearer and he was replaced by Franny More with
two minutes of the half remaining.
In the final action of the half
Farquhar came close to scoring on two further occasions. His first attempt was
from a free kick that he curled to the far post and Dollan cleared for a corner
and the final attack of the half saw Farquhar whip a wicked cross into the box
and with Weir waiting to accept a turn-in Dolan stuck out a foot and again
cleared the danger.
Half time 1 – 0
It took 11 minutes after the
re-start for the fist scoring opportunity, with Farquhar starting where he had
left off in the first half, this time getting a shot on the half-volley from a
Cowie cross on target that Blanchard scrambled across his line to save.
Four minute later MacMillan
pulled off the save of the game as Mike Ewan was sent though the middle of the
Academy defence. MacMillan came to meet him and narrowed the angle and got his
feet to Ewan's goal-bound shot turning it over the cross-bar for a corner.
Vale made another change in an
attempt to come back into the game with an hour played, Paul Munro coming on
for Mark Cowie.
Substitute Franny More came close
for that Banff
side three minutes later but his shot went just wide of MacMillan's right hand
post.
Vale levelled the scores in the
66th minute. Referee Hasson awarded a free-kick just outside the box
for a Lamb challenge on Grant Noble. Free kick specialist Nolan almost repeated
his first-half effort as he curled the ball over the top of the wall but it
smashed off the cross bar and Chisholm followed in to head home the re-bound.
1 – 1
Academy showed their character as
from the re-start they went straight back on the attack and Weir was played
into the edge of the box from where he weaved past the Vale defence and sent
his right foot shot past an out-stretched Blanchard bringing the Harmsworth
crowd to their feet in appreciation.
2 – 1
Minutes later Academy had a great
chance to increase their lead, Weir again darting inside the Vale box with the
ball at feet and as it looked to open up for him he decided to square to
Shearer but he scuffed his shot wide of target with only Blanchard to beat.
By this stage it was getting hard
to keep-up with play but Farquhar was the next in line to have another crack,
this time smacking a 30 yard dipping half-volley on target that Blanchard did
brilliantly well to tip over the bar.
Vale started to apply some
concerted pressure forcing several corners and their attempts paid off with 15
minutes of the game left as they scored their equaliser. It was almost a
carbon-copy of their first, this time Mark Chisholm rattled a great shot off
the cross-bar with Franny More following up to drill home.
2 – 2
This set-up a tense finish, and
Vale danger-man Mark Chisholm almost gave his team the lead with a header
from another corner-kick, but MacMillan tipped it over the top of the
cross-bar.
With two minutes of injury time
on the clock and seconds of the game left to play Craig Shearer threaded a pass
through the heart of the Vale back-line for Macadie to latch onto beating the off-side trap and he ran in
one-on-one with Blanchard and kept his head to slot the ball under him for the
winner.
3 – 2
As Referee Hasson blew for
full-time the management team and supporters cheered the players off the
park. Gary Weir was named as the sponsors man of the match, but in truth the
whole team deserved that award today as they produced arguably one of the best
all-round performances seen at the Harmsworth
Park for a long time.
Full time 3 -2
Sponsors Man of the match Gary Weir
Pictured receiving his award from Ritchie MacDougall on behalf of the match sponsor MM Miller
