Saturday 27 December
Deveronvale 4 Huntly 1

Huntly's hopes of retaining the championship look to be over following a 4-1 defeat away to in-form Deveronvale writes Grant Turner.

The home drafted in Terry Kidd into midfield for the absent Paul Urquhart. Visitors Huntly made five changes to the side which lost to Keith at the start of the month. Richard Bowman was back in between the sticks as Neil Reid and Richard Craig lined up in front of him in the back four. Skipper Russell Guild was recalled to the middle of the park while there was a first start in 16 months for local forward Graham Green.

The champions started well with Matty Gairns making a switch to Gary McGowan on the left but the wingers cross-come-shot landed on the roof of the net.
Russell Guild was next to threaten and shot narrowly over a minute later before Richie Taylor had a great chance to open the scoring only to slice his shot wide and Gairns had been disposed by his marker.

Three minutes later, the Huntly striker was causing problems for his former side only to fire wide again.

The early pressure paid off for the black and golds in the eighth minute. A nice step-over by Gary McGowan saw the winger proceed to cross into the back post for Graham Green to head wide of Blanchard and into the corner of the net.

The lead lasted 2 minutes as the Vale levelled things up with the first attempt on goal. As Player-Coach Kenny Gilbert broke on the right, he won a free kick against McGowan. Steve Dolan delivered and the ball seemed to go through the hands of Richard Bowman allowing Mark Smith to head in at the back post.

Smith turned provider two minutes later to find Ian Murray with a through ball but the strikers finish lacked composure and rolled past the post.

On the quarter hour mark, Mike McKenzie looked to have beaten Bowman with a shot only for left back Simon Scott to clear on the line. As Scott played the ball away, his side broke quickly to the other end where Taylor was denied a great scoring opportunity following a last-ditch tackle from Mark Chisholm.

The home side kept pressuring the makeshift Huntly defence as Bowman came to the rescue once again with a great stop against Murray.

The first half action was end-to-end with Ross Campbell heading wide just after the half hour off a McGowan corner.

The black and golds were under pressure again after a kick-out by Bowman which was intended for Richard Craig was quickly intercepted by Murray but to the keeper's relief the chipped shot went over the bar.

With 36 minutes gone, Huntly's Gary McGowan was first into Referee Mat Northcroft's notebook when he was judged to have clipped the heels of Kenny Gilbert. Ross McWilliam delivered the set play from the right as skipper Mark Chisholm headed out to Mark Smith to power home from 18 yards for his 11th goal of the season.

Smith continued to threaten and after getting fouled on his way through the middle he went down under another tackle. Referee Northcroft had allowed the advantage and awarded the foul for the initial challenge. Murray curled in the free kick as Bowman turned the ball behind for a corner. As the ball came over, Murray again fired another attempt over.

With the first half into stoppage, Huntly were awarded a free kick inside their own half. When the whistle had blown, Vale number 7, McWilliam proceeded to kick the ball away in front of the ref and his standside assistant. Having missed this offence, the assistant raised his flag to alert Northcroft and Simon Scott was next booked after dissent. The lectures didn't stop there as Northcroft then had to go across to calm down the Huntly Management team.

Half Time: Deveronvale 2 Huntly 1

A minute into the half, Bowman's goal was under threat again with the former Rothes and Buckie stopper pulling off a great save from Mike McKenzie's 25 yard strike.

Shortly after up the other end, Guild had a header off a McGowan cross but his effort failed to trouble former Dons keeper James Blanchard.

Things got very heated on and off the pitch in the 51st minute when Deveronvale's Robbie Brown took out Richie Taylor with a two footed lunge from behind. Brown became the only home player to be shown a card but may have counted himself lucky now to be given a red instead of a yellow. As Taylor was receiving extensive treatment from the Huntly trainer, tempers flared down on the touchline with Vale boss Gregg Carroll having to be held back from Huntly Assistant Boss Mike Cormack after the home officials refused to get a stretcher for the injured. With no stretcher brought on, it was left for Richard Craig and Gary McGowan to carry their team-mate off themselves.
Jerry O'Driscoll came on in place of Taylor as Richard Craig's dead ball attempt was cleared away by the home side.

Huntly's luck took another turn for the worst when Neil Reid was shown a straight red following a challenge on Ian Murray inside the penalty area. The protests from the home defence saw Richard Craig booked for dissent before Mike McKenzie made it 3-1 from the spot.

Twenty minutes remaining, veteran Steve Dolan cut in from the left and his effort looked to be dipping towards goal before Bowman got a hand to it and tipped the ball over for a corner. Five minutes later, Ross Campbell tried to reduce the deficit only to see his header go wide of the post following Gairns' free kick.
Vale had been stringing passes together in the last third of the park only for McKenzie to fire a shot over the bar.

Huntly were still a threat as O'Driscoll teed up McGowan but the shot was straight at the keeper and easily gathered.

Some lacklustre defending resulted in a fourth and final goal for the hosts. The pace of Mike McKenzie saw the striker in space out wide to pick out strike partner Ian Murray to head home unmarked.

The result leaves Huntly in seventh place with 26 points however, with a tough home game against Fraserburgh coming up; full points will be needed to edge away from eighth placed Nairn County who currently have the same points as the Christie Park side.