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Our league campaign kicked off when we opened with a home game against Insch. Our squad was depleted with Mitchell, Stubbs, Murdoch and Robertson all unavailable. Shaw, another signed player missing, has not been seen or heard of since our memorial match against F.C.Charlotte. That meant that only 14 players were available. One of these, Anderson, was carrying an ankle knock and would at best play only a bit part if required. Our problems were increased when Fulton, a certain starter, wrecked the plan, badly injuring his finger as he attempted to hang one of the goal nets. The third finger on his right hand almost severed when his ring snagged on one of the hooks behind the bar! As Fulton made his way to the casualty department we lined up with Andrews in goal, N.Milne, Marlow, Michie and England in defence, Keith, E.Milne, Morgan and M.Woods in the midfield with G.Woods partnered up front with Graham. The subs were Sim and Anderson. At kick off the heat was intense, no rain has fallen for weeks and so the park was rock hard. The game opened evenly with neither side dominating in the early stages. As it progressed Insch were the side to gain more of the possession but tended to swing high balls in which Michie and Marlow dealt with comfortably. In 30 mins. Morgan picked out Keith with a pass just outside the box and the skipper sent in a fierce drive which went straight down the keepers throat. The game ebbed and flowed with both keepers in the main redundant. Andrews however had to show his class when he leapt to turn a strong shot over the top to ensure we turned level (H.T.0-0) As Halli came back out for the second half the wind became stronger and the heat of course by now was stifling. With only one fully fit sub we were going to have to dig in and work even harder than we had in the first period. The visitors in truth went on to command the lions share of possession in the second half and we were forced back for much of the time. The strong wind was helping Insch and their keeper was sending long balls deep into our area. Morgan was battling away and the wee man hit the woodwork in 65 with a free kick from the edge of the box. The match had nil nil written all over it but then Insch grabbed the lead in 80 mins. Another long ball out from the keeper was gathered by the centre with Michie too far off his man it allowed the striker time to control and set up the move which resulted in a low shot being sent in beyond Andrews

We drove forward and a low ball in from the left found E.Milne, the midfeilder was well positioned but got the ball tangled in his feet and shot past. Soon after the same player saw a good effort crash back off the bar and the rebound was headed against the post by Graham, was it going to be one of those days? Finally however with Anderson and Sim on for Graham and England we levelled the proceedings. A strong right sided run by E.Milne ended with a chip across the face of the goal. The ball hung agonisingly in the air before Anderson threw himself at it to salvage a point (F.T.1-1). Reasonable start the great thing was the fact we kept our heads up after we fell behind so late on. Everyone did their bit to ensure we did not fall at the first hurdle. Topman was Morgan.