An extremely sporting gesture by FPs Paul McDonald, who awarded a last ball LBW against teammate Chris Clelland, allowed Ellon to claim victory in dramatic fashion. After an aggressive 79, Ellon had racked up 189 for 6 in 35 overs before FPs responded to 132 all out. They had looked like they would cling on after some resolute batting from Khan 31 and Eagles 23 but from the final ball of the game a fairly muted appeal from Ellon was met with a positive verdict to give them a deserved victory. FPs made a number of changes to their team with Tenneti, Whyte and Sam Knudson coming in for Budd, Stuart and Booth. FPs won the toss and elected to bowl and should have had a wicket in the third over but Aly MacDonald could not claim Davies at slip. It was to prove a costly miss. Davie and Arora made rapid progress as FP failed to bowl a maiden and it took until the 18th over for the breakthrough to arrive Morrison catching Arora on the deep midwicket boundary for 33 from Roland Knudson’s off breaks. Barrett replaced Arora and played aggressively, cutting and driving powerfully whenever possible.
Ellon continued to score rapidly and FPs were happy to make a double strike at 132 and 135 with first Davies well caught by Paul McDonald on the boundary for a fine 79 and then White outfoxed by Eagles well stumped by Clelland for 1. New batsman C White and Barrett continued the attack finding the boundary regularly, before Khan broke through bowling Barrett with a quicker one for 32. The bulky Watson was quickly dispatched for 3 well caught at cover by Sam Knudson off Khan and soon after Aly MacDonald clean bowled Procter for 8, shortly ahead of the declaration at 189 for 6 from 35. It was a good aggressive declaration from Ellon who knew that Fps can be hard to shift and it proved to perfectly timed come the end of the game. Khan with 2 for 27 and Eagles 2 for 48 were FPs best bowlers in what was a tough workout.
FPs set out with the intention to try and chase down the runs but was instantly in trouble as Lord was bowled first ball of the innings by a fine delivery by White. White and Greenfield then produced a good tight spell that Morrison and Tenneti could only keep out as FPs crawled to 14 for 1 in 11 overs. Morrison eventually started to find the middle of the bat, but just as he did, he cut straight to White off Barrett’s slow bowling to depart for 12.
Paul McDonald replaced him and tried to up the pace but lost partner Tenneti for 17, LBW to Watson. He soon departed himself well caught by White off Barrett for 18 – 51 for 4. MacDonald came in at 6 and instantly ran himself out for a duck as FPs slid to 51 for 5 with still 27 overs remaining.
Khan was promoted to 7 on the back of his 50 versus Mannofield and he started cautiously but then started to hit out, taking a particular liking to Watson’s bowling as he and Eagles added 43, Khan making 31 before a fantastic catch by Davies off the returning Greenfield. Whyte made a quick 13 before yet another magnificent catch by Davies off Greenfield did for him FPs though continued to battle and took a fantastic piece of wicket keeping again by Davies to stump Eagles for 23 standing up to the pacey Arora. Arora quickly removed Sam Knudson for 1 leaving FPs 21 balls to survive.
They survived the 1st 20 with minimal alarm, Knudson coming down the wicket to club a four to gin another point, but with the final ball of the game Wade struck Clelland above the knee roll but in line and McDonald had no doubt ruling him out LBW for 6 as Ellon claimed a last gasp win.
Overall Ellon were deserved winners having made a bold declaration on the back of some fine Davies batting and it was White’s tight bowling at the start and then Davies excellent wicket-keeping which made the difference as FPs remained rooted to the bottom. Next week’s match with Kintore will now be even more vital for FPs as they will need to start winning if they are to escape relegation. With a number of key players unavailable, it will mean that once more a shuffle of the pack