Blue Times!

How does the old song go? 'Here, here, the blues here, what the hell do we care', but the problem is we care very much and the problem I have in our last two games, the team appeared not to give one fiddlers f--k about the predicament we find ourselves in. Sammy Patterson pointed out to me three players laughing and joking last night after the most diabolical showing by United, since we capitulated against Portadown at the Oval in an Irish cup semi-final in the nineties. But its only a job to them, they don't suffer the anguish that the average United fan suffers after every defeat. But if they don't start to care imminently, they will find themselves playing in the lower reaches of the league, sooner rather than later, for relegation is looming on the horizon for this team of misfits.

In last nights game we didn't produce many clear-cut chances, in fact I only counted three and we didn't make the keeper earn his money, a disgraceful statistic. On Saturday we created the chances, but we didn't take them and the ref and one linesman didn't do us any favours, but if we had taken one half of our chances, we might have got a very different result, but we'll never know. When we went on that unbeaten run which started at the end of the 2012 season and continued to the start of last season, I was starting to believe that Spike was the messiah we had been waiting for, but in the end he has only flattered to deceive. Yet another false prophet, like many before him but not all is lost for him, if he can perform some miracle and get his team playing again, but it doesn't look promising.

He had to make five changes from his line-up of last Saturday, last night and he may be without the bulk of his squad when we entertain the Glens on Saturday. Tony Kane should be back, but its not known if JT and Steely McBride are fit, but on the plus side Ruddy looks have shaken off the injury that caused him to miss two matches in a row. Thommo had a bad game last night and it looks as if he needs a rest and Spike will need to find someone to partner Captain Jenks in centre-midfield, lets hope its not Alan D. We have already lost two of the five matches that Sky Blue Sport news mentioned in last Friday night's preview, needless to say Spike needs to arrest that decline and he must start this Saturday when we play the Glens. It's not going to be easy, but we got to start somewhere and if we go with the right attitude we can do it, in fact we need to bloody do it, anything else is unthinkable!

Chicken Lickin!

Please forgive me for using Dessie Loughrey's call sign for my post title this week, it just seemed apt. We went down to Stangmore Park, Dungannon, where truth be told we have struggled in the past and came away with a merited victory. It was close in the end and maybe they deserved a draw, but with the help of our keeper Dwayne Nelson, we held out a victory. Our defence was at 'sixes and sevens' at times, but Dwayne's calming influence, not to mention two wonder saves, helped us to pull through. The victory was all the more remarkable when we discovered that we were the first team to beat the Swifts at Stangmore, in the league this season.

Stangmore is a tidy ground, with a good playing surface, but one of the things they got wrong on Saturday, was no loud speaker announcements. It's nice to be told how much injury time the ref has added on and to hear the subs names, whether you recognise them or not, but alas on Saturday, we were left to our own devices. In our last home match, Kingo was missing from his usual speaker announcements, no doubt touring America or some far flung place, but I hope he'll be reinstated to his usual perch this Saturday, for the visit of Linfield. Don Stirling, who fills in for Kingo, does an excellent job, but with all the will in the world, he's not a showman, like our Kingo.

Excuse me,I got sidetracked for a moment, but it was nice to see Liggie getting a goal at Stangmore, for it would be fair to say, he has struggled to find his best form since he came to us in last January's transfer window. Hopefully his confidence will return and I would dearly love to see get a goal this Saturday, to cement his place in our team, as we have have a few tough matches coming up. With the news of Johnny Taylor signing a 2 year extension to his contract, things looked set fair for United to start to pick up some points and we really need them. Steely McBride was an adequate replacement for the injured Ruddy and hopefully he came through last Saturday's match unscathed.

Thommo is starting to show the kind of form that we have come to expect from him and I fervently hope he'll continue in that vein this weekend. We are going to need our midfielders firing on all cylinders and that to that end maybe we'll have to do without our talisman Cush. It's fair to say Cush isn't up to full fitness and he's struggling to fit in to our new 4,4,2 formation, but fit in he must. Of course Spike could go back to his preferred 4,3,3 permutation, but I hope not. After last Saturday's merited victory, we are really going to have to pull out all the stops this weekend against the league leaders.

There will be a minutes silence before this Saturday's game remembering Gareth Scates wife Leslie, who tragically died in Hospital this week after being involved in a car crash last week. Scatesy played for both Linfield and United and our prayers and thoughts are with him and his young family at this sad time.

Rot Stopped!

At least we didn't lose I thought as made my way from the Showgrounds on Saturday and it must be nearly four years since I was able to think that before Saturday. But if I'm honest, and I pride myself on being honest, we should have lost. We should have been dead and buried at halftime, but the scum missed two or three makable chances and Dwayne (god bless him), made one or two vital saves and we turned round only losing 2-0 at halftime. Or if that excuse for a referee Tim (nice but dim) Marshall, hadn't disallowed our legitimate goal in 10 mins we could have recorded a memorable victory.

The only downside of the match for me was seeing Cush limp off and I hope he's not too seriously injured for we will have need of his services in the next four weeks, when we entertain the Blues and Glens and visit the Crues (Shield) and Chickenville and if that's not enough to get our fans excited, we also entertain the Ports in the league cup. Mike Ruddy, who has been playing well of late, also limped off at the end of the match with suspected ligament damage and with Johnny Taylor suspended this Saturday. It could mean a recall for Cookie Munster and Archie switching to leftback, if Ruddy's not fit.

Mario got himself sent off with his needless elbow in full view of the linesman and the whole of A & B sections of the Slemish stand, he claims it was in retaliation, but his action could've have cost us the match, but luckily ref Tim Marshall blew his whistle soon after this foolish incident. I hope our manager Spike takes some serious action against Mario, for we can't have players taking a personal vendetta against opposing players, especially if it's going to cost the team as a whole. We have to do without him this Saturday as a result and it would serve him right if his replacement struck up a partnership with MM and Mario was unable to get back in.

Much as I would love to see that happening, I can't see it happening, for Liggie has been tried time and time again, but he just doesn't look interested and I'm sure Spike's patience with him is running out. He came on as sub on Saturday with 11 mins to go when we had battered the scum defence and they were looking decidedly rattled, but they had Liggie for breakfast, in short, we let them off the hook with the substitution of MM and lost the chance to claim all three points. Johnny Taylor scored a couple of good goals, but he was like the rest of United's back four (Ruddy being the exception), took too many times to the cleaners for my liking.

We got the draw and that's to be commended as we showed some fighting spirit, but it took a change of tactics 4,4,2 instead of 4,3,3 and a change of player (Robbo), for us to do that, but the scum gave as good as they got in the 2nd half and with a bit of luck they could have and should have, consigned us to another defeat, but lady luck shone upon us for a change. What team does Spike pick for this Saturday's encounter away to Dungannon Swifts, as I said earlier he may have 2 places to fill, in his defence and the Sky Blues fans will be anxious to know if he has changed his formation for good, or was it horses for courses, we will just have to wait and see!

Touchline Ban!

So it was a one match touchline ban that Fergie was serving when he was observed sitting in the stand on Tuesday night and leaving the managing of team affairs to his Lieutenants. Will he maybe play that role again and leave his staff to call the shots and only coming down if he's worried about how the game is progressing? I think not, I think he's a hands on manager and will want to be involved in every aspect of team affairs and especially in the dug-out. I must say it was great to see the positive side of his selection, starting with two strikers, ably backed up by our talisman, Cush. What was refreshing to me was the confidence displayed by our players in stroking the ball about, though it did have a few heart stopping moments.

MM, who had a sensational start when coming on as a sub against former club Portadown, is starting to settle into his role on the right of our attacking prong and was only denied a goal with a good save from Mallards keeper Rouse, on Tuesday which would have been a contender for 'goal of the season' as it was from fully 45 yards. Does Fergie pick the same team again, for this Saturday's encounter when the Coleraine scum come to town? Or will he have another surprise in store for us and play a different team and a different plan? This is an important game for us, not only a derby match, but we need to start picking up league points and when better to start than on Saturday. The scum haven't been firing on all cylinders lately, but they definitely seem to have the Indian sign over us of late.

It's our first corporate lunch of the season and we're assured of a decent crowd in the home stand, but I hope I have no scum supporters sitting in front of me, because I took exception the last time. There is a space provided for people who go the corporate lunch and in my opinion they should sit there, the exception being Sky Blue supporters who can sit anywhere they please, it is our home stand after all. It all augurs well for being a competitive derby game, but we have not got a strong referee in Tim Marshall and he could be swayed by the histrionics of 'one cap' and the ballet dancer, Stephen Lowry (no doubt trained by the Oran 'the diving bird' Kearney). Let's hope Tim sees through these actors and we get a good clean and hard match and the right result!

(S)Pain Game!

Greetings from sunny Spain, where the temperature is 28 degrees in the shade, that is if you can find any shade. It´s warm during the day and at night there´s not an air, but I gather that in Norn Iron the weather is not so balmy. But enough about me and my Autumn holiday and on to more important things. Will Shakespeare has Richard the third crying ´my kingdom for a horse´, like many a writer before him or since, old Willy didn´t let the truth interfere with a good story and what may you ask has that got do with United and their troubles. Well I´ll answer that, I imagine United manager Glenn Ferguson would be crying, ´half my wages for a player who takes chances, any player´, such was the chances frittered away by United players in their last two games.

Last Saturday, Warrenpoint Town, were there for the taking, we should have been leading at least 3-0 at halftime, but we let them out of jail and paid the ultimate penalty, when they showed us how to take chances and punish us for a silly mistake. Our manager Spike continues to play Cush and it is patently obvious that David is just not fit. When he´s hurt in a tackle, he goes down clutching his knee and I´m always thinking ´is this the end of Cush´and it would be a huge disappointment for us, for we´ll need him for difficult games coming up in a couple of weeks. Fergie has got the 4,3,3 system ingrained in his mind and he's not going to change for anything, but we need him to be a bit more flexible.

We are heartbroken to be missing United´s trip to Ballinmallard tomorrow night, but twitter will keep us updated and we´ll not missing anything here, Bruce Balmer says the stripper is on after 10 o´clock your time, how he knows is beyond me. Will Spike make wholesale changes? The simple answer is, I don´t really know, but its not his form to make wholesale changes. He´ll probably start with another striker, either MM or Mario, although in my opinion Liggie is the best, but he continues to struggle to find his form. Marky had a bad game last Saturday and though he wasn't singularly responsible for defeat, he put us in difficulties on a few occasions, that we could have done rightly without. I know its not going to be easy at the Duck Pond, but we can do it, COSB