Flash Back!

On Tuesday night at Seaview, when Cush missed that chance on the hour mark, the ball coming back off the post, my mind flashed back 23 years to a cold November night at Seaview. United were playing Portadown in the (Budweiser) League cup semi-final and another hero Sammy Smith was having an unbelievable game, netting two goals for United who were leading 2-1. From a delightful bit of play they carved another chance and it looked easier to score, but we missed it and the rest as they say is history. Ports scored a last gasp equaliser and United lost in a penalty shoot-out, how ironic that this year they lost by virtue of the referee giving a penalty for a dive and refusing to give one which was clear-cut.

I couldn't have known what was going to unfold in the next 10 or so mins, but the pessimist in me feared the worst. Sure hadn't we been here before and though the game went to extra-time, we looked like a beaten team. We weren't helped by our manager substitutions, first he took off Sparky, who had played his heart out and replaced him with a waster, Alan D, who never created anything. In the 2nd half, our Captain, Jenks, was beaten in the air every time and surely instead of getting a midfielder on, Spike had to get a forward on and Liggie was the man for the job. Liggie it was who scored the decisive goal, when United beat the hatchet-men way back in August 17, but the next substitution was almost as bizarre, he took off Ally (who admittedly was not setting the world alight) and brought on Mario.

Mario and Alan D never even threatened to get into the match, they came on with 20 mins of extra-time to go, with fresh legs and played at half pace. Paul Leeman, Crues veteran central defender dismissed Mario as if he was just a kid starting out, in short, he had him in his pocket. These two players should have given us the edge, but they contributed nothing, they might as well not have been playing, they were just space fillers. The rest of team and I include Dwayne in this, gave their all, but it wasn't good enough, but we are improving I think, but a major final will have to wait, at least until May. Its back to league action when United entertain the hatchet-men at the Showgrounds. The forecast looks to be for wet and windy weather and a chance of snow and I'm sure the pitch will have some soft spots.

Not that would hinder the Crues anyway, they don't play football, just hoof-ball, a big hump up to their target men, Owen and Cassels and sooner or later they'll get a chance. But when it wasn't working on Tuesday, Mister 'Ugly' (that's my pet name for Stephen Baxter), brought on his two 'divers', Heatley and McCutcheon and Heatley conned the ref into giving a penalty, so United need to be vigilant on two fronts on Saturday, try to cut out the big 'hoof'' and watch for those divers. Surely we can't have a referee that's so easily conned as was Newtownabbey official, Colin Burns, even Tim 'nice but dim' Marshall is more alert and that's saying something. But whoever the NIFL appoint, we'll just to have to accept, there's nothing we can do about it, we'll just have to score more than the Crues and we can do it!