Points Taken!

Remember that old public information ad that they used to show on the telly about the need for blood donors? It depicted a farmer going about his business, feeding his prize bull and the speaker says and I quote, 'No-one knows why an animal normally peaceful, suddenly goes wild, but when it comes, it comes without warning' and then the bull gores the farmer and he needs urgent attention and a blood transfusion. Well that in a way sums up United's form, when we played Linfield at Windsor Park on Saturday Feb 8, we played out of our skin. A week later when we played the Coleraine scum, we were just a shadow of that  team and last week we had gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

That was easily one of the three worst displays I've witnessed in recent seasons following my beloved Sky Blues, but was the not the worst display this season, That was reserved for the League cup tie against Ballymoney United, but it came close. Picture the scene if you can, in spite of not playing well, we went in at the break leading by 2-0 and the opposition had their goalkeeper sent off and had to put an outfield player in nets. Happy days for the Sky Blues goals scored ratio you would have thought, but nothing could've been further from the truth. United came out for the second half like a team playing with a dark cloud hanging over them and looked like the team with a man short, instead of their opponents.

Our manager Spike admitted they had to change things round by making a substitution but it all should have been so unnecessary. What happened in our dressing room at halftime is anybody's guess, but it all has to stop, if we are to be successful in our quest for top six and our pursuit of the Irish cup. Were Fergie and his backroom staff  cautioning the players to not get too carried away and as a result they went deeper into their shells. We have to find the answer to this question, sooner rather than later. What better game to eradicate that inept performance than an Irish cup quarter-final against Dungannon Swifts, who we've already beaten three times this season. That's not to say that this game is a foregone conclusion , far from it, but we must lift our game and what better time to do it, than this Saturday.

The Swifts will at least have one ex-United man in their ranks, Gary Liggett and he will want to prove that Spike made a mistake in letting him go. Susan Bap, is another former Sky Blue, but he seems to be not commanding a regular place in the Swifts line-up of late. Will United's new signing, Mark Kelly, get a start in place of MM or will Fergie stick to his usual ploy of picking the same team, barring injuries. Surely he'll not start Alan D this Saturday, he got away with that selection against the Point, but the Swifts are a different proposition, he going to need ball winners in midfield and Gavin Taggart and Tony Kane are two of the best in our squad. Is keeper Shan fit? If not, we are left with the inexperienced Macauly Cairns and that could have a crucial bearing on the result against Dugannon.

We got our home draw, but its up our boys to prove they have the grit and determination to grind out another result against the Tyrone men. I'm not expecting a pretty match, the weather forecast is not good and the pitch will be heavy and the wind strong, but its the same for both teams. If our luck holds, we will get over this hurdle presented by ex-United player, now manager at Dungannon, Darren Murphy, if on the other hand we rely too much on luck, Murphy's boys will put us to the sword and ruin our great work in defeating Linfield in the previous round. I had a phone call from the Ballymena Boy himself, Norman Clarke tonight wishing United all the best this Saturday and he''ll be rooting for us. So its up to you boys, don't be letting us all down, swiftly does it!

Never Caught!

I remembered this old saying today, 'nearly never caught the hare' and I think it sums up the progress that Glenn and the three baldies, have instilled in this United team. We are not a good team yet, but we're getting there, if we had, had a good team last Saturday, we'd have gone on and claimed all three points. Admittedly we didn't deserve all three points, we were second best for long periods of the match and only about deserved a draw. Some scum fans think we deserved nothing, but what do I care the opinion of scum fans, not a sausage. We don't have that killer instinct and the scum were there for the taking, but we are getting near.

The one bright thing that came out of last Saturday's game, was the emergence of  new striker, Mark Kelly. Glenn seems to have unearthed a striker of note in the six foot plus, Kelly, if last Saturday's cameo performance was anything to go by. Ogilby, of the scum, has had things too much his own way of late in games against the Sky Blues, but he was rattled when Kelly came on and gave him a dose of his own medicine, getting beat to high balls every time. He finally cracked under the pressure and recklessly tripped the Cush and Ally rescued a point for us from the resultant penalty.

That Mark should have been on earlier than the last ten minutes, I've no doubt, but Glenn seems reluctant to take a chance and he's the manager after all. What a poser Kelly leaves for Glenn, when selecting the team to do battle against Warrenpoint Town this Saturday. Darboy, is eligible for this game and must surely start I would have thought. But MM, came in and scored United's first goal and it would be harsh on the young striker if he was dropped. Then there's Kelly to fit in to the equation too, reading between the lines or rather trying to get inside Glenn's head, I wouldn't be surprised to see him start MM again.

He could leave the other two, Darboy and Kelly, on the bench and bring them in at halftime, but I stress that is only my opinion. With Thommo serving a two match suspension, Spike has to find somebody to play in his position and it seems to be between Sparky, Alan D and Gavin. As Spike seems to favour Alan D, I wouldn't be totally surprised to see him getting the nod, but I hope not. I'd rather see Sparky or if not him, Gavin, as I'm expecting a blood and thunder game as the Point battle to stay above the relegation dog-fight and the Sky Blues seek to consolidate 6th place.

With our keeper Shan firmly ensconced between the posts, might Spike be tempted to bring back JT, I admit to being surprised when he didn't start last Saturday. Instead he tried the Windsor Park formation and it didn't work against the scum. Better we go back to basics and revert to a classic back four, with JT once more restored to the heart of our defence. But who does he drop to accommodate JT, Marky or Cookie or heaven forbid, Archie, decisions, decisions, who would want to be a football manager. The answer is thousands, but that's only when things are going well, COSB!

We Did!

The question was answered last Saturday at Windsor Park, can we do it, yes we can. It was not an easy victory it has to be said, but our keeper Shan had to make 3 brilliant saves, the rest were all routine. Fergie says the new formation worked well, but I think it needs more work, they were huge gaps in our midfield in spite of us having supposedly 5 players in that area, but we triumphed over Linfield/IFA and that's no easy task. Luckily the IFA's henchman, referee Richard Crangle, didn't have too many controversial decisions to rule on and his interference was minimal.

The team was set to absorb the home teams pressure and they did that superbly well during the first quarter of the match. Then when we got our noses in front we seemed to lose concentration and let in a soft goal and I admit at this stage, I was worried that we would capitulate and lose the game. But when we came out in the second-half, we were like a team transformed and we scored the most exquisite goal that has been my pleasure to witness in my long years of following United. When Thommo won possession and beat three Linfield men and then found Darboy with a great pass I held my breath.

But Darboy was tightly marked, but he did the unexpected and whipped over a superb cross to Cush and the United talisman did the rest, with a sweet half-volley into Tuffey's net. Needless to say, I and the entire Sky Blue fans in that stand, were in raptures. Two mins later Cush had one of his moments, where he tries a shot at goal, regardless of the position of the keeper or anyone else. The fact that Darboy was beside him and practically unmarked, didn't matter a hoot to Cush, he just had a rush of blood and tried a pot shot at goal which nearly hit the corner flag, but that is Cush, I hope he never changes.

Our reward for this victory is a home tie to Dungannon Swifts on March the first, not a money spinner it has to be said, but as our manager Spike says, the only thing that you can hope for is a home draw and we got a home draw. We have beaten the Swifts three times this season, but they were all close affairs and I expect this match to be a close affair also. We have another game this Saturday with our close rivals down the A 26, the Coleraine scum and due to the terms of Darboy's transfer, he is ineligible for this match I think, so United will have to revert back to plan B.

But plan B worked very well on Boxing Day and there's no reason to think it can't work in this match. Thommo, according to rumour will play his last match on Saturday, before beginning a two game suspension, courtesy of 10 yellow cards, which means he'll miss Warrenpoint Town's visit next Saturday as well as the next round of the cup v the Swifts. That will give our fringe players a chance to stake their claim and we need them to step up to the plate, if we intend to reach that coveted top six spot by mid-March. It'll not be easy on Saturday, but surely we are on the up, they on the other hand, are standing still, COSB!

One Basket!

Did Fergie chose to ignore the old saying about keeping all your eggs in one basket, when agreeing to play the postponed game with Chickenville on Tuesday night? It seems to me, he did  and it backfired badly as a result, not only did we lose the game, dropping another 3 points in the race for a top six position in the league, we lost an influential player, in JT, who will be sorely missed next Saturday against the IFA/Linfield. Beating Linfield was going to a tall order anyway, considering our dismal record against them at Windsor Park, but without JT it is a monumental task.

On top of that the opposition players are well rested, but our boys just had a hard match on Tuesday and will only get 4 days to recover. Spike subbed Cookie with 6 mins to go on Tues, in my opinion he would needed to have subbed him long before that to give time to recover. I thought it was foolhardy to arrange the Chickenville match 4 days before the cup match, it was always going to be a tough match, never mind the Reds going for top spot in the league. But due to incompetent refereeing we had a player sent-off and he added insult to injury by trying to justify his actions.

I have only one question for him, 'he says he blew for the arm hold', which cameras show happened outside the penalty box and therefore not a penalty and we had a covering player, so it wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity, 'why then a red card and not a yellow one'? But he's officiating at three of our matches lately, the league cup match at Seaview, where he gave a penalty for a dive and disallowed us a clear cut penalty. The Boxing Day clash against the scum where 'one cap' was allowed to escape with a yellow card instead of the mandatory red when he effectively crippled our keeper, Stuarty Addis and now this latest howler. The man definitely has it in for us, he must be a Comber love child.

Who's the ref on Saturday I wonder, it could be Burns again and I won't be surprised if its him, but we know we're up against it when we play the IFA anyway, we have take on 14 men or maybe 15 if you include the 4th official, they're all just the fat controllers lackeys. We need to be on guard from the word go, we know from experience that the IFA players will be ducking and diving at the slightest touch and we need to be aware of that. Its not an impossible task, we maybe could hold out for a draw and I think that could work in our favour, Linfield will want the tie settled on the day and then they can concentrate on their push for the league title. So if its level pegging near the end, they might commit more men to the attack and we just could sneak one on the counter, I dearly hope so, COSB