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!