One Change!

After all the talk about fringe players last week, we played nearly a first team, this week I have been assured we are gong to make at least one change to our starting line-up. Shan, who incidentally was voted the February player of the month by the Seven Towers supporters club, is going to be rested and in his place we are going for reserve keeper, Macauley Cairns, who was allowed to play for Wakehurst in an earlier round, therefore cup-tying himself. If by any chance, Shan gets injured at training or if he picks up an infection, we are left with only one recognised keeper in our squad, goal-keeping coach, big Wes Lamont, so it makes sense this week to be resting Shan.

Trying to second guess Fergie is like trying to pick a winner of the Grand National, nearly impossible. But I'm going to stick my neck out here and hazard a guess. Cairns, as expected will be in goal and I figure Fergie will want to rest, McBride, Taylor, Kane, Jenks and Darboy and I expect that three or four of them will make up the bench. This game is not vitally important for us, but we will want to give a good account of ourselves and if we can secure a victory, it will stand us in good stead for next weeks Irish cup semi-final against Queens. The semi-final against Queens is only 9 days away and try as he might, as Spike does in interviews, thoughts about that game will be uppermost in the minds of our players.

Its only human nature after all and there's no getting away from it, this games could  be the one chance at glory for some of our players. Take Cookie for instance, there's been rumours flying around that he's talking about hanging up his boots at the end of this season, so it definitely does look like the last chance for him. Sparky and Gavin are definitely fringe players and they want to have a good game on Saturday, hoping to nudge the manager when he 's naming the panel for next week. Thommo, who had to come off at Crues, will be wanting a run out to prove his fitness, so you see they are plenty of players trying to catch the manager's eye and long may it continue.

Last week we triumphed over Glenavon, a close game, but we did enough, this Saturday we play the Swifts, who used to be our 'bogey' team, but we've beaten them four times out of four already this season and they will be wanting to set the record straight and consolidate their 8th place in the table. In short they won't make it easy for us and referee Ian McNabb will need to be on his toes from the start, not like that clown last week, who let Glenavon away with murder. There's not much to play for in the league at this juncture, but if results go our way, we could maybe go a long way to tie-up seventh place in the table. But, maybe its all a bluff by Fergie, but I don't think so, but I swallowed it last week. COSB

Be Fathful!

I'm totally convinced that our manager, Glenn 'Spike' Ferguson, never really entertained true ambitions about a top six position in the Dankse Premier league. Consider the facts, we are going into a match against Glentoran on Friday 7th of March, in a match we needed to win at all costs. Glenn needed to pick his strongest side, backed up by his strongest substitutes bench, but what did we get on our subs bench, a team of fringe players. Then we move on to last Saturday's match against Crusaders and we still had an outside chance to qualify for a top six position, another win at all costs match.

What does he do, drops his whole midfield and sends another back-up striker to play for the reserves, leaving us with a very few options to try and force the pace. I cannot fathom what his reasons could be for not wanting to finish in the top six, maybe he wants our team to concentrate on winning the Irish cup and playing teams in the top six would be too much of a distraction for us. That theory would make a lot of sense, but its a dangerous ploy to undertake. There's always the chance that say we have a strong finish in the league against the so-called lesser sides, that we would become complacent.

Far better to be playing the crack sides in our league, keeping sharp and playing at the highest level. But I stress that's only my opinion, what do I know about football management, the answer is sweet FA. Maybe Fergie and his backroom staff it are of the opinion, that it is best to have six meaningless fixtures and therefore any player treading the disciplinary tightrope, or niggling injury, could be rested and be available for the final. But that's assuming that we make it to the final, what if we come unstuck on April 5 against Queens in the semi-final (stranger things have happened), the grand plan will have come to nothing.

The only thing we as fans ask of our team is, please be faithful and try to win, I cannot help thinking that we've been short-changed in the last two games. The side never tried to win, we seemed content, to be only going through the motions. Where was the fire and desire we showed against Linfield and Dungannon in the Irish cup. We need to show that commitment this Saturday coming up against Glenavon, but if I'm correct in my assumption, we won't turn up. Still we may come up against Glenavon in the Irish cup final and this would be a rehearsal and we don't want to give them false hope for that occasion, now do we? Better give them a dose of what they can expect if we meet at Windsor Park on May 3, come on Sky Blues, show a bit of pride for your our sakes, if not for ours!

Gloomy Outlook!

When I made my way from the Oval grounds Belfast last Friday night, I admit I was downcast. I had just witnessed a gutless performance from the Sky Blues and I admit I was shell-shocked, to say the least. There was no cohesion shown from United's team on this occasion and they were decidedly  lucky that Glens supremo, Eddie Patterson, decided to rest at least half of his team. We were appalling in the extreme and nobody, but nobody, held up their hands and said I was guilty. Tony Kane, who has been getting rave notices, while playing in midfield, had a stinker and I feel sure he will want to banish it from his memory.

JT, a former Glens player was even worse and that's saying something, but you know what they saw, 'form s temporary but class is permanent', let's hope I got that one right. Cookie, his central defensive partner, was withdrawn with about a third of the game still to go and in my opinion it was too little too late. Their ill advised offside traps failed miserably in the first half and it was a miracle we didn't leak more goals. As it was we had Shan to thank  for that turn of events, for he kept us in the match, even though we seemed to be trying  to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Needless to say a marked improvement needs to be witnessed this incoming weekend, away to the hatchet-men, who are still smarting from the caning handed out to them in the County Antrim Shield final, losing on penalties yet again. United, have long suffered defeat at the hands of the Crues, especially at Seaview. They do have the chance have the chance on Saturday, to make it three wins out of three, in league games involving the two of them this season, so you see it's not all gloom and doom. If in the process, United, gave themselves a shot at a sixth place, all well and good. But we'll need to be up for this game, otherwise our season as far as the league goes, is dead!

Nitty Gritty!

We have reached that point in our season when its all down to us and nobody else. I'm of the belief that if we win our next three games in the Dankse Premiership, we will cement a top six place, but its going to be a mighty tough ask. We play our first match in this trio of games at the Oval against the Glens on Friday night and although the Oval has been a happy hunting ground as far as league points are concerned over the last few seasons for us, Friday night's game will be a little different I think. Its the proverbial six pointer, as a Glens win would make them virtually assured of a top six place and in the process shatter our confidence, but a win for the Sky Blues would vault us into 5th place, for at least 24 hours.

Anybody who thought our game against Dungannon Swifts was tense, I must warn them this match against the Glens will be a whole lot tenser. The Belfast club need to be in the top six to be able to survive and pay their players the salary they have come to expect. If they don't make the top six, I think they will lose almost half of their squad, for the simple reason they'll not be able to pay them and the ones that are left will have to take a huge pay cut and they won't want that. But this could work in our favour, if we can frustrate them and get our noses in front, maybe the cracks will start to appear and we have the players to do that in Darboy and our talisman, Cush.

I think it is true to say that Cush hasn't been firing on all cylinders lately, but 90% of Cush is much better than lots of players 100% and he likes playing at the Oval. Darboy is returning to play against one of his former clubs and there's no Gentleman's agreement to stop him playing this time. Darboy scored two goals against the Swifts last week, but I expect Cush to get on the score-sheet and add to his 15 goals he has already scored this season. Much as these two influential players need to shine for United, I believe its in midfield that we need to stand up and be counted. Captain Jenks and Tony are virtual starters, but I'd like to see Sparky getting the nod as well, but realise Spike will probably go for Alan D or Thommo.

We have got away with Alan D in our last two matches and he did unselfishly set up Darboy for his second goal on Saturday, but I still think that he's a luxury we can ill afford. No doubt he can be a match-winner, but his misplaced passes and getting caught in possession are a  liability, better he's on the bench. I would hope that Spike will try a change of tactic and play 4,4,2, with Tony on the right and Ally on the left and Cush up front with Darboy, but its unlikely to happen, with Fergie, its 4,3,3 or nothing. Then he could surprise me as he did last Saturday when scrapped his policy of never changing a winning team, but I think that was a fluke. The defence I suspect will be the usual barring injuries of course and its all systems go for three points,COSB!