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!