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!