Marking Time!

Here I am refreshed and raring to go after my spring break to sunny Spain and as promised here is my review of the season. My headline to this post, 'marking time', I think sums it up very nicely, we have not really progressed. The Sky Blue Sport team were thinking, our manager, Spike, was aiming to win the Irish cup and that is commendable, but had we no contingency plan if we didn't win and therefore we find ourselves in the bottom six (despite playing crap we managed to consolidate 7th place). But if we had gone out to win or try to win, at least three of our last five games in the league, who knows where would have finished points wise.

Admittedly we would have finished in seventh place anyway, but finishing with more points than Glenavon, would have given us a slight advantage, only slight I know, but belief is a powerful weapon to have on your side. But as it was we played out three draws and two defeats and in the cup final we played as if we had no belief, there was no get up and go about us. Thommo, who was sent-off, said he was disappointed as he still felt he had loads in the tank! Why had he loads in the tank, why was he not going 'hell for leather' like the Glenavon players, it's game of skill and effort, 10% skill and 90% effort.

Fergie was enthusing on how we got to two semi-finals and a final and that's to be commended, but in one of the semi-finals, the County Antrim Shield semi against Crues, we gave an insipid performance, much as we did against Glenavon in the first half in the Irish cup final. We were robbed in the league cup semi, ironically against Crues again, by an incompetent referee, but if had we taken our chances, we could have stole the show, despite Dwayne Nelson's howler, which gifted the Crues the winner. But the quest for a top six place in the league table eluded us and we were in pole position, but we collapsed within sight of the winning post.

Spike has not filled me with confidence, as he re-signed Gavin, Gawley, Alan D and Cookie for another season, I agree with Cookie's signing, but not the other three. He's has also signed Matthew Tipton, who in my opinion fouled Dwayne when giving Linfield the lead in September last year and for that reason alone I wouldn't want him anywhere near the place, but memories are short in football. United fans in the close season last year, were up in arms about the possibility of us signing Coleraine's Darren Boyce and just 5 months later they welcomed him with open arms, me included, as I said, memories are short.

After his initial burst, scoring goals for fun, the chances have dried up for him and he was a virtual passenger  in the Irish cup final. But he's not getting the service and I fancy the same could be said for Tipton, he'll not score by himself, we'll have to deliver the ball to him. That means Fergie must sign a midfielder who has the ability unlock the opposition and deliver his pass to either Darboy or Tipper and for that to happen we'll have to unload a few more players and change our style of play. Spike says he has two more years to whip us into a team, I say he had better get on with it and stop marking time!

Big One!

We've had the dress rehearsal, we had all the trimmings, like meaningless matches against the also rans, but now this Saturday at Windsor Park, its time for the' big one' against Glenavon in the Irish cup final. Our management team have ensured their charges are rested fully, but yet match fit and they should be raring to go come 14-30 on Saturday. I'm not going to hazard a guess about what players our manager, Spike, will select to start. He's proved that he is his own man and will pick the side that he has the confidence in, to get the job done. It may not be everybody's idea of our best starting line-up, but he knows what his players are capable of and he's not afraid to take a chance.

Last Saturday's game against Ards was our last league game in this season and I was one of many imploring Fergie, to pick a strong side. But he didn't, he only picked 5 recognisable players, but he was there coaching them from the sidelines and that summed up the man for me, he is a real pro. When we win the Irish cup on Saturday, he'll be playing down his part in our victory, just as he's done throughout this season and indeed throughout all his time at the Showgrounds. He'll have analysed our opponents, Glenavon and identified their strengths and weaknesses and he'll have devised a plan for coping with them, that gives our team the edge. He'll be reluctant to go and greet the fans, but hopefully he will relent.

There's been a lot hype on the internet with this match but BBC teletext has been bereft of any stories all week and you could be forgiven for thinking they're playing down this game as if it was unimportant. This is the biggest game in our football calendar and deserves to get the headlines, but the BBC is not promoting it at all. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I think if one of Belfast four teams were involved, they'd be articles promoting the game shown all week and if two of them were involved, Joel Taggart, would be annoyingly smug. But ticket sales are going very well, without teletext and in spite of the horlicks that the IFA cooked up, which meant we got our allocation of tickets only last Thursday.

This you'll be glad to hear, is my penultimate column, but as I'm on off on my holidays next Tuesday, you'll to have to wait at least a fortnight for my last diatribe this season. It was refreshing last Saturday to hear an appreciative crowd getting behind our youngsters and encouraging them, instead of deriding them. United will need the same support this Saturday and this could be the last match played at Windsor Park before it gets redeveloped, so lets raise the roof (not literally) and give the IFA something to think about. That if they had promoted the match and ensured our tickets got to us on  time ,we could maybe have filled a few more seats and rocked this stadium on its death throes. So come on Sky Blues, lets go shagging for the cup!!!!