Holm Victory!

What a difference a win makes, over the last couple of weeks it’s been really hard for me personally to write a match report, as I couldn’t think of anything positive to say. After yesterday’s one nil win at Armagh, there are nothing only positives and suddenly some of the gloom has been lifted. A one nil win doesn’t sound too impressive, but it could and should have been a lot more convincing. Rory Hamill could and should have had a hat-trick, Gary Haveron shot tamely into former United keeper Paul Rice’s hands and Rice made a good save from a Stephen Collier shot from 30 yards. This shot was in fact United’s first effort on goal during a fifteen minute opening spell and they should’ve been well in front before halftime. United manager Tommy Wright had made four changes to his starting line-up from last week, Albert Watson got the central defensive nod alongside Captain Gary Smyth, in place of the unavailable Kieran Donaghy. Gary Haveron and Aiden Watson were restored to the centre midfield, in place of Gareth Scates, who was dropped to the bench and new signing Phil Charnock who was reportedly ‘sick’. Kevin Kelbie, such a disappointment up front was dropped, with Vinny Sweeney moved up front to partner Rory Hamill. Stuart King switched to the right in place of Sweeney, with Andy Rosbotham taking King’s place on the left wing. Stuart King had probably his best game since joining United and was a constant thorn in Armagh’s flesh throughout the first 45 minutes. Stephen Collier, who looks like making the number two berth his own, linked well with King down the United right flank and brought a good save from Armagh keeper Rice after 14 minutes, with a rasping shot. The resultant corner from Rosbotham was easily dealt with by the keeper, something that the Sky Blues still need to work on in training in my opinion. After twenty minutes King skipped down the touch-line, cut inside his marker and put in a ‘glorious’ cross, for Sweeney to head goalwards, but Rice was equal to the task, tipping the ball over the bar. From the resultant corner, the ball fell to Haveron, who shot weakly into the keeper’s arms. Two minutes later Hamill should’ve given his team the lead, when after good interplay between himself and Rosbotham, he chose to go onto his weaker left foot, instead of shooting with his right and Rice saved easily. Hamill then turned provider when he drove a cross into the Armagh goalmouth, but no United player could get the vital touch. In a rare Armagh attack, United keeper McFrederick showed he had recovered from last week’s gaffe, by plucking the ball out of the air with some confidence as it sped goalwards. United kept probing for the opener, but a combination of bad finishing and good Armagh defensive play, with former United favourite Marco Carlisle in top form, kept the Sky Blues at bay until halftime.

Referee David McGarvey, who had been fairly inconspicuous in the first half, seemed determined to change things around in the second and somehow managed to book two United players in the process. This was somewhat surprising, as he allowed the home team to ‘get away’ with one or two heavy tackles. Armagh played more determinedly in the second period and young Craig McClean, ‘tugged’ their number seven back when caught out of position. Referee McGarvey, who had allowed Armagh’s number 9, to get away with an elbow to Gary Smyth, seemed to think this a serious offence and gave him a stern talking to. Two minutes later young Craig was again judged to have fouled his opponent, when he headed the ball away with his opponent making no attempt to go for the ball. But the ‘harshest’ decision came when after he made a great saving tackle on the same player, winning the ball fair and square, the referee completely astonished everybody in the ground by flourishing the yellow card to the Ballymena youngster. Midway through the half Armagh won another ‘dubious’ free kick, about twenty five yards from goal and this proved to be a big turning point in the game from my point of view. With the United defensive wall covering the left side of his goal, McFrederick lined up on the right side and he made a tremendous save, tipping Armagh player Andy Ward’s piledriver over the bar for a corner. Armagh, who had surprisingly taken Marco off five minutes earlier, were ‘gutted’ and worse was to come in the 71st minute. From a McFrederick clearance the ball fell to Haveron, who fed it through to Hamill. As Rory looked to pull it onto his left foot again he saw Sweeney bursting through and he fed it perfectly for the big man, who rifled it into the net past the stranded Rice, for his third goal of the season. This goal was no more than United deserved but as usual they failed to press home their advantage, allowing the home team to have a ray of hope. United manager Wright, who had earlier replaced Rosbotham, one of the few United players who failed to shine, with Scates, seemed content with a one nil lead, but I think we had enough chances to have wrapped the game up comfortably, instead of hanging on for a one nil victory. Rory Hamill and company all failed to get to a driven cross by Scates before we had one of those ‘bizarre’ decisions which are prevalent in the Irish league. Gareth Scates after another good run up the touch line put in another cross and as an Armagh defender attempted to clear, he merely played the ball back to Scates. Somewhat surprisingly the linesman ‘flagged’ Scates offside, when no other United player had touched the ball from his original cross. Aiden Watson, who had been the subject of a heavy tackle from Armagh’s number 15, who was cautioned, became the second United player to get a booking for a somewhat clumsy tackle. Manger Wright decided to go for a ‘what we have we hold’ policy, taking off Stuart King and bringing on the fit again Nigel Boyd after 82 minutes. United continued to throw away chances, with Hamill once more failing to find the ‘killer’ punch in front of goal. This was virtually his last contribution, as he made way for Paul McDowell. United much to the chagrin of the United fans, the Sky Blues began time wasting with five minutes to go. One typical incident, which springs to mind, happened when after winning a corner on the right, they failed to cross the ball and just ‘frittered away possession. Luckily this didn’t come back to haunt them as despite the referee finding 4 minutes of stoppage time, Armagh could not find a way past the United rearguard, who were outstanding to a man.

McFrederick 8 Haveron 6 MoM: McFrederick

Collier 8 Sweeney 7

McClean 7 Hamill 6

Aiden Watson 6 Rosbotham 5 Referee: D. McGarvey 3

Albert Watson 8 1st Sub: Scates 7

Smyth 8 2nd Sub: Boydie 6

King 8 3rd Sub: McDowell 6