Red Wreckers!

Ballymena United manager Tommy Wright appears to have a strange relationship with the ‘media’, as he was widely reported to have said on I.T.V. and B.B.C. texts, as well as the local papers, that United had no injury worries. When I turned up at the Showgrounds I was told that defender Craig McClean was injured and Aby McCabe was taking his place at left-back, strange thing for a team with no injury worries. This was the only change to United’s starting line-up from last Saturday, but whereas the Sky Blues were really ‘up’ for that game, they appeared to approach last night’s game as if it were a ‘training’ session. Cliftonville, on the other hand, were definitely ‘up for it’ and were ‘buzzing’ round the United goal from the off. That said the closest I remember them coming to scoring in the first half, was after a delightful bit of interplay, a shot from the edge of the ‘box’, flashed wide of McFrederick’s right post, with the keeper beaten all ends up. United did try to mount a few attacks but continually fell ‘foul’ of referee Ken Ginnet’s interpretation of the rules. He even added insult to ‘injury’, if you’ll pardon my pun, by ‘booking’ Rory Hamill, after the United player was on the receiving end of a shirt pulling incident, a weird decision to put it mildly. Vinny Sweeney was giving the Cliftonville central defender a bit of a hard game, but like Hamill could do no right in the referee’s eyes, but credit must go to both United frontmen, as they stuck to their task manfully. Five minutes later the Cliftonville number ten clearly elbowed Boydie as he broke out of defence, but both referee and the linesman at the Fisherwick end of the ground, ignored the incident. United’s best chance, after 25 minutes, came when Hamill’s ‘snap shot’ went straight into the keeper’s arms, after good work from Donaghy and Scates. The United midfield, for the most part, appeared to be chasing shadows and the United management need to get this sorted, with tough games upcoming against Portadown and Glentoran in the next fortnight. With halftime approaching, Cliftonville forced a corner at the United end and I remarked fearfully to a colleague that United could probably ‘leak’ a goal before halftime, to which he honestly replied, ‘well Cliftonville are worth a goal’. United survived that corner and in fact broke down the pitch to force a corner at the Farm Lodge end of the ground themselves. Young Andy Rosbotham’s inswinging delivery was as ever, ‘inch perfect’ and United defender Albert Watson headed into the net to put United one-up. That goal came in the 43rd minute and United almost doubled their lead immediately when Boydie and Hamill combined down the left, but the ball was scrambled to safety.

Cliftonville almost committed ‘suicide’ straight from the kick-off, as Rory Hamill pressurised their fullback, won the ball and delivered a pass to his striking partner Vinny Sweeney. United’s top scorer steadied himself, but a Cliftonville defender was able to block the striker’s goalbound effort for a corner. Andy was once more ‘very handy’ with his delivery and big Gary Haveron should have scored with a ‘free’ header but unfortunately headed over the bar. Seven minutes later United fans thought they had increased their lead, when from another Rosbotham corner, Haveron this time did power a header into the net, but it was rightly disallowed for pushing. I personally thought this rather stupid as Haveron, had in my opinion, no need to ‘foul’ as the cross was nigh perfect and he is so good in the air. United seemed content after this to ‘rest on their laurels’ and defended rather too deeply for my liking. Cliftonville for their part, were guilty of shooting from long range and rarely troubled the United keeper. The home team did have a ‘major’ scare, when from a Cliftonville corner, the ball was ‘cleared’ off the line by United fullback Mal Donaghy. This seemed to wake United somewhat and as Cliftonville ‘rang’ the changes to their personnel they tried to up their game. Although they couldn’t get a concerted spell of pressure going, they did manage to mount a few attacks on the visitor’s goal. Midway through the half, Gareth Scates fell ‘foul’ of the referee’s interpretation of the ‘rules’ once more and was cautioned, but for what I have no idea, as he appeared to win the ball fair and square. Cliftonville players were ‘dropping like flies’ throughout the match and in my mind this was an attempt to influence the referee, which clearly worked in their favour. After 84 minutes United finally made the tie safe, when Rory Hamill, who 5 minutes earlier had been fouled but had had the decision reversed by the linesman, won a free for hand ball five yards from the by-line and near the touch line. As the visitors were keeping three men up, a positive move, but rather ‘foolhardy’ in my opinion, it left acres of space in their penalty box. Young Andy once more delivered the perfect cross and this time Gary Haveron rose unchallenged to power a header into the back of the net to secure the tie and put United into the Shield semi-final. With the game safe the United manager withdrew, young Andy and Rory, giving Melly and McDowell a run for the final 5 minutes. Hamill and Rosbotham rightly received a tumultuous round of applause from the home crowd, as they had been the architects of United’s victory. United probably could and should have increased their lead, when McDowell was wrongly judged to be offside, when he had timed his run to perfection, which left him clear on goal. Despite the referee finding 5 minutes of stoppage time, United ran out comfortable winners and in the process gained some revenge for their league defeat to the same opponents back in September. United have now set up a possible game against their county Antrim rivals Larne and their ‘dear’ former manager Kenny Shiels; I can hardly wait for the ‘draw’, maybe we’ll be walking once more, in a ‘Sky Blue’ wonderland.

McFrederick 7 Hamill 8 MoM: Hamill

Donaghy 7 Sweeney 7

McCabe ` 7 Scates 7

Haveron 7 Rosbotham 8 Referee: K. Ginnet 3

Watson 8 1st Sub Melly 6

Smyth 7 2nd Sub McDowell 7

Boydie 7