Astute King!

United manager Tommy Wright was forced to make two changes to his starting line-up for last night’s game at home to Institute. Missing from action were Captain Gary Smyth and Aiden Watson. Last Mondays substitute Kevin Kelbie was also missing, after failing a late fitness test. Gordon Simms got a rare start in place of Gary Smyth, while Gary Haveron came in to partner the ‘injury prone’ Phil Charnock in centre midfield. Ten minutes into the game disaster struck for the home team, when Charnock picked up yet another injury, when his kneecap appeared to be split open and in fact had to go to hospital by ambulance. Dominic Melly was called into the team from the bench to replace the luckless Charnock, taking over in a wide right position, with Scates moving inside to partner Haveron. Vinny Sweeney burst through the visitor’s defence after a lovely through pass from Scates and his flashing shot was diverted for a corner, by the ‘Stute keeper. That was in the 16th minute and 2 minutes later Gary Haveron made a powerful break from midfield, but with the United fans hollering for him to have a shot, he instead passed to Rory Hamill. Hamill was reluctant to shoot himself and in turn passed to Stuarty King, whose shot skimmed the visitor’s left-hand post. Institute prompted by Tommy McCallion were dangerous on breakaways and United keeper McFrederick was relieved to see a fierce shot strike the side netting. King went on a run midway through the half, leaving two ‘Stute defenders in his wake, but his driven left footed cross just eluded United’s leading marksman Vinny Sweeney. McFrederick dropped a simple catch, but luckily no ‘Stute player could take advantage. Stuart King, having easily his best game since joining United from Linfield during the summer, continued to tease the visiting defenders and after playing a one two with Rory Hamill had a well placed shot on target, which their keeper smothered at the second attempt. Kieran Donaghy, who had been honoured with the Captain’s armband, in making his one hundredth appearance in a Sky Blue shirt, went on a surging run, leaving four defenders in his wake. With only one man to beat, he slid the ball wide for Vinny Sweeney, who was harshly adjudged to be off-side. Gareth Scates protested too vehemently and was cautioned by referee McKnight, the only booking of a hard fought first half. Ten minutes before halftime McFrederick pulled off a good save when his defenders went asleep and allowed the ‘Stute forwards the freedom of the park. Craig McClean almost got on the scoresheet when his forty yard shot was just clutched by the visiting keeper as it looked destined for the top corner of the net. The half ended without further scoring incidents and the home fans were hopeful of a better showing in the second period.

The second half got off to a bad start when Rory Hamill didn’t re-appear, having 'tweaked' his hamstring and reserve striker Paul McDowell took his place. Institute pressed forward hoping to catch the home team cold, but the United defence ably marshalled by Gordon Simms held firm and began to exert a bit of pressure on the counter attack. Vinny Sweeney was a victim of a well organised institute off-side trap and a linesman who never gave him any benefit of the doubt. Each time United attacked, as the final pass came through, Sweeney was ‘flagged’ offside. I personally wasn’t unduly worried about this as in my humble experience, linesmen usually make one mistake and you have to be ready to take advantage of it. Sweeney was also cleaned in the box, but the referee somehow gave the foul against the United striker. As the visitors played the ball out of their defence 20 minutes into the period, it was returned by Gary Haveron and the linesman who was ‘lagging’ behind the players was in no position to ‘flag’ Sweeney offside. I can tell you the big man was at least five yards offside but the visiting keeper won the race for the ball and the chance was missed. The Institute keeper was continually wasting time, as he prepared to take goalkicks and free kicks and needed a gentle reminder form the referee. United finally made the breakthrough in the 74th minute and what a goal it was. Paul McDowell whipped in a cross from the right and the ‘Stute defence under pressure only partially cleared it and it fell nicely to Gary Haveron who laid it into Stuart King’s path and he drilled a lovely crisp right foot shot from 25yards, past the sprawling ‘Stute keeper, to put United one up. United as is their wont, defended fairly deeply after this and Institute piled on the pressure, but McFrederick & Co held firm. Institute had appeals for a penalty turned down, when Craig McClean and one of their attacker ‘tangled’ in the United penalty box. The linesman at that end of the ground waved his flag frantically, but after a short discussion with him the referee gave a free kick to United. Institute captain Tommy McCallion continued to berate the official and ‘talked’ himself into a yellow card. As the free kick landed over the halfway line he appeared to stamp on a United player and received a straight red and automatic dismissal. The remainder of the game was played out without incident and United had vaulted two places into fourth in the league table, but more importantly in my opinion kept a second successive clean sheet. It’ll be interesting to see if we have ‘Larned’ anything and if we can continue our run at Inver Park in three days time. ‘Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful! They’re white, fluffy and on Slemish. Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful!

McFrederick 7 Hamill 6 MoM: King

Donaghy 7 Sweeney 7

McClean ` 7 Charnock 6

Haveron 6 King 8 Referee: J. McKnight 4

Alb Watson 6 1st Sub: Melly 6

Simms 7 2nd Sub: McDowell 7

Scates 6

Merry Christmas!

“Christmas comes but once a year, Boxing Day the same, United ‘kick’ the Coleraine butt, we put the ‘scum’ to shame!” United manager Tommy Wright was true to his word and made quite a few changes to his starting line-up. Craig McClean returned after injury, with Boydie being dropped, not even claiming a place on the bench, this could’ve been a fatal mistake, but it worked out alright in the end. With Rosbotham relegated to a place on the bench, Stuarty King was switched to the left side of midfield, with Scatesy switching to the right. This allowed Charnock and Aiden Watson to form a central midfield partnership, but one that failed miserably. Rory Hamill returned to partner Vinny Sweeney up front, which meant Kevin Kelbie, who had scored on his last two appearances, was dropped to the bench as was Gary Haveron, yet two more harsh decisions. The Coleraine pitch was as usual looking more like a rough grazing meadow and obviously hadn’t seen a roller all season, but then the roller was probably seized as part of the asset recovery plan. A Sky Blue fan commented that they could use goalkeeper Davey O’Hare instead, as he was the right shape and definitely heavy enough. United almost took the lead with two minutes on the clock, when after Hamill had cleverly shielded the ball, before playing it into Sweeney’s path, the big man unfortunately missed the target with a rising shot. The United defence looked a bit ‘jittery’ early on and were somewhat lucky in the fact that the home team were devoid of ideas in front of goal. The Scum weren’t helped by the fact that they lost central defender Paul Gaston after 20 minutes after a midfield collision with Charnock. United then began to take the game to their opponents and Rory Hamill was unlucky to see his deflected shot just clear the crossbar. Then from the resultant corner, the ball fell to Rory once more, but this time his feeble shot trickled past the post. Referee McFadden allowed the home team to get away with one or two heavy tackles, when surely a yellow card was the least that was expected. The linesman at the end where the United fans were bunched, flagged Rory offside on one occasion, which was a ridiculous decision and then when he was clearly fouled in the box, added insult to injury by penalising Rory instead. Charnock got a head injury ten minutes before halftime and was off the field for about five minutes. United, despite forcing several corners, failed to break the deadline and despite several stoppages, referee McFadden added on just one minute of stoppage time.

Charnock didn’t reappear for the second half and Gary Haveron took his place in central midfield. The United manager had obviously told his players to give more effort and the visitors began to put the home team under a bit of pressure. Despite winning three or four corners, they were unable to apply the final touch in front of goal and it looked like the first league draw of the season for both teams, was on the cards. Little was seen of the home team except for rare breakaways, which the United defence dealt comfortably with. The deadlock was finally broken after 70 minutes, when captain Gary Smyth rose majestically to head a Scatesy corner against the Coleraine crossbar and United’s top scorer Vinny Sweeney headed the rebound into the net, to give United all three points, notching his tenth goal of the season in the process. This was virtually the big strikers last act as he had to leave the field shortly afterwards as he had injured himself while scoring the goal. But before that Kevin Kelbie came on for Aiden Watson with Sweeney switching to the right wing and Scatesy taking over in central midfield. In the 80th minute Sweeney went off with Rosbotham taking his place in the team and King Switching to the right wing, but by then United were facing a bit of a Coleraine onslaught. After a bit of fairly intense pressure Craig McClean was the victim of a horrendous tackle by Coleraine player McCallum, as he attempted to clear the ball. The referee, after consulting his linesman, showed the Coleraine man the red card, which was totally justified. Coleraine to their credit kept pressing the United rearguard and there was a bit of a scramble when McFrederick spilled a cross, but the cool headed Kieran Donaghy cleared the danger. Then McFrederick became the hero, when he pushed a shot round the post, which looked like giving the scum an undeserved equaliser. Referee McFadden, found 7 minutes of stoppage time from somewhere, which was in complete contrast to the first period. But United held out to get back to winning ways and to send the scum fans back to their ‘caravans’ in a depressed mood. “Hark now hear United sing, the Coleraine rule no more, and we will reign for evermore, because of Boxing Day!”

McFrederick 7 Hamill 8 MoM: Hamill

Donaghy 8 Sweeney 8

McClean 7 Charnock 5

Aiden Watson 6 King 6 Referee: N. McFadden 4

Albert Watson 8 1st Sub: Haveron 7

Smyth 8 2nd Sub: Kelbie 6

Scatesy 7 3rd: Sub: Rosbotham 6

Shea's Riposte!

When Ballymena suffered a heavy defeat to Portadown, I personally blamed it on them being forced to play three games inside a six day period. Therefore I was kinda concerned about us playing Glenavon four days after a visit to Glentoran. As it was my fears were proved to have been completely warranted, as United were, to put it mildly almost completely second best in this encounter. Glenavon ‘set out their stall’ from the outset, with an attacking three, four, three formation and put United’s sluggish midfield and defence under extreme pressure. The United defence held out for a mere ten minutes and it was a former player who unlocked them. Shea Campbell, so often the hero at the Showgrounds, was the ‘villain’ of the piece, aided and abetted by a half asleep linesman. Shea lifted a cross over Gary Smyth’s head to the unmarked Aiden McVeigh who guided the ball past the flatfooted Willie McFrederick in the United goal. McVeigh was unmarked for a very good reason, he was in an offside position, but the linesman kept his flag down and the goal stood. In my opinion this goal could’ve been avoided if McFrederick had left his line, but then he seldom does and when he does he invariably makes a ‘horlicks’ as he did in United’s defeat at Shamrock Park. The United reply for once was instantaneous and for once we were indebted to referee Michael Ross. United striker Kevin Kelbie was the victim of a push in the visitor’s box and referee Ross immediately pointed to the spot. United’s top scorer Vinny Sweeney, elected to take the kick himself, but not before some ‘shenanigans’ by Campbell. Referee Ross failed miserably in this instance when surely a caution should’ve been administered. Despite Shea’s intervention Sweeney hammered the ball into the Glenavon net, to level the scores. With Rory Hamill failing a late fitness test, United manager Tommy Wright had made only one change to his starting line-up of Tuesday night, with Kelbie replacing Hamill. Aiden Watson was on the bench, alongside the fit again Phil Charnock and young reserve striker Randal Reid. The United manager appears to have a lot in common with United’s former manager Kenny Shiels, in that he seems unable or unwilling, to alter his tactics during the game. Everybody in the ground could see that the ‘pacy’ Glenavon midfield and forward line were running riot against their ‘sluggish’ United counterparts and a tactical change was clearly needed, of course nothing happened. The linesman finally woke up and saved United on a couple of occasions by flagging for offsides and somehow the United goal escaped further punishment during the first half. This was somewhat lucky as neither of United’s wide men, Rosbotham or King, seemed capably of putting in a tackle and the United defence was under extreme pressure as a result. The only bright prospect for the home team was the ‘budding’ partnership of Kelbie and Sweeney up front, which was giving the visitors defence, in which former United central defender Davy McAlinden was playing, a hard time. With halftime approaching and United still hanging on somehow, they then conjured up a score completely against the run of play. Gary Smyth took a long throw into the visitor’s box and when the ball broke Kevin Kelbie volleyed the ball into the net, off the inside of the left hand post. Three minutes later referee Ross brought the half to a close and United not only had survived the first half, but had in fact gone in a surprise goal in front. Surely I thought the United manager will change things around at halftime and when no subs were seen to be having a halftime kick-about, I thought I would be proved right.

Unfortunately the team came out with the same formation and I knew then that our manager was devoid of ideas and it was only a matter of time before things would ‘blow up in our faces’. Five minutes into the half Glenavon attacked down the flank, no tackles came in from United defenders and McVeigh’s crisp shot hit the crossbar with McFrederick well beaten. When the ‘dose’ was repeated five minutes later Glenavon striker Vernon scored from close range with the United defence looking dead on their feet. Surely the United manager would react now I thought, take off Gary Smyth who was struggling, with Haveron switching to defence and bringing on Aiden Watson or Charnock to see if we could get a grip in midfield. His hand was forced somewhat however when Scates was injured and Watson had to come on after 60 minutes or so. Sweeney and King combined well up the right and United’s leading scored was ‘hauled’ back by McAlinden almost on the edge of the box. Referee Ross adjudged the offence to be outside the ‘D’, but I thought surely this is Gary Smyth territory. But the United captain left it to Rosbotham who drove the ball against the Glenavon wall. After 70 minutes manager Wright took off Haveron with Charnock taking his place, but in my opinion he needed to keep Haveron on as he is if nothing else, a tackler. Three minutes later Glenavon took the lead, when they ‘waltzed’ down the United left flank, with never a tackle coming in and in a goalmouth scramble McVeigh bundled the ball over the goal-line. Two minutes later, after a Rosbotham corner was only partially cleared, Sweeney missed a ‘sitter’ when he somehow put a ‘free’ header wide inside the six-yard box. From a United free kick wide on the right Shea encroached and charged down Rosbotham’s free kick and was duly booked for it, but when the kick was retaken he encroached once more, but referee Ross took no action on this occasion, a candidate no doubt for the Davey Malcolm/Pascal Vaudequin award, the T.T. (tiny testes). Ten minutes from the end the match really ‘warmed up’ when Sweeney burst through the Glenavon defence and bore down on goal. The Glenavon keeper rushed off his line and Sweeney attempted to chip him, but the keeper caught the ball but was a good yard outside his box and was duly sent off. Referee Ross once again adjudged that the free was on the just inside the edge of the ‘D’, but surely with a substitute keeper in, well within the range of United captain Gary Smyth. Shea Campbell took over in the visitor’s goal and I thought the first thing he’ll have to do is pick the ball out of the net. Alas I was completely wrong as Gary Smyth once more rolled the ball to Rosbotham, who once more drove the ball against the Glenavon wall and the chance was lost. I don’t remember Shea having to make a save worthy of the name throughout the remainder of the match and the United attack once more failed to find the crucial finishing touch to at least salvage an undeserved but crucial draw. In a last 'throw of the dice' the United manager brought on Randall Reid, taking off Boydie in the process, but he looked short of pace and made no real contribution to the United cause. But alas it wasn’t to be and Tommy Wright and his backroom staff will have to start earning their ‘corn’ soon or United’s season will just go to pot. A massive game now looms away to the ‘scum’ on Boxing Day, three points there might just save their blushes, anything less and the United ‘sceptics’ will be calling for their heads!

McFrederick 5 Kelbie 7 MoM: Kelbie

Donaghy 6 Sweeney 6

Boydie 6 Scates 6

Haveron 6 Rosbotham 5 Referee: M. Ross 3

Albert Watson 7 1st Sub: Aiden Watson 6

Smyth 5 2nd Sub: Charnock 5

King 6 3rd Sub: Reid 5

King Kelbie!

United manager Tommy Wright made only one change to his starting line-up after the ‘heavy’ defeat at the hands of Portadown, eleven days ago. Gerard McCabe was dropped in favour of the fit again Stuart King, with Boydie dropping out of midfield, to replace McCabe at left back. United survived a couple of early scares when the pacy Glentoran attack went through them like tornados. Referee Trevor Moutray shocked United by giving them a free kick after 11 minutes and this proved a crucial decision (I said he shocked United, as he had already penalised us, ‘the visitors’, on several occasions, for what can be best described as innocuous fouls). Young Andy Rosbotham delivered a ‘gem’ of a free kick and Vinny Sweeney swept the ball into the net from six-yards to put United one up. The lead was however short-lived and five minutes later the Glens scored the equaliser, when United were caught ‘flatfooted’ and with Halliday rising above the defence he duly headed home. Questions must be asked as to why young keeper Willie McFrederick, didn’t come out to claim this cross, but stood stranded on his goal-line and why Holmes of Glentoran was allowed to cross the ball in the first place. The United defence was put under severe pressure after this and almost conceded another goal straight after, but were indebted to captain Gary Smyth for a goal-line clearance. Glentoran weren’t standing on ceremony and the referee allowed a lot of late tackles, one especially on Boydie was really horrendous, but the referee was oblivious to United’s protests. Strangely enough he cautioned United’s Rory Hamill, for what can best be described as an innocuous tackle and one has to question the choice of a ‘local’ referee for such a match. United gradually ‘clawed’ their way back into the game and probably should’ve taken the lead before half-time. Stuart King, deployed on the right wing, went off on a mazy run, zipping past half a dozen Glens men in the process, but delayed his pass and Gareth Scates’s shot had no pace and was easily diverted for a corner by the Glens defence. On the stroke of half-time King brought a superb save from Glens keeper Elliot Morris, with a vicious shot from the edge of the box.


United had to make an enforced change at half-time with leading scorer Vinny Sweeney being replaced by Kevin Kelbie. Sweeney we later learned had been violently sick during the interval, symptoms which he had been suffering from all week. Kelbie, who had been on trial at the Oval loked a lot sharper than in his previous games and in fact won a few aerial tussles against the Glens defenders. Glentoran seemed content to play long balls into the United box for most of the second half and these were ‘bread and butter’ for Gary Smyth & Co. Stuart King went on another sprint up the field midway through the half, but unfortunately pushed the ball too far in front of him and collided with Glens fullback Mark Glendenning in a 50/50 challenge. Much to the consternation of Stuarty and the United fans, Glendenning went down as if hit with a ‘ton of bricks’. Referee Moutray fell for his ‘bluff’ and cautioned King, when no foul had been committed and in fact Glendenning needed no treatment from the Glens Physio. United keeper Willie McFrederick came to his sides rescue with a good punch from a Browne corner as the Glens pressed forward. Then in the 69th minute Glentoran midfielder Parkhorse (Carthorse would be a more apt name for him), blatantly ‘punched’ United’s Gary Haveron, but the referee and his two officials ‘saw nothing’. Haveron, who it has to be said was one of our lesser performers, was forced to leave the field for treatment to his ‘bloody’ face, as if to add insult to injury so to speak. Glentoran surprisingly took off their best player, Halliday, with Morgan taking his place and I for one breathed a sigh of relief. Glens continued to punt long hopeful balls into the United half and though these were virtually ineffective, the United defence did tend to defend a little too deeply for my peace of mind. It looked as if United were settling for a draw, when after 80 minutes they withdrew Hamill, with the fit again Aiden Watson taking his place. As it turned out later, Hamill, who is a bit of a ‘talisman’ for the Sky Blues, was suffering from a hamstring injury and it was a forced substitution rather than a tactical one. United’s Kieran Donaghy, who had been under the ‘cosh’ throughout the game, decided the old adage still rang true and I quote, ‘the best means of defence is attack’ and took off on a run from deep in his own box, but unfortunately lost possession just over the halfway line. Then after 82 minutes he demonstrated that his previous run was only a ‘tester’ and ‘powered’ his way through the Glens defence, in one of the best pieces of football I personally have witnessed in many a long day. Despite Shaun Holmes attempts to haul him down on at least three occasions, Kieran burst into the Glens box, but then seemed to panic and screwed his shot wide of the goals. Referee Moutray was forced to caution the Glentoran player, but it was in my opinion, too little too late. Gary Haveron also missed a glorious chance as United carried the game to the Glens, when he also ‘screwed’ a snap shot wide from the edge of the box. It was obvious that the game was up for grabs at this point, but it seemed that neither team could find that elusive piece of magic to unlock the respective defences. ‘Cometh the hour cometh the man’, as the old saying goes and what a glorious move it proved to be. Now I’m a longstanding United man and I’ve witnessed all the ‘highs and lows’ and believe me this was definitely a ‘high’. Firstly Gareth Scates fed a delightful pass to Stuarty King and the former Linfield man sprinted up the wing, leaving Glens defenders in his wake, before squaring for the inrushing Kelbie to knock the ball into the net from six yards out. What a glorious goal, my United scarf got it’s first ‘airing’ for a few years and I was virtually speechless, nothing but unintelligible noises coming out. What a superb move I thought and what a ‘fairytale’ for Kevin Kelbie to notch the vital goal. The Glens ‘huffed and puffed’ over the last six minutes, plus two minutes of stoppage time, but the United defence held firm. This result actually jumped us up from ninth to fourth in the league table and in my heart I was singing, ‘there’s only one Kevin Kelbie’, ‘one Kevin Kelbie’, ‘walking along, singing a song’, ‘walking in a “Sky Blue” wonderland’!

McFrederick 7 Hamill 7 MoM: Kelbie

Donaghy 7 Sweeney 8

Boydie 7 Scates 8

Haveron 6 Rosbotham 7 Referee: M. Moutray 3

Alb. Watson 7 1st Sub Kelbie 8

Smyth 8 2nd Sub Watson 7

King 7

Tired Legs!

The last thing Ballymena needed against Portadown last Friday night was a bad start and with ‘Murphy’s’ law in operation (as usual), that’s exactly what they got. In fact the Ports almost took the lead straight from the kick-off, as Richard Clarke ran right across our back line, with no-one getting a tackle in, before shooting wide of the target. But the Ports, with Gary Hamilton at his best, weren’t to be denied for long and with barely four minutes on the clock they prised open the United defence once more. Hamilton was the architect on this occasion as he fed the ball wide to Wesley Boyle and he squared it for the inrushing Clarke to put the Ports one up. United to their credit did try to play some football, but Portadown (aided and abetted by some ‘weird’ decisions by Carrick referee Robert Penney, who failed to caution Collins for ‘blatantly’ blasting the ball onto the terracing when a foul had been given against him), kept United under their stranglehold. After 19 minutes the Ports won a corner on their left, but the United defence held firm on this occasion and the ball was cleared to near the halfway line. A Ports player launched a high ‘hopeful’ ball towards United’s penalty area, where United keeper Willie McFrederick for some reason known only to himself, decided to come and claim. Now one of McFrederick’s big failings is his reluctance to come off his line, so what made him do this on Friday night is anybody’s guess. As he is not used to coming out for balls, he completely misjudged it and when the ball was headed goalwards he was stranded and Gary Hamilton had no trouble finding the net from 15 yards out. United did manage to regroup after this but Vincent Sweeney missed a ‘sitter’ when a beauty of a pass from Scates, split the Ports defence. With Vinny bearing down on goal the Ports keeper stayed ‘rooted’ to his goal-line and the big forward rewarded him by ‘blasting’ wide with his left foot. I personally believe this was the ‘final nail in the United coffin’, as a goal then would of brought us back into the match, but Vinny let the ‘Ports’ off the hook when he failed to find the target. Surely the first ‘rule’ in this situation must be to hit the ‘target’, after that anything can happen. Referee Penney, no doubt not wanting his car scratched ignored a vicious elbow by Collins on United’s Rory Hamill and in fact allowed play to continue. Referee Penney proved his eyesight wasn’t completely biased though, when he ignored Ports claims for a blatant foul by United captain Gary Smyth in the penalty box. Portadown then punished United further with another goal, when a Hamilton corner caught the United defence at the near post and the ball ricocheted to the unmarked Kelly at the far post, who slotted home. This goal came after 35 minutes and three minutes later Sweeney missed another chance, when his cross shot somehow trickled past the post with the keeper beaten. Two minutes before the break United finally broke their ‘duck’ when Rosbotham, like so many of his colleagues a passenger throughout the game, fed Scatesy down the right wing channel. Scates ‘whipped’ over a delightful cross which Hamill chested home at the near post. This goal was no more than United deserved, but it was ‘too little, too late’, in my book.

United who had begun with the same team that started the midweek Shield victory over Cliftonville, took off Gerard McCabe, with Stephen Collier taking his place and the team switching to three at the back. For the first five minutes of this period this ploy looked good as Collier got ‘stuck in’ to a couple of Ports players, who clearly didn’t like it. This in fact resulted in referee Penney finally getting his yellow card out to caution Ports midfielder Clarke for unnecessary rough play. He then proved that he had made a mistake, as he allowed Gary Hamilton to get away with raising his hands to Collier, after some ‘argy bargy’ on the touchline. But for some reason known only to Collier and the United management this ploy was stopped and United conceded yet another goal. Once again Hamilton was the provider as with his back to goal he laid a delightful pass into Clarke’s path and he showed Sweeney how it should be done by curling the ball wide of McFrederick to make it 4-1. Ten minutes later it was five when a Hamilton corner was headed in from inside the six-yard box, with McFrederick ‘rooted’ to his goal-line and Gary Haveron easily out-jumped. At this stage United looked to be heading for a massive defeat and their cause wasn’t helped when Rory Hamill could only hit the post from twenty yards with the goal at his mercy. United manager Tommy Wright took this opportunity to bring Kevin Kelbie on to replace Sweeney but this made no difference whatsoever. In fact Hamilton missed a sitter when the United defence got caught out and he was left ‘one on one’ with McFrederick, who stayed ‘rooted’ to his goal-line, but was glad to see Hamilton’s shot hit the far post. After 65 minutes Wesley Boyle sprinted through the tired United defence to fire the ball past McFrederick from close range, to make the score 6-1 in favour of the Ports. Thankfully this completed the scoring and McFrederick made a couple of good saves late on to deny the Ports even more goals. This was Portadown without Vinny Arkins and when he came on with ten minutes left I was a bit worried, but thankfully the Ports were happy with their night’s work and United managed to hold out to the end of 90 minutes without conceding any more goals. Thankfully the team has ten days to recover, before making a ‘daunting’ trip to the Oval to play the Glens, a vast improvement will be needed if United are to get anything other than a defeat, from that game!

McFrederick          5          Hamill               7     MoM:          Scates

Donaghy          5          Sweeney          5

McCabe           6          Scates               7

Haveron          5          Rosbotham          5     Referee:      R. Penney          2

Watson          6          1st Sub: Collier     5

Smyth               5           2nd Sub: Kelbie     5

Boydie               6