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