Over Drawn!

United manager Tommy Wright made two changes to his starting line-up after Saturday’s victory over the Coleraine Scum. One of them was forced upon him as Aiden Watson, not for the first time, was injured during the warm-up, which meant Gary Haveron taking over in midfield, with team Captain Gary Smyth slotting into his usual central defensive role. The other change was tactical with Paul Brown getting the nod upfront, therefore relegating Rory Hamill to the subs bench. United began the match somewhat sluggishly but should’ve taken the lead after 18 minutes when Gordon Simms sent a free header from a Rowe corner over the bar, a bad miss indeed. Craig McClean was caught with a late tackle but was able to continue after treatment and referee Davey Malcolm quite surprisingly booked the culprit. I say surprisingly as he seemed to think Paul Brown was fair game for the Glenavon defenders and gave no fouls against them despite their persistent foul tackles on the United hitman. Albert Watson came to United’s rescues when Gary Smyth got caught out of position, but Watson got back to save the day with a good tackle with Verner through on goal. Craig McClean then got injured again in an incident that led to a booking for Stuart King for a late tackle, but the Glenavon player retaliated against McClean but Malcolm of course took no action against him. Although McClean came back, it took him some time to shake off the injury and even though he put in some good crosses I don’t think he ever got back to full fitness. United took the lead after 26 minutes, when the persistent Kelbie tussled for the ball with the home keeper and a defender, as the ball rolled out to the left United’s top scorer rifled a left foot shot into the empty net. Five minutes later Kelbie turned provider when he unselfishly fed the ball to Gerard Rowe but the winger delayed his shot and allowed a home defender to get in a saving tackle, yet another chance gone begging. The home keeper was unable to kick the ball and United failed to put him under any pressure although he made a great save to deny Brown when the United striker’s header from a McClean cross looked destined for the top corner. Stuart Addis retained in goal for the Sky Blues messed up with a back pass and was relieved to see the ball whiz past his post when returned by Glenavon striker Marty Verner. Gordon Simms completely miskicked twice but luckily they came to nothing but the signs we there to see that United needed to consolidate their lead, but they failed to do so and halftime was reached with the visitors leading by just the solitary goal.

Seven minutes into the second half and United were made to pay for their benevolence when their leaky defence failed to get in a tackle and allowed Marty Verner to score from inside the six-yard box. This more or less signalled the end for Craig McClean as he signalled to the bench and was replaced by the veteran Boydie. Nigel almost made an instant impact as he beat four home defenders in a mazy run before just running out of energy, no doubt caused by his many weeks of inactivity. United forced several corners but couldn’t find the breakthrough although Kelbie missed a glorious chance when he headed a Rowe in-swinger over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Stuart Addis pulled off a great save from former United defender David McAlinden pushing his free kick round the post. Midway through the half manager Wright strangely took off big Brown, replacing him with Hamill. I thought he would’ve been better to have kept Brown on and slipped Hamill into midfield or went into all-out attack with a four, three, three, formation. Despite further openings and fruitless corners it was the home team who took the lead after 82 minutes. The United defence will not want to be reminded of this one as it was all down to them. Glenavon had won a corner and United left a home player unmarked on the edge of the box. The ball was rolled to him and even though he tripped over it the kind United defence allowed him time to get a shot on goal. It was a poor shot but Glenavon player McKnight was quickest off the mark, to hammer it past the stranded Addis. United fans were quick to berate their team and who could blame them as they had watched them throw away a great advantage, like so many times this season. Cometh the hour cometh the man they say and so it proved again when United ‘talisman’, Rory Hamill, rifled a real screamer from thirty yards into the corner of the net which left the home keeper gaping in awe and the home players shattered as it had come about thirty seconds after they had taken the lead. Two minutes later the United manager took off winger Rowe, who can also play upfront and brought on the more defensive Scates, in yet another strange move. Surely we should have been throwing everything at the home team in the hope of taking all three points, so taking off an attacker wasn’t really an option. Kelbie came within an ace of doing the business anyway when his goalbound effort was clawed to safety by the Glenavon keeper. Then at the other end Addis, not to be outdone, pushed a vicious shot from McVeigh round the post. With the match entering stoppage time Kelbie was harshly booked when he was adjudged to have fouled the home keeper as they both went for the ball, but it was plain to see that no contact was made. This booking could have serious consequences for United as it must push Kelbie towards thirty penalty points and a two match ban. The match came to an end about two minutes later and United’s penchant for drawing as they have done four times in their last seven games looks like costing them dearly, as just another two wins would have left them level on points with Dungannon, instead of trailing by four as they now do. If we are to be a team to be reckoned with, this is something the United manager needs to sort out and, he needs to do it quickly!


Addis 7 Brown 6 MoM: Kelbie

Albert Watson 7 Sweeney 6

McClean 6 Kelbie 7

Smyth 6 King 6 Referee: D. Malcolm 3

Simms 6 1st Sub: Boydie 7

Haveron 6 2nd Sub: Hamill 7

Rowe 6 3rd Sub: Scates 6