United Stand!

I was going to say that United ‘surged’ to their first win of the season tonight, beating Portadown one nil in front of a smallish crowd of supporters. But it would be more accurate to say they crawled over the line, as they pulled a win from the jaws of a draw with an 84th minute goal. United began the match with Albert Watson, Gordon Simms, Gary Haveron and Boydie as the back four. With Aiden Watson carrying a leg injury, Scates was promoted to partner Lee Patrick in midfield, with Friel on the right and Darren Murphy on the left. Paul Brown got the nod to partner Kelbie up front, leaving, Fitzy, Picking and McClean on the bench. United got off to the worst possible start, when Simms had to leave the field after a head butting incident, which referee David Best saw as accidental, with blood streaming from his nose. The United central defender was off the field for a good 8 minutes and United defended ‘gamely’ as the Ports put them under some pressure. Even when big Gordon returned, it was plain to see that he was not 100%, but he struggled on. The linesman at the Fisherwick end of the ground which the home team was defending, missed at least two blatant offsides and I was little concerned to put it mildly. Despite the visitors forcing several corners, the United defence held firm and they even managed to force a couple of corners themselves. Boydie at left back and Darren Murphy performed well for the home team down the left flank as the half wore on. Midway through the half Gareth Scates went in late on a tackle and was harshly booked by the Belfast official. Despite Portadown’s pressure I can only remember them creating one worthwhile chance, when McCutcheon shot wide with the United defence spread-eagled, a real let-off.

The second half was almost a carbon copy of the first and manager Ronnie McFall played his ‘ace card’ ten minutes into the second half, bringing on Mickey Collins to bolster his midfield. Ten minutes later United manager Tommy Wright took off Brown and Friel and brought on Fitzy and Picking. This move seemed to give United a bit of a lift and they began to take the game to the visitors. An incident occurred right under the referee’s gaze when Ports player Kennedy lashed out at Mark Picking. This was a serious offence but the referee ‘chickened’ out and only cautioned the culprit. As the ball rolled into touch two minutes later, a United ballboy threw it back and Ports sub Mickey Collins cynically headed it away in a blatant display of time-wasting, which the referee largely ignored. United were a constant thorn in the visitors side at this stage and manager McFall threw on both his subs to try and turn the game around. But it was the Sky Blues who were dictating the tempo of the game now and this was typified by commitment of Boydie at left-back as he overlapped in support of the home attack. United won a throw adjacent to the visitor’s penalty box and Boydie found Kelbie with a quick throw. The United striker cut in from the by-line before delivering an inch perfect pass which, Lee Patrick hammered into the net from 6 yards. That goal came in the 85th minute and United thought they had doubled their lead two minutes later, when Kelbie sprinted up the left wing again, before crossing for Patrick to hammer a bicycle kick across the goal where, where Fitzy hammered it home. Alas the linesman’s flag for offside ruled this one out, yet another dodgy decision from the official. Portadown were now going into all out attack mode but the United defence ably marshalled by Gary Haveron held firm. In a rare United attack the linesman once more flagged for an offside when the United player, Fitzy, was at worst level with the Ports fullback. We then witnessed one of the most bizarre incidents ever seen in any football ground, when goalkeeper Dougherty grabbed the ball from the United ballboy and hurled the youngster to the ground. Referee Best, to his credit, sent the visiting keeper off and he had to take the ‘walk of shame’ across to the dressing rooms. Despite the referee finding 5 minutes of stoppage time United held out for a good victory and then as the players left the field the Coleraine ‘Scum Bag’, Barry Hunter, punched United assistant manager Jim Grattan, who had to be restrained by the United stewards. There also seemed to be scuffles in the tunnels, no doubt we haven’t heard the last of these incidents. But the main thing at the end of the day is that United won and kept alive their hopes of progressing to the C.I.S. cup knock-out stages.


P. Murphy          6          Scates               5     MoM:     Haveron

Alb Watson          5          Brown               5

Boydie               7          Kelbie               6

Patrick               7          D. Murphy           7     Referee:   D. Best     3

Simms               6          1st Sub: Picking     6

Haveron          7          2nd Sub: Fitzy          6

Friel               6          3rd Sub: McClean     6