Crues Cracked!

United entertained Crusaders today with only one change from last Saturday’s starting line-up, with Gary Haveron coming on, in place of the suspended Gordon Simms. United began brightly enough, but despite forcing several corners and winning some free kicks, they couldn’t get a decent effort on target. Central defender Gary Haveron rose practically unchallenged on a couple of occasions, but failed to find the target. Referee Trevor Moutray was at his ‘fussy’ best and gave countless free kicks aided and abetted by the ‘histrionics’ of the Crues players who resembled ballet dancers and not footballers. United almost broke the deadlock after 25 minutes when a Darren Murphy free kick was somehow pushed onto the post by Crues goalkeeper Neil Armstrong. At the other end United keeper Paul Murphy tipped over a free kick from 25 yards, to keep the scores level. Then in the 35^th minute the Crues took an undeserved lead when after a free kick had been partly cleared by Gary Haveron, the ball was played back in and touched into the path of Linfield old boy Davey Larmour and he scored from close range. The free had been given for yet another innocuous foul, which the referee thought warranted the flashing of a yellow card to United’s Gary Haveron, for what was his only foul of the first half, if in fact it was a foul. Five minutes later he cautioned Kevin Kelbie after the United striker had won the ball fair and square on the halfway line, a diabolical decision. Halftime was reached with United trailing by a goal to nil, but still with a foothold on the game.

The second half began in a scrappy fashion, which was stage managed by the visitors and United struggled to play constructive football. Big striker Paul Brown, who has had his fair share of criticism by many, myself included, put some real enthusiasm into his play in the second-half and it began to pay dividends for the home team. Twelve minutes into the second-half Browner forced a good save from the Crues keeper, at the expense of a corner. Mark Picking swung over a beauty of a kick and Gary Haveron scored with a great downward header. The big Larne man showed his sheer delight and ‘milked’ the applause of the Sky Blue faithful. This score seemed to rattle the Crues defence and United enjoyed a real purple patch for the next 20 minutes or so. Paul Brown almost brought the ‘house’ down when his snap shot from the edge of the box beat Armstrong in the Crues goal and somehow went the wrong side of the post. The Crues committed ‘hari-kari’ in the 75^th minute when they casually played the ball across their back four after Aaron Callaghan had intercepted a through ball. Paul Brown, who else, latched onto the ball, before feeding it into the path of fellow marksman Kevin Kelbie. Kelbie played a one-two with Mark Picking before shooting under Armstrong’s diving body to put the Sky Blues 2-1 ahead. To say the United fans were delirious was to make a gross understatement and there’s nobody who knows how to elicit their cheers like ‘King Kevin Kelbie’. United should’ve had a third goal in the 80^th minute, when Browner played the ball through to Picking, but the winger delayed his shot and a Crues defender managed to block it. The Crues caught a couple of bookings in this half which evened things up a bit for the two home bookings in the first period. The Crues threw everything at United in the final ten minutes and it was a ‘backs to the wall’ struggle at times. Manager Wright made his only change with 6 minutes remaining, taking off the limping Darren Murphy and bringing on Lee Patrick. United were indebted to their keeper Paul Murphy in the closing minutes as he was a steady rock, even plucking the ball out of the air when the Crues threw everybody, including their keeper forward for a corner. Almost immediately the referee blew the final whistle and United had snatched a wonderful victory, which keeps their unbeaten home record intact.

P. Murphy 7 Picking 7 MoM: Browner

Callaghan 7 Aid Watson 7

Boydie 7 Brown 8

Scates 7 Kelbie 7 Referee: T. Moutray 3

Alb Watson 7 D. Murphy 7

Haveron 8 1^st Sub: Patrick 7