The hard core Sky Blue fans who made the trek to windswept Holm Park for today’s game with Armagh City, left for home in a jubilant mood. Not only did they leave with 3 points, they also witnessed a rare clean sheet from the United defence and the ‘icing on the cake’, former player Shea Campbell lost his rag as he came off the field threatening to take the visiting fans on in a punch up. United manager Tommy Wright made three changes to his starting line-up with Boydie taking over the left-back slot, Gary Haveron getting the nod in centre midfield alongside young recruit Stephen Lowry. This meant Mark Picking, Fitzy and McConaghie filled the subs bench. United won the toss and elected to use the benefit of the exceptionally strong breeze in the first half. This almost brought an instant dividend as Gary Haveron intercepted the Armagh kick-off, but instead of shooting for goal, opted to pass and the home defence just managed to avert the danger. Lowry got off to a great start and set Gareth Scates up for what should’ve been United’s opener after five minutes, but the United midfielder failed to trouble the keeper from inside the box. But United weren’t to be denied for long and they took the lead after 15 minutes, when the home defence failed to cut out Aaron Callaghan’s centre and Stuart King drove in a right foot shot which ricocheted off both posts before ending up in the back of the net. United tore at their opponents and Scates missed another good opening after 20 minutes. Nine minutes later United doubled their lead, when after a Stuart king corner had been played back to him he rifled in a hard low cross which Captain Albert Watson side-footed into the net. Gareth Scates missed another sitter ten minutes later, when he somehow headed a Kelbie cross over the bar, when it looked easier to score. Armagh mounted a late attack near halftime and United keeper Paul Murphy rescued his side with a good save. Lowry showed his football skills with a good exchange of passes down the touchline with Callaghan and Scates, but Armagh’s Chris Walker lost the plot and upended the United man. The referee blew the halftime whistle with the rare scoreline of United leading 2-0.
United were under the cosh a bit in the second half, but coped better with the conditions than the home team did in the first period. No one coped better with the conditions than veteran fullback Nigel Boyd and his cool head and good clearances helped immensely. Armagh’s Chris Walker forced a good save from United keeper Paul Murphy with a great free kick from 45 yards, which the keeper did well to punch over the bar. United despite playing against the howling wind, managed to string together a few attacks, but they usually broke down due to over elaboration. They finally got it right after 69 minutes when Paul Brown, a colossus in the United attack, played a gem of a pass to Stuarty King and the winger sprinted up the touchline, before delivering a beautiful cross to the far post. Gareth Scates made no mistake on this occasion when he volleyed the ball into the net from 14 yards out to give United a 3-0 lead. Shortly after this goal Tommy Wright took off Kelbie with Fitzy taking his place. Shea Campbell for once wriggled free of the United defence but his dipping shot was well saved by Murphy at the expense of another corner. Fitzy had a run on goal but elected to pass instead of shooting himself and the chance went abegging. Another substitution was made at this juncture with Mark Picking taking over from Scates, who got a good ovation from the visiting fans. Picking like Fitzy missed a chance to impress when he shot weakly after being put through by Lowry. The final substitution saw young McConaghie take over from Lowry and despite 4 minutes of stoppage time, United held out for a famous victory at the compact Armagh ground. United are now safe from automatic relegation, but an Inter Toto cup place is still a long way away, but not impossible!
P. Murphy 8 Scates 7 MoM: King
Callaghan 7 Brown 7
Boydie 8 Kelbie 6
Haveron 7 King 8 Referee: S. Mahon 3
Alb Watson 8 1st Sub: Fitzy 6
Kelly 7 2nd Sub: Picking 6
Lowry 7 3rd Sub: McConaghie 6
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