Nearly There!

Linfield came to town today with all their hype, 6 fulltime professionals, league leaders and the supposedly unbeatable tag. They left town tonight with their ‘tails between their legs’, knowing they came within a whisker of going out of the Irish cup. A disappointing statistic in my mind was that despite all the hype associated with the Belfast Blues, they brought a measly 1600 fans with them. This is after all the team that boasts to have a province wide fan base and if that’s all the fans they can muster for an away game on a Saturday (well of course they are a bunch of homers), what hope is there for the proposed new league set-up. The United team lined out exactly as predicted in Sky Blue Sport’s news item last night, substitutes and all. Do we have a direct line to Tommy Wright? Are we psychic? The answer to both these questions is no, it was just the only logical team selection open to the United manager. United almost got off to a dream start when Linfield keeper Alan Manus completely miskicked a back pass and was relieved to see it go for a United throw. United with Stuarty King and Gavin Melaugh raiding down both flanks took the game to their ultra-professional opponents and subjected them to relentless pressure. Linfield for their part despite some dangerous looking attacks never looked like breaching the United defence and I can’t remember keeper Paul Murphy having to make a worthwhile save throughout the first half. United’s Aiden Watson had his shirt tugged on a number of occasions as he tore at the Linfield defence but referee Davey Malcolm allowed them to get away without administering the customary yellow card. United fullback Aaron Callaghan should’ve done better when he broke up the right flank but failed to get a cross in. In all fairness to the Limavady man the ball bobbled as he was about to hit it, as it did for Gavin Melaugh when he blasted a shot wildly over the bar. Kevin Kelbie, who was giving Linfield veteran Noel Baillie a torrid time, went down clutching his back and it looked like United’s talisman was going to have to be substituted. He managed to hold out until halftime and United were unlucky once more when a Stuarty King shot clipped the crossbar with Manus scrambling.

Despite facing the breeze in the second-half, United continued to take the game to their opponents and the visiting defenders were using every trick in the book to slow the home team down. Only Davey Malcolm knows why Ballymena resident (not a Ballymena boy, their only ever was one), Stephen Douglas wasn’t cautioned for a deliberate shirt pull on United’s Aiden Watson. Two minutes later he cautioned Watson for a mistimed tackle on midfielder Gault, which only added insult to injury if you get my drift. Kevin Kelbie was flagged for offside by the linesman, who raised his flag late, but the United man appeared to run from his own half. That old wily fox Glenn Ferguson tried to con the referee by going down under a challenge from United Captain Albert Watson, but the referee ignored his deception. Kevin Kelbie and King were combining well down the left flank and it was fitting that they should be involved in United taking the lead. Kelbie laid off a clearance to King and he left Douglas for dead, before clipping a cross to Gavin Melaugh at the far post and his volley crashed off the crossbar before going in off Linfield’s Aiden O’Kane. Almost immediately United manager Tommy Wright withdrew Lee Patrick with Gary Haveron taking his place and this meant we defended a little too deeply for my liking. That goal had however put the Sky Blues one up and they should’ve wrapped up the game two minutes later when Aaron Callaghan, with support from Aiden Watson and Kevin Kelbie, ran at the static Linfield defence. Unfortunately Callaghan delayed his pass and Watson was adjudged to be offside, a dubious decision to say the least. Then Stuarty King was pulled back by Douglas once more and when the referee played advantage, but none came, he didn’t call the play back or book the culprit. In an ironic twist Douglas equalised for Linfield in the 80^th minute when after Dickson appeared to scoop the ball with his hand, the ball was driven into the United net by the fullback to level the scores. The Linfield players did their best to incite the home crowd with ‘crude’ gestures but thankfully the home supporters (we are the best behaved in the land after all), treated this with the contempt it deserved. Douglas, who already should’ve been cautioned on at least one occasion, was given yet another lifeline when he deliberately handled the ball as Craig McClean attempted to release Stuarty King down the left flank. In my opinion this should’ve been a red card as deliberate handling has no part in football and should be dealt with in the appropriate manner. Despite two minutes of stoppage time being played the teams could not be separated and also despite announcements to the contrary, the teams will have to replay at Windsor Park this Thursday to decide who meets Lisburn Distillery in the semi-final. If it’s anything like this game, it’ll be a humdinger and I for one can hardly wait. We’re still in the cup and we’ve nothing to fear, so let’s complete this job on Thursday night!

P. Murphy 7 Melaugh 8 MoM: Aid Watson

Callaghan 7 Patrick 7

McClean 7 Brown 7

Aid Watson 8 Kelbie 8 Referee: D. Malcolm 5

Alb Watson 8 King 8

Kelly 8 1^st Sub: Haveron 7