Powder Puff!

When United finished their difficult start to the league campaign, they had nine games left to play to reach the halfway stage in the league, some of which on paper were fairly easy and some of which were difficult. After three relatively easy games we encountered our first difficult one today when Dungannon Swifts visited the Showgrounds, as usual we failed to take advantage of the situation and that in my opinion is indicative of Tommy Wright's reign at the Showgrounds, so far. We outplayed Dungannon today, but and I stress the word 'but', we failed to press home our advantage and the two points dropped today could come back to haunt us in the latter stages of this campaign. United were forced to make one change to their starting line-up, with Johnny Flynn replacing the injured Simon Kelly in central defence. United started brightly and Stephen Lowry came within inches of keeping up his scoring record, after jinking his way through the visitor's defence, but unfortunately his 'cross cum shot' failed to find the target. United, who were attacking their favourite goals at the Fisherwick end of the ground kept up the pressure during the first period and a goal looked certain. Good work down the right by Lowry and Walsh forced a corner but only Kevin Kelbie knows how he missed with a free header from Craig McClean's inswinger, a bad miss indeed. United had a let-off when Albert Watson completely miskicked when under no pressure, giving away a fruitless corner, but this was well evened up when former player Shea Campbell also completely miskicked, which brought the biggest cheer of the day by far. Garth Scates, who had a day he'll want to forget, blasted a free kick miles over the bar from 25 yards and proved to me personally that United have no free kick strategy whatsoever. Five minutes before the half United did almost ironically succeed with a free kick when Craig McClean hooked the ball in and former United keeper, Dwayne Nelson, saved Flynn's point blank header at the expense of a corner. United stood and watched as Nelson then flapped at McClean's inswinger and then stood back and allowed the keeper to recover the ball. Halftime was reached with the score at 0-0, but I thought surely the manager must see that Scates was a passenger and that he would replace him.

United took the field for the second half with the same team and as luck would have it Scates was given a glorious chance to be the hero seven minutes into the half. Stephen Lowry played a glorious ball into the midfielder's path and with the goal at his mercy he somehow failed to find the target. Even this horrendous miss failed to make the manager act and he had the personnel on the bench to go with many permutations but he chose to do nothing. United appeared to go into their shell after this and took on the mantle of a team playing for a draw. Kevin Kelbie should've won United a penalty when he was pulled down well inside the box by Swift's player Johnny Montgomery, who should've been sent off or at least cautioned for this offence as he was the last man, but referee Ball flourished no card, hopefully the fact that Montgomery had already been booked had no reflection on his decision. As if to add insult to injury United were awarded an in-direct free kick, outside the box, how the referee arrived at this decision escapes me. With 15 minutes left there was at last activity on the subs bench and it evoked the second biggest cheer of the day, She (A), Campbell was substituted by the visitors. Five minutes later the United manager took off top scorer Davitt Walsh and brought on Randal Reid. Was this just a cosmetic exercise I wondered, admittedly Walsh wasn't at his best, but he was well ahead of United's worst performer, Scates. Dungannon to their credit surged forward and United keeper Murphy rescued his side with a good save from McAree. United had to endure 4 minutes of stoppage time and were lucky to escape when McAllister was hauled down inside the box by United Captain Albert Watson, yet another stonewall penalty. The referee's decision on this occasion was, surprise! surprise!, an in-direct free kick outside the box, but on this occasion he did caution the United Captain and rightly so, as he was the last man. Justice was done in the end and the match ended all square, but I feel Dungannon were the happier team at the finish. On the plus side United have gone four games undefeated and for the 2nd week in succession they've had a clean sheet, but I can't stop thinking it should've have been so much more!

Murphy 8 Lowry 6 MoM: Murphy

Callaghan 5 Scates 4

McClean 7 Walsh 6

Haveron 6 Kelbie 7 Referee: A. Ball 4

Alb Watson 8 Melaugh 7

Flynn 5 Sub: Reid 6

Ugly Win!

Ballymena have hauled themselves up into joint sixth in the Carnegie Premier league with this 'ugly' victory over bottom club Limavady United. United, as predicted in Sky Blue Sport, made one change to their starting line-up from last week, Stephen Lowry retaining his place as Mark Picking is still injured. To say that United were not impressive today was to make a gross understatement, but they were also it must be conceded quite clinical and converted three of five chances which came their way, taking all three points in the process. Limavady, who for once brought some fans with them,about 25 or so, played all the football, but luckily for the home team they failed miserably in the last third of the pitch. In fact the closest they came to breaching the United defence was when Simon Kelly conceded a corner midway through the half. United took an undeserved lead after 25 minutes when Davitt Walsh latched onto a long clearance and beat the advancing keeper with a well placed shot for his 9th goal of the season. Would this strike give the Sky Blues some impetus I wondered, but no, they just went back into their shell, looking for all the world like a team who were happy to be leading by a solitary goal. The cold wind penetrated the home stand and United fans were content to wait for their halftime burger, as the fayre on the pitch was anything but exciting. Just when it seemed as if one goal was all we were going to see, Davitt Walsh produced a bit of magic on the by-line, before squaring the ball to Stephen Lowry and he crashed the ball into the net for his second goal in successive games, to give the home team a two goal lead. This goal came after 42 minutes and referee McFadden blew up 4 minutes later and United went in leading by a 2-0 scoreline.

Limavady, with the wind at their backs in the 2nd period, laid siege to the United goal and it seemed only a matter of time before they would get the vital breakthrough. Time and time again the United defence failed to clear their lines properly and during this spell Garth Scates became a virtual passenger in the home midfield. United did manage a rare break 12 minutes into the 2nd half and Craig McClean, after a mazy run played the ball into Gavin Melaugh's path. The former Glentoran midfielder managed somehow to put the ball over the bar when it looked easier to score, a bad miss. I personally thought this miss would be costly as the visitors were finding too many holes in the home defence, aided and abetted by a linesman who missed at least 3 blatant offsides. But the United defence, under the steadying influence of Watson, Kelly and keeper Murphy held firm and Gavin Melaugh made up for his earlier miss, when he drifted past the visitor's defence, before setting up Kevin Kelbie, who fired in United's third goal. This goal came after 75 minutes and the match was over from that point. Manager Wright rang the changes after this, taking off Scates, with Lee Patrick coming on and then Walsh made way for Fitzy. In a last throw of the dice youth player Stephen McNeill replaced Stephen Lowry but United were unable to add to their tally and had to content themselves with a 3-0 victory. It was a strange game in many ways, made even stranger by the fact that only one physio was called for during the game and that was in injury time, I wonder if that was indicative of the effort put in by both teams or am I being too harsh? At the end of the day we won and that's all that matters, as the saying goes, 'a win is a win', so let's have some more!


Murphy 7 Scates 5 MoM: Walsh

Callaghan 6 Walsh 8

McClean 7 Kelbie 7

Haveron 6 Melaugh 7 Referee: P. McFadden 5

Watson 7 1st Sub: Patrick 6

Kelly 7 2nd Sub: Fitzy 6

Lowry 7 3rd Sub: McNeill 6

Holm Comfort!

United made the journey to Holm Park Armagh yesterday and despite a hectic finish from the home team, they came home with 3 valuable points. United manager Tommy Wright made one change to his starting line-up, with the fit again Aaron Callaghan returning at right-back, which allowed Simon Kelly to slot into central defence alongside Albert Watson, in the absence of Johnny Flynn, who was away in Cyprus with the Norn Iron under-21s. United almost took the lead after only two minutes when former keeper Stuart Addis just managed to tip a Kelbie header over the bar. The visitors seemed to lose their way a bit after this and home player Conor Forker forced a good save from United keeper Murphy. United stepped up the pressure, but failed to carve out a decent opening, while referee Ken Ginnett allowed the home team to get away with numerous foul tackles as United probed for the vital breakthrough. The official was however right on the spot when home defender Turkington clearly handled a left wing cross and he had no hesitation in awarding United a penalty. Top scorer, Davitt Walsh steered the ball into the left corner of the net to give United a one nil lead with 25 minutes on the clock. Two minutes later Garth Scates picked up the ball just over the halfway line and weaved through the home defence, before passing to the unmarked Mark Picking. The United fans prepared to rise to greet another goal but the winger appeared to stub the ground before delivering a weak shot which Addis saved easily. That was the last action of the game for Picking and 2 minutes later he was assisted off to be replaced by Stephen Lowry. United had further chances to increase their lead but they all tended to break down with the final pass. The home team also looked dangerous at times, but United Captain Albert Watson never allowed his keeper to get pressurised and halftime was reached with United still leading by the single goal.

Armagh had another let-off early in the second-half, when a Kelbie corner from a Craig McClean inswinging corner, was kicked off the line and Gary Haveron's overhead kick just skimmed the crossbar. Armagh then stepped up the pressure and United were under the cosh for a couple of minutes. After some sustained pressure from the home team, Gary Haveron cleared the ball to the live-wire Walsh and he played it neatly into the path of the breaking Stephen Lowry who was 15 yards inside his own half. The Coleraine student burst through the static home defence and as Kelbie pulled wide he went for goal and as Addis advanced coolly slotted the ball high into the net, to open his United scoring account and more importantly give the Sky Blues a two nil lead. Five minutes later United appeared to score another goal when another McClean corner was headed goalwards by Gary Haveron. United fans behind the goal were adamant that the ball crossed the goal-line before being hooked clear. The linesman appeared to point towards the centre circle, signaling a goal in my opinion, when the referee looked towards him, but play was allowed to continue. Davitt Walsh, who worked his 'socks off, was substituted with 10 minutes left, with Fitzy coming on. Armagh threw everything into attack over the closing stages and United's defence looked decidedly wobbly at this stage. Just when it seemed the home team would remain scoreless they were given a lifeline by the referee who gave them a penalty, for an alleged handball, which I must confess I never saw. The penalty was duly dispatched into the net to reduce the score to 2-1 and with 3 minutes of added time United were subjected to a bit more pressure. Luckily they held out to record their 2nd victory in a row and move up to 9th in the league table and even though not out of the woods yet, they are at least moving in the 'Wright' direction!


Murphy 7 Scates 6 MoM: Walsh

Callaghan 7 Walsh 8

McClean 7 Kelbie 7

Haveron 6 Melaugh 7 Referee: K. Ginett 5

Alb Watson 8 1st Sub: Lowry 7

Kelly 6 2nd Sub: Fitzy 6

Picking 6