Side-Tracked Tommy!

This was an abysmal performance by the Sky Blues in their first home game of the New Year and for once the second half was just as bad as the first. I wonder if manager Tommy Wright's indecision, would he accept the 'Norwich post', rubbed off on his players, as they seemed in two minds as to what they wanted to do in today's match. Admittedly their preparations were somewhat undone by the absence of team Captain Albert Watson's unavailability, rumoured to be suffering from a back injury. I couldn't possibly comment on rumours circulating among United fans that his injury was caused by a bulky wallet, which held 'under the table payments' from a bigoted rival manager. Mister versatility Gary Haveron, slotted into defence alongside Johnny Flynn and the two performed adequately, Lee Patrick took Gary's place in midfield and Stephen Lowry, as suggested by Sky Blue Sport (lucky guess), got the nod on the right in place of Mark Picking. Gary Haveron, team Captain in Albert's absence, chose to play against the wind in the first half and to not attack our favourite goals at the Fisherwick end of the ground. To say that the first half was a non-event was to give it more credit than it deserved, to put it bluntly it was pathetic. Stuarty King, I hate to admit, was the one bright spark in the first half as he repeatedly eluded his marker in the first period, but the United players seemed unable or unwilling to get on the end of his crosses. I cannot remember visiting keeper Tuda Murphy, having to make one save worthy of the name during the first half. In fact the closest United came to scoring was when a Stuarty King cross was played into the six-yard box and a Glenavon defender under no pressure managed to clear it at the second attempt. The dearth of United goal attempts was in complete contrast to their incisive passing, which was quite exhilarating at times, but there was no end product. For the second game in a row an opposition player had to leave the field after a tackle from a United defender and on this occasion Tam Wray was lucky to escape the referee's notebook, as his tackle was definitely high. The visitors had a few shots on target but these were from outside the box and keeper Murphy dealt capably with them and despite forcing several corners, Glenavon failed to trouble the United rearguard to any great extent. Halftime was reached with the scores locked at 0-0 and we hoped the United manager would be able to turn his team around as he has done so successfully in the past.

He looked to have worked his magic in the 49th minute, when Kelbie nodded a pass to the unmarked Melaugh lurking on the left of the six-yard box. With United fans screaming for him to shoot, he instead delayed his shot and the ball was scrambled for a fruitless corner. this was to prove a costly miss, as it was United's only chance in the entire game. Oh they 'huffed and puffed' after this but to no avail, as they were unable to find the vital breakthrough that would unlock the visitors defence. With an hour gone the United manager took off Stephen Lowry, who wasn't the worst player on show by a long chalk and brought on Mark Picking. United began to pile forward looking for an opening and won a free kick about 25 yards from goal on the right-side of the penalty box. Gary Haveron the hero from Tuesday stepped up, but drove his free kick against the defensive wall and the chance was lost. The visitors were dangerous on the break and Paul Murphy was happy to see a snap shot hit the post before going over the by-line when his defence had gone asleep. With 15 minutes left manager Wright made another substitution, which if it was tactical, was ill-advised, when he took off Gavin Melaugh, by far the best home player on view and brought on Davitt Walsh. Yes we needed Walsh on, there was no doubt about that, but at the expense of Melaugh it meant we lost his footballing skills, which were in very short supply today. Of course Melaugh could've been injured and although I tried to find out about this I was unable to get clarification. Walsh could and should've been an instant success, when fed down the right by Tam Wray, but instead of bounding for goal he inexorably delayed his run before attempting a high cross that was easily cut out by the visitors defence. In a last throw of the 'dice', the United manager brought on David Cushley in place of Stuarty King, who had a poor second half, but at least continued to try. Cushley gave the home team some hope when he found Kelbie with a neat pass, but unfortunately United's top scorer went too wide and drove his shot harmlessly over the byline. Despite a couple of lengthy stoppages referee Best added on only 3 minutes of stoppage time, but in fact only played 2 of them, as inconsistent as ever. When the final whistle sounded it was a relief, as I don't think United would've scored if they has played all night. The one positive to come out of the game, was that United had kept a clean sheet, just as we did against Limavady United back in November and that led to 5 clean sheets in a row, I'd definitely settle for that, starting with next weeks game away to Newry. Okay we didn't win, but we didn't lose either, let's put it behind us and go out and win our next six games, a tall order I know, but not impossible! As the old saying goes, 'Miracles happen every day, the impossible (the possible in our case), just takes a little bit longer'!


Murphy 7 Scates 6 MoM: Melaugh

Wray 6 Melaugh 7

McClean 6 Kelbie 6

Patrick 6 King 6 Referee: D. Best 4

Haveron 7 1st Sub: Picking 6

Flynn 7 2nd Sub: Walsh 6

Lowry 6 3rd Sub: Cushley 6