Ten Scum!

United went to Coleraine as 'whipping boys' for yesterday's game, given their recent league and cup form, but emerged with their heads held high after outplaying the 6th placed team in the league. Of course their habit of leaking goals came back to haunt in what otherwise was a good performance and for once 'lady luck' shone on us as we survived a frenetic last 11 minutes as the home team went for all three points. United manager Roy Walker fielded a strange looking team with Aiden Watson at rightback, Liam Hogan at leftback and Neal Blaney restored in goals. 'Archie' Stewart partnered Albert in the centre of defence and the midfield saw Mark Picking restored on the right wing and Liam Mullan on the left, with Melaugh and club Captain Gary Haveron in the centre. Kevin Kelbie played up front with Neal Teggart, although Kelbie spent most of his time on the left wing, surely a waste of his talents. United won the toss and elected to defend the Town end of this dilapidated ground in the first half. This used to be a great ground for atmosphere, with two sets of fans, who literally 'hate each others guts', separated by 20 yards of 'no-mans land, but since that terracing was considered unsafe, visiting fans are excluded and must either watch from behind the goals or take a seat in the stand, the die-hard United fans watch from behind the goals. United started well and dominated the play, but the midfield were again in a no 'tackle' mood and allowed a few 'scum' players to waltz past them unhindered. The one exception was Captain Gary Haveron, but referee Turkington seemed aggrieved at this and gave a foul almost every time the United Captain went for the ball. Despite Coleraine forcing several corners the United defence was rarely troubled, although keeper Blayney did drop the ball on one occasion, but luckily he recovered quickly. United's best chance of the first period came when Mullan flashed an inviting cross and both Teggart and Picking failed to make contact. United also failed to take advantage of a poor punch from scum keeper Davey 'fat' O'Hare, when a goal looked on the cards. United then picked up two harsh bookings, firstly Picking was hacked down in the box, but the referee cautioned him for 'allegedly' diving and then Haveron was booked after winning the ball fairly and squarely. This booking brought a protest from United manager Roy Walker and 4th official Dessie Loughrey needlessly, in my opinion, brought this to the referee's attention. Halftime was reached with the game scoreless although United were the happier of the two teams.

United stepped up the pressure in the 2nd period and continued to outshine the team 7 places above them in the league table. United almost broke the deadlock five minutes into the 2nd half, when Liam Mullan unleashed a thunderbolt from 35 yards which beat fat Davey all ends up, hit the underside of the crossbar, before allegedly rebounding to safety. United fans including myself wondered if the ball had crossed the goal-line, but we were too far away to tell and had to abide by the referee and linesman's decision. Nine minutes later United got their just rewards when after a foul 25 yards from goal, gave Gary Haveron the chance to exact some revenge on his former team. The United captain's shot cannoned of fat Davey's legs and striker Neal Teggart following up swept the ball into the net. United fans were over the 'blue moon' and who could blame them and the scum looked dead on their feet. United looked as if they might go on and win the game as the home team seemed devoid of ideas, but then the game was turned on it's head when referee Turkington rightly cautioned home striker Gibson for a bad tackle on Aiden Watson and as it was his second yellow card, he was then sent off. Now it was the turn of home manager David Platt to remonstrate, but this time the 4th official seemed happy to let him have his rant. This incident seemed to 'galvanise' the home team, while the Sky Blues seemed to go into their shell, instead of stepping up the pace. Suddenly passes were going astray, tackles were once more being missed and it was surely time for an inspirational move from our manager. What did he do, he took off one of his heroes, Liam Mullan and brought on the man who cannot tackle, Stuarty King. The scum finally got an undeserved equaliser after 82 minutes when the United defence failed to deal with a corner and midfielder Tony Shiels (hopefully he's not related to Kenny), hit a screamer from 20 yards into the top left corner giving Blaney no chance. Shortly afterwards Mark Picking was caught by a late tackle, missed by referee Turkington and was replaced by Lee Colligan. The scum were in the ascendency at this stage and Tolan dragged a shot wide with Blaney scrambling while the United keeper was relieved to see a Stephen Carson shot come off the post. United's sub Colligan was the victim of another late tackle and was replaced by Davitt Walsh. Despite the referee finding 4 minutes of stoppage time, United held out for a deserved point, but I can't help thinking it could and should've been all three!


Blaney 7 Melaugh 5 MoM: Aid Watson

Aid Watson 8 Teggart 7

Hogan 7 Kelbie 6

Haveron 7 Mullan 7 Referee: B. Turkington 4

Alb Watson 7 1st Sub: King 5

Stewart 7 2nd Sub: Colligan 6

Picking 7 3rd Sub: Walsh 6