Skittish Kittens!

The 'skittish' United defence seemed determined to shoot themselves in the foot during yesterday's game at the tight Seaview pitch on Belfast's Shore Road. United manager Roy Walker was forced to make one change to his defensive formation, with Albert Watson serving a one game suspension. It's unknown whether he ditched the favoured three at the back in Albert's absence, or because of the narrow playing surface a feature of the Crues home ground. As expected cup-tied Michael Smith returned to the team at rightback while Nathan McConnell made his début alongside Kelbie. McConnell announced his arrival by being caught offside, something our strikers are adept at but did force the Crues keeper to make a save early in the first half. Aiden Watson moved to central midfield alongside Tommy Wray with Michael Ward on the right and David Cushley on the left. Cushley continues to be an enigmatic figure, taking up good positions but then over-hitting his crosses or failing miserably with them. His corners were so bad that after three miserable efforts Michael Smith took over the task. United keeper Alan Blayney, was forced to make a good save at the expense of a corner when the united defence allowed the 'ugly duckling' Mark Dickson to get a shot on goal. They of course went asleep at the set piece and after an initial saving header were relieved to see Caddell's header rebound from the post although Blayney did appear to have it covered. The United defence had another lucky let-off when they allowed a cross to come in from the left and the unmarked David Rainey put his 'free' header over the bar with the United defence spread-eagled. Referee Alan Black was his usual inept self summed up by two incidents involving home defender McKeown. Firstly he allowed a blatant elbowing offence on McDonnell by the Crues defender to go unpunished, no mandatory yellow card, although he did give the free and then to the utter astonishment of the United fans he watched as the Crues defender actually hoisted Kelbie out of his way and allowed play to continue. Mike Ward missed United's best chance when he failed to get in a shot when the ball fell to him in the home penalty box. United seemed reluctant to have a pop at goal perfectly summed up when in one spell of pressure, 3 separate players passed instead of testing the home keeper when well positioned. Neither team could break the deadlock and they reached the first half scoreless but we hoped for better fare in the second period.

Alas United were an even bigger disappointment in the second period and almost suffered a disaster shortly after the restart. Keeper Alan Blayney was in the act of clearing the ball when he dropped it to launch it off the turf, but the lurking Rainey nipped it off his toe and Blayney fouled the Crues man in an attempt to recover the situation. Referee Black flourished a yellow card, but I think it should have been red as Blayney was clearly the last man. United survived this scare and Blayney kept them in the game with a couple of good saves from McKeown and Rainey. United stand-in manager Jim Grattan took off Ward and McConnell with Picking and new signing Magill taking their place. Magill almost made an immediate impact when his shot from a rare Kelbie pass was deflected for a fruitless corner. As United attempted to get back into the game the cynical side of the home team surfaced and in typical fashion midfielder Caddell chopped the legs from United's Lee Colligan, a vicious foul which drew a yellow card from referee Black. Five minutes later the same player 'rugby tackled' United's Aiden Watson, certainly a second yellow if not a straight red, but no action from the 'gutless' Black. Kevin Kelbie seems to be completely devoid of form at the moment and despite receiving the ball in some good positions he failed to deliver telling crosses or take defenders on by himself. United's Michael Smith was replaced by Craig McClean after picking up an injury and United held out for an insipid draw, despite the best efforts of the referee to award the home team dubious free kicks.


Blayney 7 Aid Watson 7 MoM: Muir

Smith 6 McConnell 6

Colligan 7 Kelbie 5

Wray 6 Cushley 5 Referee: A. Black 2

McDonnell 7 1st Sub: Magill 6

Muir 7 2nd Sub: Picking 6

Ward 5 3rd Sub: McClean 6