Missed Chances!

This was a game of missed chances for both teams, both had enough chances to wrap up the points, but failed miserably when it came to taking them. United's recent signing Gary Muir, a man with a reputation for scoring goals was the first culprit. A back-pass was played to the visiting keeper, who completely scuffed his clearance and it fell at Muir's feet. Muir somehow known only to him contrived to miss an open goal, it was definitely harder to miss it than to score it, but miss it he did. Despite being called up for the under-21s Chris Ramsay started in defence, alongside Archie, with Gazza slipping into midfield with Aiden Watson, Muir and Andy Smith, that left Kelbie and Sparky up front. United's team selection had earlier been thrown into confusion when Noel Anderson was sick after reporting to the ground.

United seemed unable to string more than two passes together and it was no surprise when the visitors came more into the game. Referee Creaney committed a major gaffe, failing to award Newry a penalty after Archie 'cleaned' Stephen Garret. The foul was a good yard inside the penalty box,but referee Creaney gave a free-kick on the edge. United failed to learn from this near-miss and had another let-off when Garret somehow missed the target from six yards, when it looked easier to score than miss. Coleman of Newry was unlucky to see his shot beat Nelson, but bounce clear off the post and then Nelson made a good save just before halftime.

The second half was no better than the first and we were left wondering if either manager had anything in reserve to change things round. With 25 minutes left Walker took off Aiden Watson and Sparky, replacing them with Mackers and the Cush. Surely the 'Cush' could get us going I thought but even he seemed to be in a quiet mood. United did manage to force a couple of corners, but couldn't apply the finishing touches inside the box. Gary Muir burst clear of the Newry defence but pulled the ball back behind Mackers. The two Smiths combined well down the right and when the cross came in, Gary Muir, with a free header failed to trouble the keeper. This was practically Muir's last action as he was replaced by young Lee McCaughen.

At the other end United were indebted to goalie Dwayne Nelson for a couple of good saves when the Newry substitute showed our defence a clean pair of heels. Cushley, who generally shoots from fifty yards wasn't his old self at all and when he found himself near the edge of the box, he tried to find Kelbie with a delicate pass, when a shot looked the better option. Mackers passed up the chance of testing the keeper also when he passed after bursting into the box and Kelbie also fired over the bar when he appeared to have plenty of time to pick his spot. During stoppage time the Cush cut inside but his well struck shot failed to trouble the keeper and the game ended in a draw. A point apiece was all either team deserved, for this was a really boring game. I just hope United had one eye on next week's cup game at Glenavon as I couldn't stick another game like this one.

Nelson (7), M.Smith (6), Colligan (5), Ramsay (5), Archie (6), Aid Watson (5)(Sub: Cushley 6,), A, Smith (5), Gazza (6), Muir (4)(Sub: McCaughen 6,), Sparky (6)(Sub: (Mackers 5,), Kelbie (5)

Man of the match: Dwayne Nelson

Last Gasp!

There's an old saying that goes 'he who laughs last, laughs longest'. Former United player Stuarty King was 'laughing' when his club, Glenavon, scored a late goal at the Showgrounds, only for it to be correctly ruled out for offside. Then in the 2nd minute of added time United won a penalty when visiting keeper Plummer, whipped the legs from United's Gary Muir and up stepped 'King Kelbie' to fire home the resultant penalty, his 13th goal of the season and he laughed his head off. It also sent the United fans into raptures and why not, for despite their team creating several chances it had looked likely that they'd have to settle for a draw, but justice was done in the end.

United manager Roy Walker had continuing with his Kelbie/Sparky strike partnership, put Andy Smith on the left wing, Gary Muir on the right, a centre-midfield of Locky and Taggart with Mike Smith reverting to right-back and Captain Gary Haveron, slotting in alongside Albert at centre-back. United began brightly and Gary Muir found himself with a clear shot at goal after just 2 minutes but he ballooned his shot over the bar. United won a corner after a few minutes and Gazza's header was cleared off the line with Plummer beaten. In a rare Glenavon attack Colligan went in a bit late on visiting forward Molloy, but made no contact, but Molloy screamed like a young girl, a despicable attempt to have another player cautioned, luckily referee Burns didn't fall for the ruse.

Midway through the half United won another corner and Albert's free header was just headed clear at the last minute. The visitors had a wee spell of pressure and Molloy tried to con the referee once more by squealing like a 'stuck pig', maybe that's how they teach them where he's from. He then demonstrated his 'Jekyll 'n Hyde character by cutting inside Colligan, before smacking a left-foot shot off the crossbar. The remainder of the half was mainly devoid of goalmouth incident, but United did play themselves into trouble on a couple of occasions by their causal play in their own half. Molloy messed up when he waltzed through the United defence, only to stop and lift the ball claiming he heard a whistle, I think it was the echo of his earlier screams, as nobody else heard it.

The 2nd half was a dour midfield struggle and even though the visitors looked dangerous they only created one worthwhile chance. This was when Costello found himself with some space about 20 yards from goal but his fierce shot was saved by Nelson. Nelson also plucked a couple of corners out of the air and for once the United defence looked fairly solid. Muir and Smith switched wings and Locky made a great run down the right flank but couldn't stop the ball from going out of play. Opposing manager Marty Quinn took first Carvill off and bringing on King and then Costello with the veteran Tony Grant replacing him. Manager Walker responded by taking Locky off with Anderson taking his place. a case of like for like.

United won a free kick about 30 yards from goal and Muir managed to get his shot on target, but no United player reacted quickly enough to Plummer's parry. With time ticking away Walker took off Sparky and brought on Jimmy McLaughlin,(Mackers) and he got involved from the start. In the best move of the match United came close to finding the vital goal. Muir had switched back to the right, with Smith moving up to partner Mackers and Kelbie on the left. Smith found Muir with a sweet ball and winger cut inside before crossing to Kelbie at the back post. Kelbie headed it to Anderson but unfortunately Noel's shot was straight at Plummer and the chance was lost.

With full time approaching we had the disallowed goal for the visitors and then in added time the drama really started to unfold. United swept down the left wing and Kelbie got on the end of a pass from Mackers before driving the ball across the six-yard box close to the goal-line. Gary Muir looked like scoring only to have his legs 'whipped' from him by Plummer and the referee pointed to the spot. When the furore had died down at least one other visiting player was cautioned along with their goalkeeper. Up stepped 'King Kelbie' to fire the ball high into the net and send the Sky Blue faithful home happy. It was one of those games that could've gone anyway, but for once this season, thankfully, it went ours!

Nelson (8), M. Smith (7), Colligan (7), Albert (8), Gazza (8), Muir (7), Taggart (7), Locky (7)(Sub: Anderson 7,), A. Smith (7), Sparky (7)(Sub: Mackers 7,), Kelbie (7)

Man of the match: Albert Watson

Kelbie Strikes!

There was one big difference between ourselves and first division club Ballinamallard today and star striker Kevin Kelbie was that big difference. They may have scored with a spectacular free kick, but Kelbie's hat-trick, was enough to blow them away. United manager Roy Walker made two changes to his starting line-up of Tuesday night, with Gavin Taggart replacing veteran Darren Lockhart who was given a well earned rest and Cushley coming in for the ineligible Gary Muir. United started off with an immediate attack, not normal for us I know, but I thought to myself 'we really mean business here' and when we took the lead after 14 minutes I was totally convinced. Mike Smith and Ramsay combined well down the right and when the cross came in there was Sparky Surgenor to slot home, scoring his second goal in as many matches.

I was quite hopeful at this stage that we would go on and put the game to bed but the Ballin boys had other ideas. Referee Turkington adjudged that Albert had fouled a visiting player and with the 30 yard free kick Cathay Beacom's shot flew into the top corner of the net, beating Nelson all ends up. That levelled the scores at one apiece with 25 minutes gone and 8 minutes later United nosed in front once more when Kelbie got on the end of a Mike Smith cross to hammer the ball into net. Despite dominating the play United couldn't increase their lead, epitomised by a Haveron free kick which the goalkeeper managed to parry and a Cushley shot which cleared the crossbar. Well at least we were ahead at halftime and I was hopeful we'd step up a gear after halftime.

One minute into the 2nd period United made the game practically safe, when Captain Gary Haveron got on the end of a Mike Smith corner to drill the ball into the net. Kelbie then notched his second of the game in the 57th minute and I thought to myself that's that. Three minutes later the visitors won a corner and brought on their sub Quigley before taking it. Obviously our defence didn't pick up on this as Quigley waltzed unmarked into our penalty box before planting a header past the hapless Nelson to make the score 4-2 in our favour. The United manager was rather annoyed to say the least but the Sky Blues eased his and our concerns by restoring the 3 goal cushion almost immediately.

Kelbie danced into their penalty box only to go down under a robust challenge and referee Burnside pointed to the penalty spot. Kelbie left no-one in doubt as to who was taking the spot-kick and duly completed his hat-trick with a deft finish. Soon after the United manager took off Cushley, who though not at his best, did contribute well with some intelligent running. On came Andy Smith for his first game of the year (after his six game suspension) and I thought that'll mean Sparky dropping into midfield but I was wrong as Andy went to Cushley's wide berth instead. United then played some delightful football as manager Walker made two further substitutions. In a surprise move he took off young Archie Stewart and brought on Noel Anderson, which meant Gary Haveron dropping back to central defence His final substitution saw Taggart, who had one of his best games in a Sky Blue shirt, being replaced by big Nathan, with Sparky dropping into midfield.

United as I said played some delightful football now that the game was safe and a lovely move resulted in Ramsay scoring after Sparky's shot had come off the goalkeeper, but the linesman waved it offside. There's no way this was offside but the same official, 'flagged' twice more, wrongly, just for good measure. During the two minutes of stoppage time United continued to dominate proceedings, but failed to add to their score, but most importantly, we were through to the next round of the cup. By an ironic coincidence we have a league game on Tuesday night at home to Glenavon, who we then must face in the next round of the cup on Saturday March 6 at their ground, how weird that is!

Nelson (7), Ramsay (7), Colligan (7), Archie (7)(Sub: Anderson 7,), Albert (7), M. Smith (7), Taggart (8) (Sub: Nathan 7,), Haveron (8), Cushley (7)(Sub: A. Smith 7,), Sparky (8), Kelbie (8)

Man of the match: Kevin Kelbie

Kelbie Express!

With just one change from Saturday's starting line-up, Ramsay for Aiden, United were in need of a quick start against the league leaders and that's just what they got. A long clearance from Chris Ramsay was chased by the speedy Kelbie and when visiting keeper John Connelly hesitated, Kelbie nonchalantly headed the ball over the static keeper and into the net, with just two minutes on the clock. Three minutes later Locky burst through the heavy-footed visitor's defence but unfortunately his shot was straight at the keeper. With seven minutes on the clock United doubled their lead after some clever wing-play from new signing Gary Muir. Muir and Colligan combined down the left, before the Scot fired over a driving cross, which was headed back by Mike Smith for the unmarked Surgenor to hammer into the net and put the Sky Blues two up.

As the league leaders attempted to get back in the game they were aided and abetted by a very one-sided refereeing display by former United player Dessie Loughrey and a linesman at the Fisherwick end who was never up with play and missed half a dozen offsides. With 20 minutes gone Dessie harshly punished Locky for an alleged foul and also booked him in the process. Despite Dessie counting out a good twelve paces (he always did have short legs), the United wall stood firm and the ball was diverted for a corner. Loughrey also penalised United defenders Archie and Albert, when visiting forwards made no attempt to head the ball, he adjudged that United's two central defenders were at fault.

After 30 minutes Dessie again penalised United's Gary Haveron for what looked like a good tackle and from the free-kick Albert was unlucky to see his attempted clearing header find the net via a post for an inglorious own-goal. As the Reds surged forward after this fortunate score we witnessed one of those bizarre incidents which bring refereeing standards here to the depths of ineptitude. United's Gary Muir made a clumsy challenge for a high ball and then got entangled with a Red's player ,who clearly punched the United man and for good measure shoved his hand into his face as he lay on the ground. The referee didn't even stop play and when the ball was thrown into touch by our keeper, he took no action against the Cliftonville offender.

Despite renewed pressure from the visitors the United defence held firm, although Chris Ramsay had to come to his side's rescue on one occasion with a timely interception. United keeper Dwayne Nelson was struggling with his back-passes, failing to clear his lines, but luckily his gaffes went unpunished as Cliftonville failed to take advantage of his mistakes. Next we had an announcement that the referee had signalled there would be 3 minutes of added time at the end of the first half. Where Dessie had found this 3 minutes, there had been no hold-ups that I could remember, nobody knows or when it was due to start either as from the time the announcement was made, we actually played about another 8 minutes and still the league leaders couldn't score.

United started brightly in the 2nd half and for a while it was end-to-end stuff, but gradually the visitors started to increase the pressure forcing countless corners, without ever looking like scoring. When United did manage a counter-attack they were thwarted by some strange decisions from the referee who pulled them up for innocuous fouls. One such incident occurred when Kelbie waltzed down the left wing before setting up Surgenor. The make-shift striker's attempt was blocked by the keeper but as United tried to carry on the referee blew for a mysterious offence only he witnessed. As the visitor's became frustrated the referee finally found his yellow cards and cautioned a couple of players for viciously late tackles, but it was too little too late.

United were finding plenty of gaps in the visitor's rearguard as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser and in this regard Kelbie was in his element as he teased and tormented former United player Kieran Donaghy, son of Norn iron legend Mal Donaghy. As Kelbie broke after a sustained bit of pressure from the visitors, Gary Haveron cleverly threaded the ball though to his strike partner Surgenor and he burst into the Red's penalty area. It looked like he must score but visiting keeper Connolly managed to divert Marky's shot off his legs for a corner. When the corner was taken by Muir it fell to Albert in the 'D' and as he advanced and got off his shot he was 'cleaned' by a Reds defender. I was sure this was a penalty, but Dessie gave a free just outside the box.

Up stepped top scorer Kelbie and his left-foot screamed bounced clear off the post. The Reds rang the changes with the much heralded Liam Boyce being replaced, but by then they were down to desperation tactics. They had one chance late on when a header looked to be going in before Colligan popped up to head it clear. Gary Haveron and Locky looked dead on their feet but manager Walker was loath to change a team who were obviously having the game of their lives. After 90 minutes came the inevitable announcement that the referee had added 3 minutes of stoppage time, but when that started was anybody's guess as it seemed to last about another 10 minutes. During this period of added time I thought Kelbie had scored when he cut inside before hitting a vicious left-foot shot, but as I jumped to my feet I saw it had merely been into the side-netting.

That was more or less Kelbie's last bit of action as he came off to a standing ovation to be replaced by Johnny McLaughlin. Dessie finally succumbed to father time and blew his final whistle and the United fans breathed a big sigh of relief as they applauded their heroes off the field. It had been a close run thing at times, but in the end I believe we were worthy of our victory. We're not out of the woods yet by any means and Institutes's victory over Dungannon merely highlighted that. On the plus side the Coleraine scum were beaten again and anytime we win and they lose, in my book, is pretty good!


Nelson (8), Ramsay (8), Colligan (8), Albert (8), Archie (8), M. Smith (8), Locky (8), Haveron (8), Muir (8), Surgenor (8), Kelbie (8)(Sub: McLaughlin (7)

Man of the match: Kevin Kelbie

More Muir!

Gary Muir made his United debut today in front of United's lowest away crowd for many's a day at Drumaho on the outskirts of Londonderry. Gary, according to the local rag, was brought in order to give us more craft in right midfield, but for some odd reason he started his United career on the left. Manager Roy Walker's team selection had a touch of the bizarre about it once more, out went Sean O'Neill in goals with Nelson replacing him, Aiden Watson was at right-back, Albert and Archie in the middle, with Lee Colligan at left-back. Mike Smith was in right midfield, with Haveron and Locky inside, Muir on the left and like at Coleraine Surgenor partnered Kelbie up front.

Muir had a few nice touches early on and in fact got the first shot on target after 5 minutes play. Two minutes later United took the lead when a Muir crossfield pass found Smith and he cut inside his marker to fire a left shot goalwards. 'Stute defender Ogilby got a foot to the ball but could only deflect it goalwards and Darren Lockhart tapped it into the net. The lead didn't last long as four minutes later Aiden Watson made a clumsy challenge in his own penalty box and a penalty was awarded. Up stepped the giant Ogilby to plant the ball in the corner of the net, giving Nelson no chance. United's defending was panicky to say the least and Nelson had to be alert to snatch the ball from a 'Stute forward soon after. With 18 minutes on the clock Lee Colligan handled needlessly in the box and a 2nd penalty was awarded. Ogilby repeated the dose again and despite Nelson diving the right way the ball ripped into the net.

With the home team two up United needed to up the pace and midway through the half, Smith broke down the right and squared the ball to Kelbie who blasted wildly past the post. Five minutes later Surgenor burst onto a through ball but when a score looked imminent he shot straight at home keeper Cullen. United were putting on the pressure at this stage and were denied a cast iron penalty when Ogilby clearly elbowed Lockhart, but the referee ignored and in fact waved play on. After treatment and with blood pouring from his head Locky asked if the referee hadn't went to 'specsavers' (or something similar) and picked up a caution, what else can we expect from referee's these days. With little more action halftime was reached with a rare two minutes of stoppage time added on.

Two minutes into the 2nd half and United levelled the scores when after Kelbie was fouled on the right, Muir took the free kick and the ball found the back of the net via a deflection. Two minutes later Rip Van Roy awoke from his slumbers, took off Aiden Watson and brought on the Cush, with Mike Smith moving back to right-back. The Cush was barely on the field 5 minutes when he took a pass from Kelbie and rifled a left-foot shot goalwards forcing Cullen into a top class save. Kevin Kelbie was cautioned soon after when he tangled with the home keeper, yet another silly booking for Kev. Locky was replaced by Nathan McConnell and from then on United strove for the winning goal, but couldn't make the vital breakthrough. Eighteen minutes from the end the home team were reduced to 10 men and still United couldn't take advantage of the situation.

Time and time again they'd drive forward but fail to find that telling pass to unlock the home defence. Even new signing Muir, who had switched to the right side couldn't get the breakthrough, though he did come closest when his free-kick just shaved the crossbar. Kevin Kelbie, who had been floored in the box earlier, burst onto a through ball and attempted to chip the keeper, but Cullen got the tips of his fingers to it to save the day. With 5 minutes of added time United were given every chance to get the clinching goal, but failed miserably to put the home team to the sword. As the match drew to a close United even failed to deliver balls into the danger areas therefore putting little pressure on the beleaguered home defence. As the final whistle sounded a fan said to Roy Walker, 'that's not good enough' and he said 'no it isn't', I heartily agree!

Nelson (7), Aid Watson (5)(Sub: Cushley 7,), Colligan (6), Albert (7), Archie (7), M. Smith (7), Haveron (7), Lockhart (8)(Sub: McConnell 7,), Muir (8), Surgenor (7), Kelbie (7)

Man of the match: Darren Lockhart