Carson's Clincher!

Gibbo, who missed United's County Antrim shield defeat on Tuesday night at the hands of the 'hatchet men', made a welcome return to action today at the expense of local lad Mo McDowell. It was also encouraging to see the injured Rory Carson on the bench, after missing the previous three games. Gibbo foolishly went for a high ball he had no chance of reaching and referee Steven Weatherall, immediately flashed a yellow card for what can best be described as a clumsy challenge. The linesman at the Fisherwick end appeared to be on his game as he flagged for a couple of close offside decisions, but then normal service was resumed when he allowed a blatant offside to go unpunished.
The visitors were the hungrier side as they forced several corners, although none came to fruition.

Eamon Murray skipped past his marker down the left wing and his whipped left-foot cross was cleared at the expense of a corner. Not for the first time, we didn't capitalise with the corner and the chance went begging. In fact it was the visitors who came closest to breaking the deadlock in a first half dominated by heavy rain, when after Albert had attempted to play offside (Linesman blameless on this occasion), the situation was averted when Nelson rushed from his goal to make a good stop. United's close passing upfront was quite delicate, but the final pass seemed to go astray on every occasion. Cutch should've done better when the linesman's flag stayed down as he cut inside, but he shot tamely at the keeper.

United were in a wasteful mood today, as they continually gave up possession, with short free kicks and corners hit too long. The best corner in my book is one on the penalty spot, which if the keeper comes and misses, an open goal beckons. Ours are either to the back post (in fact they're mostly way beyond it), or 'wee buns' for the keeper. The short free kicks seemed to involve Archie, Albert and Taggart, none of whom are too happy on the ball and as a result the ball usually went back to Dwayne. We also found it difficult to clear our lines, but somehow survived to halftime.

2nd half

United were out at least 3 minutes early, which generally doesn't bode well, as it usually depicts a team who can't wait to get the game over. United were a bit more forceful this half and only the referee knows how he failed to award a penalty, when Cutch was flattened by visiting keeper Hillen. As if to add insult to injury, referee Weatherall awarded a free kick against the Cutch, a real miscarriage of justice. Midfielder Gavin Taggart, who's been playing really well recently, was having a real stinker today and couldn't do right for doing wrong. Fifteen minutes into the second period and United manager Roy Walker made one of the best substitutions he's ever likely to make, taking off the misfiring Taggart and bringing on Carson for his competitive home début.

What a transformation this brought about, suddenly there was a new purpose to our play and we began to exert some real pressure down both flanks. Mike Smith, who had been fairly quiet, burst onto a through pass and even though his cross was feeble, Cutch and Gibbo should've done better as the Newry defence was at sixes and sevens. Two minutes later, Mike after good interplay between Sparky and Carson sprinted to the byline before nailing a perfect cross to the unmarked Cutch. As Cutch rose gracefully to head into the empty net the home fans were on their feet, only to gaze on in astonishment when our top scorer headed wide. I was starting to wonder if it was going to be one of those days when the breakthrough finally came.

After good play down the right, first Cutch, then Hanley and Mike Smith all had shots blocked before the coolest player on the pitch, Rory Carson, drove the ball into the net for his first United goal. What a relief that was as the home fans stood and applauded, not a great goal but a vital one which lifted United into joint fifth, just 2 points behind Lisburn in 2nd place. That goal arrived in the 72nd minute and two minutes later referee Weatherall adjudged that Carson was fouled in the box and awarded a 'soft' penalty to United. Top scorer Cutch grabbed the ball, as is his right, but his weak shot was easily saved by visiting keeper Nathan Hillen, a bad miss.

Newry rung the changes, bringing on all three subs but United were content to stick with the players who were on the pitch. With fulltime approaching some neat interplay between Carson, Smith and Sparky opened up the Newry defence and when Carson broke onto a Gibbo pass, keeper Hillen tripped him inside the box. Referee Weatherall penalised the keeper this time but for some reason known only to himself, no automatic red card was flourished. Hanley elected to take this penalty but his effort was also saved by Hillen, who of course should've been in the dressing room by now instead of on the pitch. Despite the three added minutes, the visitors failed to punish us for our benevolence and we ran out easy winners in the end, but it should've been a lot easier. Former United all-time great, Jimmy Martin, whom Omar assures me only missed one penalty during a distinguished United career, could surely give the boys a few pointers on how they should be taken!

Nelson (7), Sparky (7), Archie (7), Albert (7), Gage (7), M. Smith (8), Taggart (5)(Sub: Carson 8,), Hanley (7), Murray (7), Gibbo (7), Cutch (6)

Man of the match: Mike Smith