Murray Mist!

It may seem strange that I've entitled my piece Murray Mist, admittedly Eamon Murray was by far our best player in last night's Shield quarter-final, but he also got and missed our best chance. It didn't seem to me to be a difficult chance either, one-on-one with the keeper, on his favourite right-foot and still he failed to hit the target, almost unforgivable. United were at that stage of a largely forgettable first half in the ascendency and I believe that a score then would've set us up for a victory. So I was wondering is there a 'mist' that comes over Eamon's eyes when he's about to shoot and that is why he screwed his shot wide, it would definitely explain a lot of things.

United showing one change from their starting line-up of Saturday past, with Sparky partnering Cutch in the absence of Gibbo, Mike Smith moving back to rightback and Mo coming in on the right-wing. The linesman at the Fisherwick end gave us a false sense of security when he flagged for a dubious looking offside in our favour, but on the down side two mins later he kept his flag down when there were two Crues players five yards offside, a diabolical decision which could've cost us dear, but tragedy was averted by a good tackle. Other than that, the most of the first half, like the entire match was a non-event. Nathan Hanley, who takes all our dead ball kicks at the moment, seems to have only one ploy, hitting the ball deep, which as far as I can see is a complete waste of time and so it proved tonight.

United did though carve out a good chance near the end of the first half, when Cutch fed Mo, who passed to Sparky and he in turn found the unmarked Murray, who with the goal at his mercy somehow screwed his shot wide. Then on the halftime whistle Cutch played Sparky in and his shot was blocked before falling to Mo and his follow-up was cleared for a corner, but there wasn't enough time to take it.

2nd half

What a different team the Crues were in the second-half as they stepped up the pace and United had no answer to it. We fans could see that it was just a matter of time before the visitors penetrated our defence, while our manager 'Rip van Roy' seemed oblivious to what was happening. Disaster finally struck with 60 minutes on the clock, when Gage, probably the pick of our defenders missed a tackle and as the pass came in the unmarked Rainey swept the ball into the net to put the visitors in front. This set-back at least woke Roy from his slumbers, taking off Mo and Taggart, with George Young and the untried Dowie taking their place. We immediately switched to a 4,3,3 formation, but with no height upfront it was 'wee buns' for the Crues defence.

Surely our manager must play his last card I thought and bring on Gazza and put him up front or at least throw Gage up there as we were resorting to thumping the ball up, in a hit and hope scenario. But alas it seemed that Roy was content to watch the Crues defence dominate our wee forward line as he refused to bring on his last sub, no doubt saving him for the penalty shoot-out. Hanley was denied by a superb save from Keenan and I just got the impression it wasn't going to be our night. We did create one more chance, when local boy George Young sprinted into the box but his shot struck the post, yet again a failure to hit the target.

Despite forcing several corners, all but one hit too wide, it was the visitors defence who claimed almost them all. Gage did get his head to the one that wasn't too wide, but his 'free header' failed to find the target and our best chance of a trophy (our manager's very words), had gone abegging and worst of all the players didn't look too despondent, or at least that was the impression I got!

Nelson (6), M.Smith (6), Archie (5), Albert (6), Gage (7), Mo (6)(Sub: Dowie 5,), Taggart (6)(Sub: Young 6,), Hanley (6), Murray (7), Sparky (6), Cutch (6)

Man of the match: Eamon Murray