Two Ryans!

You've heard of the novel no doubt, a 'tale of two cities', well today at the snowbound Showgrounds, it was a tale of two Ryans, one a villain and one a hero. Both were playing for the Sky Blues and because of their collective influence, or in spite of it, if you like, United and the Crues played out a 1-1 draw. United manager, Roy Walker, started with the same eleven as last week, which meant a place on the bench for big Denver, with captain Gazza continuing to partner Albert at the back. The pitch, which was unplayable according to 4th official Alan Black at 11 am and was given the all-clear by referee Steven Weatherall at 13-30 hrs, had a light covering of snow, but was perfectly okay.

The Crues were the most forceful early on, adapting to the conditions better than the home team and Dallas, should have done better with an early chance when he met a cross-field ball, but fired over the bar. United have a tendency to give players a bit of space and this almost led to their undoing, when Morrow was allowed to shoot from 25 yards and Brown had to be at his best to tip his shot over the bar. From the resultant corner, Brown did well again when he punched the ball clear. United were struggling upfront without their usual target-man, Gibbo, but did manage a good break when Murray sped down the wing, easily outfoxed former United player Aiden Watson, but failed to find anyone with his cross. At the other end referee Weatherall merely spoke to Caddell when he elbowed Watson, surely at least a yellow card offence.

Cutch then found himself in a shooting position but shot straight at the Crues keeper. Although the visitors forced several corners the United defence held firm and with halftime approaching things were looking good. As a hopeful punt came into the box, Gazza's sliced his attempted clearance and Brown under no real pressure dropped the ball at Jordan Owens feet and the Crues player blasted it into the empty net, to give his team an undeserved lead.

2nd half
We had an extra 5 minute break at halftime as the United ground-staff cleared the lines of snow to allow the game to continue and continue it did. Ryan Berry replaced Gavin Taggart for the 2nd half, but yet again it was the visitors who started the brightest and Brown distinguished himself when stopping a Donnelly free kick. The visitors kept the pressure on United and when they tried to break the stranglehold Caddell chopped down Albert and referee Weatherall showed the first yellow card of the day. More cards were to follow but mostly for United players as Weatherall cautioned Gazza, Sparky and Andy, while allowing the visitors to get away with similar fouls.

Manager Walker took off Archie, with Denver taking his place, which necessitated Gazza switching to midfield and Hanly to leftback. Referee Weatherall then committed his biggest gaffe of the day when the Crues keeper came out of his penalty box and clearly handled the ball, an offence which carries a mandatory red card, the biased Belfast official merely flourished a yellow one. Andy Smith drove the resultant free kick against the Crues wall and the chance was lost, surely a dink over the wall was the best option. Worse refereeing was to follow when Coates blatantly took the legs from Andy Smith and not only was no foul given the Crues man pushed Smith to the ground and was allowed to carry the ball out of defence with the referee barely five yards away from the action.

Then with a last throw of the dice Roy took off Mikey and brought on Mo for a rare appearance, with Murray switching to the right and Mo going to the left. United finally got the goal their efforts deserved when Hanly overlapped down the left, cut inside before delivering a beaut of a cross with his right foot and Berry glanced a header into the net for his first competitive goal in a United jersey. It was no more than the Sky Blues deserved and the Crues keeper who had been sneakily wasting time suddenly couldn't wait to get on with it. Cutch wasted a good chance when he fired across goal, before anyone could get on the end of it instead of biding his time. Referee Weatherall only managed to find 2 minutes of stoppage time, even though we'd had the full complement of subs in the 2nd period, but I suppose a draw was a fair result in the end.

Brown (6), Sparky (6), Archie (6)(Sub: Denver 6,), Albert (7), Gazza (7), Mikey (6)(Sub: Mo 6,), Taggart (6)(Sub: Berry 8,), Hanly (8), Murray (7), Andy (6), Cutch (7)

Man of the match: Nathan Hanly

Marvel Mikey!

Ten nights ago I was lamenting about a bad miss my Mikey Smith, when he ballooned the ball over the bar from six yards, when it looked easier to score. Last night at a cold Newry City he laid that bogey to rest with a top class performance in a fairly comfortable 4-0 victory for United. Four nil sounds impressive, but as usual we missed a 'hatful' of chances. United manager Roy Walker continued with his policy of 'horses for courses' by leaving out, Colligan, Denver and Gibbo. Gazza dropped back to central defence alongside Albert and Archie came in at leftback. Nathan Hanly returned to central midfield after his suspension, while Andy Smith, yet to score this season got the nod to partner Cutch upfront. The 'Sports team were bemoaning Gary's lack of goals in our preview for last night's game and he answered our diatribe with an all round top class performance and a goal to boot, we'll probably have to 'lambaste' him before every game, to hopefully bring the best out of him.

Omar missed the turn off for Newry and as a result we were a couple of minutes late getting into the ground and were informed that the home side had 'missed' a free header. I cannot comment on that but can tell you that we dominated the first half almost completely and how we didn't go in at halftime leading by at least 3 goals is beyond belief. Referee Crangle was his usual ineptness and denied United a blatant corner after 10 minutes. This incident occurred when United winger Murray out-sprinted his man, cur inside and bent a shot past Coleman in the Newry goal. The keeper did well to get a hand to the ball, only for Crangle to give a goal-kick. Five minutes later Murray cut in once more and this time a defender on the line got in the way of his shot and the ball deflected out of touch on the far side where Crangle gave the throw-in to the home side. But his biggest 'gaffe' happened midway through the half when Archie, not renowned for his overlapping, bounded down the touchline, was fouled by a home defender, but managed to keep his feet, only for the unsighted Crangle to give a foul against him and ruin a promising move.

Two minutes earlier Andy Smith had sprinted on to a Hanly through ball but shot straight at the keeper and Cutch blasted another chance past. Mikey then intercepted a home player on the halfway line sprinted down the right before unleashing a left-foot shot, which cannoned off the upright with Coleman well beaten. Little was seen of the home side but the United defence, which had been so vulnerable on Solitude's false conditions, were solid and glad to be back on grass. United deservedly took the lead in the 38th minute, when Andy Smith's cross resulted in a fluffed clearance by Newry defender Cullen Feeney and Cutch gleefully hammered it into the net for his 8th goal of the season. The home side upped the pace a wee bit as halftime approached and referee Crangle saw fit to caution Albert for an alleged foul on the edge of the box, when in fact it was the United defender who was fouled. The United 'wall' did it's job, deflecting the free kick and the remainder of the half passed without incident.

2nd half
Talk at halftime had centred on our inability to convert chances as we should've been coasting by then and the complete shambles of a surface at Solitude the previous Saturday, we all agreed, football should be played on grass, maybe the new president of the I.F.A. Jim (rick) Shaw will take note. Four minutes into the half Cutch was ruled offside when he appeared to run from his own half as the home side were defending very high up the pitch. Ten minutes into the half Cutch sprinted through once more with the linesman keeping his flag down and his cross eluded the Newry defence, where Mikey pulled the ball onto his left foot, took it past the stranded keeper who was miles out of his goal, before planting a left--foot shot in off the post to double United's lead. the home side enjoyed a wee bit of possession after this and former United player Gavin McDonnell thundered a shot off the crossbar with Brown in the United goal beaten all ends up and Cullen Feeney's attempted rebound cannoned of the post.

Referee Crangle once more demonstrated his jaundiced views by first cautioning United's Gavin Taggart for a foul on halfway and then 2 minutes later not cautioning a home player for a similar foul, justice for all please. While Newry were exerting this pressure the United defence with Albert back to his best were superb, ably backed up by keeper Brown who seems to be developing an understanding with his co-defenders. The ineptitude of the linesman at the end we were attacking was shown up, when Mikey played a delightful through ball to Murray, only for the official to flag for offside against Cutch. Admittedly the 'wee' man was in an offside position, but not interfering with play as he didn't touch the ball, yet another poor decision. Mikey then just failed to get his head to a Cutch cross, while Andy after a good break, passed back to Murray instead of getting his cross in. With 13 minutes left United finally killed off the home side, when after a delightful through ball from Hanly, Cutch found the eager Murray, who ran through and deftly dinked the ball over home keeper Coleman for his 5th goal in a United shirt and our third on the night.

Referee Crangle finally cautioned a home player when he flung himself at Archie, no doubt in frustration as the United defender 'had him in his pocket', but rather surprisingly merely gave a throw-in and not a merited free kick. Four minutes later United deservedly got a fourth goal when after a delightful pass from Taggart, Cutch found Hanly and he slammed a left-foot shot past Coleman to wrap up the scoring. Cutch was then substituted with Gibbo coming on and he was blatantly fouled, no free kick given and he had to be substituted with Ryan Berry coming on for about 3 minutes. Referee Crangle blew the whistle and United had collected three more points on their travels, moved into joint 4th place in the table (5th on goal difference) and moved back into plus in their goal difference, all in all, not a bad night's work. Before today's games it's interesting to note that we have the joint 4th best goals for, level with D.C. of all people and we fervently hope they'll get at least one today when they entertain the 'scum' and the joint 5th best goals against column, level with our former manager's team Lisburn Distillery. Changed days from last season, when scoring was a complete mystery to us, all we have to do now is stop leaking at the back and start putting a higher ratio away, so come on Sky Blues!

Brown (7), Sparky (7), Archie (8), Albert (8), Gazza (7), Mikey (8), Taggart (7), Hanly (8), Murray (8), Andy (7), Cutch (8)(Sub: Gibbo 6, Sub: Berry 6,)

Man of the match: Mikey Smith

Half Term!

As stated in Sky Blue Sport last night United have passed the halfway stage of league or the league before the split. All I can say is I'm glad its over, that's if this amateurish display by the Sky Blues is an example of what happens to us on rare occasions. If it's not a rare occurrence then we're in for a long hard season. United, showing only one change from Tuesday night's starting line-up, Taggart in for the suspended Hanly, didn't have long to wait before they fell apart at the back. Only 10 minutes were on the clock when home fullback Ronan Scannell stole in at the back post, beating Sparky of all people to a high ball, before powering a header past the out of position Ryan Brown, in the United goal. Brown had appeared to call some instruction to Sparky while Albert and company attempted to spring an offside trap, but to no avail.

This was the start we didn't want, especially as this was our first game on the hosts artificial surface, which leaves a gigantic lot to be desired. United were caught at the back once more when midfielder Johnston sprinted through our defence and Brown made a point blank save. But he only postponed the inevitable as in almost a carbon copy of the first goal, Chris Scannell out-jumped the United defence to double his teams lead. Brown made yet another good save to keep the score down as the home team ran our defence ragged. United were unable to get things going at the other end, but Murray did sting home keeper Connolly's hands with a fierce shot from a narrow angle. With 35 minutes on the clock Cutch squandered a glorious chance when he found himself through on goal, but blasted the ball miles wide, instead of picking his spot.

A goal for us then would maybe have given us a foothold in the match, but the chance wasn't taken and what followed had an inevitable feel about it. Captain Gazza and Mikey Smith, were two players who rose above the mediocre, but they were after all the only two. A minute before halftime Albert completely messed up a simple clearance and Chris Scannell gleefully hammered the ball past the hapless Brown to give his team a deserved 3-0 lead. As United trudged off at halftime it was obvious that some changes would have to be made, or we would suffer a heavy defeat. The halftime scores sounded good, but with our own perilous situation, we knew we couldn't take advantage of the teams above us who were struggling.

2nd half
Manager Walker took off Gazza and Gibbo, bringing on Andy Smith and Ryan Berry. In Gibbo's case I could understand it as he had struggled on the sub-standard surface, but Gazza's removal was a complete mystery to me personally. Two minutes into the 2nd half and the game was up, when Chris Scannell easily out-sprinted Denver to a though ball before shooting past the stranded Brown to make the score 4-0. Two minutes later Denver was substituted, with Archie taking his place, but still we continued to struggle. We did play a wee bit of football in the 2nd period, but our final pass usually let us down, either too close to the keeper or losing possession at the vital moment.

Substitute Berry did force the home keeper to a good save, when he met a Murray cross and that was as close as we came to scoring. Referee Davey Malcolm obviously had decided not to caution anybody today, quite a contrast to the last game he officiated in when we were involved, as he allowed the hosts to get away with 3 brutal challenges, merely giving them a 'ticking off', a complete waste of time. The United defence had a couple of let-offs and Brown made a good save or two, but the dreaded 5th goal finally arrived in the 82nd minute, with a powerful header from veteran Peter Hutton from a corner kick, Lee Colligan made a vain attack to stop it but merely headed it into the net, it just about summed up our day. Somehow we survived until the 90th minute without our defences being breached again, oh how we shall remember Saturday 13 November, well for a few days anyway!

Brown (5), Sparky (5), Colligan (6) Albert (4), Denver (5)(Sub: Archie 6,), Mikey (6), Taggart (5), Gazza (6)(Sub: Berry 6,), Murray (5), Cutch (4), Gibbo (4)(Sub: Andy Smith (5)

Man of the match: Mikey Smith

Mikey's Miss!

It's with great sadness that I must refer to Mikey Smith's miss tonight which effectively cost us two points. Admittedly we were down to 10 men at that time after a 50/50 challenge, by Nathan Hanly, led to a red card from referee Stephen Weatherall. Whites midfielder Andy Devlin was unlucky to suffer a serious injury, but in my humble opinion, referee Weatherall over-reacted by sending United's Nathan Hanly off, for what was at best a hard honest tackle and at worst a slightly mistimed one. Neither of which was worthy of a straight red card, but referee Weatherall, who was originally reluctant to let the game proceed because of poor floodlighting and then made no allowances for a game played in semi-darkness, decided it merited a red card and he is god after all. To make matters worse, Distillery player Simpson, used abusive language to Ballymena fans and then accused the same fans of abusing the injured Devlin, this of course was a complete and utter lie.

United manager Roy Walker was true to his word and made two changes to his starting line-up, with Lee Colligan replacing Archie and Sparky replacing Taggart. It didn't take long for one of these changes to come up trumps, in fact only 7 minutes had elapsed when Sparky, using the semi-darkness well, burst through the hesitant Whites defence, before blasting the ball past Matthews in the home goal to give United the lead. This was Sparky's 3rd goal in 2 games, not a bad return for a rightback and a local boy to boot. The rest of the half was a bit of a mystery to me as it was impossible to see exactly what was happening beyond the middle of the pitch. The Whites, whose tactics are just get the keeper to thump it up and then fight for it, took this a bit too literally and I am reliably informed that striker Gary Brown lashed out at a United player. This offence usually means a mandatory red card, but referee Weatherall, after a long consultation with his linesman, merely cautioned the culprit, makes one wonder what a player needs to do to get sent off.

United forced a couple of corners and for a change Denver got his headers on target, but they were easily saved by Matthews. United had a lucky let-off when the ball fell to Ferguson about 25 yards from goal and the burly striker's superb shot beat United keeper Brown fair and square, but rebounded off the crossbar to safety. Despite giving away a couple of free kicks, or should I say 'despite' referee Weatherall awarding a couple of dubious free kicks, the United defensive 'wall' did their job superbly well and they survived keeping their one goal lead as the halftime whistle sounded. We then waited for the announcement that the game had been abandoned due to the poor lighting, but it never came.

2nd half
Nine minutes into the half tragedy struck as Nathan Hanly was carrying the ball out of defence Whites midfielder Devlin made to intercept the ball and the two players met in a 50/50 challenge. I was 15 yards from the incident and I honestly saw nothing wrong in the challenge, although the Whites player did 'chicken out' slightly and in those situations if you go in half-heartedly you generally come off second best. Referee Weatherall who was 30 yards from the incident took his red card out immediately as he ran over towards the incident. Play was held up for 10 minutes as the player was treated on the pitch, quite a contrast to the two most recent United players who had their legs broken in similar incidents, who were ushered over the touch line while play continued and no fouls given or any cards issued. The referee definitely over-reacted and where oh where did he get 15 minutes to add on, two substitutions were made during this stoppage and only 3 further substitutions were made.

During the stoppage United kit-man Bertnell Thompson came across the pitch to say they'd had a complaint from the referee that United fans were verbally abusing the injured player, Devlin. This of course was a complete fabrication, yet another referee telling deliberate lies, as Trevor Moutray did at Dungannon. While in Scotland referee Dougie McDonald told a deliberate lie to Glasgow Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who now expects an apology. I hope for his sake he has a lot of patience as United fans have been maligned wrongly many, many times in the past and never had an apology or are never likely to get one either. In fact all the barracking and that's all it was, was between Simpson and our fans and then when he was told some home truths he went crying to the referee, who then concocted a story about our fans, a load of garbage, but what else can you expect from people who think they're gods.

United took off Cutch at this venture with Taggart replacing him, was this a negative move I wondered, if it had been a defender sent off I could have understood the need to shore up the defence, but as it was a midfielder, surely we needed to not allow them to commit an extra man to attack. Let me say here that I'm casting no aspersions on the United players, as they were all heroes and played with total conviction, but we did at times defend too deeply. We did however create a glorious chance about 5 minutes after the restart, when Eamon Murray and Lee combined well up the left and when Lee broke to the byline his near perfect cross was somehow blasted over the bar from six yards by Mikey Smith. It was hard to see how this happened as it seemed easier to score, but happen it did and it left us balanced on a knife edge.

The Whites were unable to make their extra man count as they were still trying to undo us with long ball tactics and when our defence was beaten there was keeper Brown to calm things down. Gazza as ever was playing his heart out in midfield, while Eamon was always available to give us an outlet up the left, while Gibbo up front ran his socks off. Former United player David Cushley came on for the home team and definitely did not endear himself to United fans with a cynical tackle on Eamon, which rightly earned him a caution. From the free kick, Lee slipped the ball to Eamon, who swept past two defenders before shooting just past the post with keeper Matthews stranded. Simpson was rightly booked for a foul on Taggart and then United took off the exhausted Gibbo, bringing on Andy Smith. The home team finally conjured up an equaliser in the 98th minute, when Patton, who looked offside, although in the darkness it was hard to tell, crossed for Ferguson to head into the net.

United almost took the lead immediately after when Eamon sprinted down the left, cut along the by line before releasing a thunderbolt shot at goal, only for Matthews to make a brilliant save. Two minutes later Cushley high tackled Sparky and got a 2nd yellow card which led to his sending off. Sparky had to receive treatment and referee Weatherall made him wait a minute before waving him back on, utter stupidity. As if to compound his night of ineffective refereeing he blew for full-time a whole minute early, but then he is incompetence itself. United had come close to deservedly taking all three points and despite all the drama all I could think of was Mikey's miss, yet another missed chance to add to the many that have occurred this season, as I have always said,sooner or later they come back to hurt you, oh how I wish I had been wrong!

Brown (7), Sparky (8), Colligan (8), Albert (8), Denver (7), Mikey (7), Hanly (7), Gazza (8), Eamon (8), Cutch (7)(Sub: Taggart 7,), Gibbo (8)(Sub: Andy Smith 7,)

Man of the match: Gazza

Gary Replies!

In our column last night we asked when Gary McCutcheon was going to deliver on his promise of goals and today he answered our question, when his brace gave United a somewhat flattering share of the spoils with Glenavon. Manager Walker carried through with his intention of tweaking the team. Firstly he dropped Dwayne Nelson, with Ryan Brown taking his place and omitted last weeks two goal hero Sparky, which meant Mikey Smith dropped back to rightback, Murray to right midfield, Hanly to left midfield and Taggart to centre midfield. The visitors, with the 'on loan' Gary Hamilton on board, came out sharply and Brown distinguished himself with a smart save to keep out a Harper shot. The visitors were moving quite slickly, but it was United who took the lead after only five minutes. Cutch took a pass from Hanly, before playing a one/two with his strike partner Gibbo and beating Glenavon keeper Plummer from the edge of the box.

Unfortunately this lead was short lived as the United defence got itself into yet another tangle when there seemed little danger. Goalkeeper Brown came for a through ball, collided with Denver and Gary Hamilton who was well offside in my opinion stroked the ball home and referee Halliday pointed to the centre circle. The United heads dropped a bit after this setback and Keeper Brown had a let-off when a weak punch fell to Hamilton, but he shot wide. Soon after Brown and his co-defenders stood and watched as a corner came across the six-yard box and breathed a sigh of relief when defender Turkington blasted the ball wide. There was yet another let-off when a Hamilton free kick eluded everybody before drifting wide of the target. In a rare United attack, Murray cut in from the right and drew a save from Plummer and defender Magee was on hand to deny Cutch at the expense of a corner.

Cutch almost gave United a halftime lead when after Hanly was 'cleaned' by the last man, the striker's quick free kick just skimmed the crossbar. Gazza was playing his Captain's part to the full today as he almost singlehandedly tried to stop the flow of the visitors attack, while our back four were under extreme pressure not helped i think by a lack of understanding with keeper Brown. One or two back passes were a little 'hairy' to put it mildly, but we survived and it was hoped that manager Walker could weave some magic at the interval, as it was surely needed.

2nd half
United made one change at halftime, with Hanly being replaced by the fit again Ryan Berry. This substitution made little or no difference as far as I could see and it was the visitors who looked the likelier team. Ryan Berry did manage one run up the right before being 'chopped down by visiting defender Neill, it was a brutal tackle, but it merely drew a yellow card from referee Halliday, when surely it merited a red. As if to add insult to injury ten minutes later defender Neill rose to a corner, unchallenged by the flat-footed Brown, to head the visitors into a 2-1 lead. Surely this would awaken United from their slumbers I thought, but Brown had to come to our rescue 2 mins later with a good save after a shot from Harper. Andy Smith replaced Taggart as United attempted to turn the game round, but to no avail. With 63 minutes on the clock the United defence was torn apart with a slick move down the left flank and the ball was squared to Hamilton who notched his 2nd and the visitors 3rd goal from close range.

Manager Walker then played his final ace, taking off Archie and bringing on Colligan and rather surprisingly we started to get a foothold in the game, forced half a dozen corners, but were unable to find the vital touch. Referee Halliday warned the visiting keeper and his players about their time-wasting tactics, but it seemed like a wasted exercise as United were devoid of ideas as to how to get back into the game. Opposition manager Marty Quinn took off striker Tony Grant and he made a point of shaking Albert's hand before he left, a sure sign of respect. United were almost on all out attack mode and had a couple of let-offs when the visitors could've put the game beyond them. Albert then came close to reducing the leeway, but his header from a Mikey Smith free just skimmed the crossbar.

With 89 minutes on the clock United were given a lifeline when after the ball had been cleared to near the halfway line, visiting defenders backed off Albert inviting him to shoot, which he duly did and the ball screamed into the top corner with Plummer beaten all ends up. The United fans could hardly believe it, Albert scoring from 30 yards, unheard of I can tell you, but it brought us back into the game. This was Albert's 10th goal in a United shirt, in his 289 appearance and I don't think he'll ever score a better one. The 4th official signalled that there would be 3 minutes of stoppage time, with only four substitutions made there was obviously a minute added for time-wasting and this may well come back to haunt the visitors over the coming weeks.

As the 92 minute approached, Gibbo found Berry down the left flank, he cut inside his marker before laying the ball into Cutch's path and he drilled it into the net for his 7th goal in a United shirt and to make the score 3-3. To say the United fans were delirious would have been a gross understatement. They had after all just witnessed their boys being outplayed by the high earners from County Armagh, only to score two killer goals late on to salvage a point. We did miss the chance to jump to 4th place in the league, but we preserved our 5 game unbeaten run and we scored 3 goals for the 5th match running, it doesn't get much better than this I can tell you!

Brown (6), Mikey (7), Archie (6)(Sub: Colligan 6,), Albert (8), Denver (7), Murray (7), Taggart (6)(Sub: Andy Smith 6,), Gazza (8), Hanly (6)(Sub: Berry 7,), Gibbo (7), Cutch (8)

Man of the match: Gary McCutcheon