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