Denver Delivers!

United central defender Denver Gage has been threatening to open his United scoring account all season, but he chose today to deliver the goods. What a timely goal it was, the big defender got on the end of Hanley cross to power a header past Glens keeper Elliott Morris, which forced a replay at the Oval on Tuesday January 25. United had made only two changes to their last starting line-up, with Sparky returning from injury, allowing Mikey to switch to right-midfield and Gibbo getting the nod upfront instead of Andy Smith. United were caught cold after only 4 minutes when after referee Courtney awarded the visitors a dubious free-kick, the United 'wall' was breached by Johnnie Black's fierce shot which swerved viciously leaving Nelson well beaten as it hit the back of the net.

Definitely not the start we wanted and five minutes later Nelson rescued the home team with a finger tip save from visiting forward Waterworth. United were unable to string more than two passes together early on as at least three players, Sparky, Murray and Gibbo were badly off form. Captain Gazza and Archie were on top form and with their contribution United began to find the chinks in the visitor's armour. Hanly was right out of luck when his shot from the edge of the box squirmed under Morris's body before hitting the post. Gibbo had a header on goal, but it was easy for the keeper, from Mikey's cross. The visitors almost doubled their lead when Denver was beaten for pace but Nelson blocked Burrow's shot with his legs. Albert, what a rock of strength he is, came to our rescue with a timely interception as Waterworth dribbled through.

There was no fourth official for this game and it was fair to say there was a wee bit of banter between the two benches. This was especially evident when a Glens player 'stooped' for a header and literally got what he deserved (a kick in the head) and the Glens bench harangued our boys for not putting the ball into touch. This was a bit strange as their team was in possession and played on, so the fault was theirs not ours. Referee Courtney managed to calm things down and we reached halftime with the visitors still in the lead and with United needing to up their game if they were to remain in the cup. A collection was taken up at halftime for the United youth academy and the small band of visiting fans (roughly 723), showed their generosity with a donation in excess of £230, no cheap skates in East Belfast.

2nd half
United took to the field with the same personnel and it was hard to see where they were going to get their inspiration from. Archie almost provided that touch of magic when he sprinted down the left wing and despite being fouled, put in a gem of a cross but unfortunately no United man could get on the end of it and we had to settle for a corner. Mikey took an in-swinger but it was cleared by the visiting defence. Archie then showed his defensive skills with a great interception at the other end. United deservedly drew level in the 60th minute when Mikey took a short corner to Hanly and his precision cross was headed powerfully into the net by Denver. This brought the United fans to their feet, as much in relief as in enjoyment.

United manager Roy Walker rang the changes after this, taking off the 'out of sorts' Murray, with Colligan taking his place. Then Andy Smith came on for Sparky, with Mikey dropping back to rightback. Somehow we never looked quite as menacing after this as for some reason we were reluctant to take them on down the flanks and kept trying to cut inside. Mikey almost broke the deadlock when he sprinted at the Glens defence, only to be cynically tripped about 25 yards from goal. Nathan (Hanly), beat the defensive wall with a beauty of a free kick but his shot smacked the crossbar with Morris well beaten. Visiting player Richard Clarke went down after a collision and had to be stretchered off, hopefully the injury looked worse than it really was. United Captain Gazza was hurt near the end and was replaced by Ryan Berry but he had little time to make an impact.

The visitors almost snatched an undeserved victory when Waterworth saw his shot turned round the post by Nelson. United were also looking to end the tie but their final pass seemed to go astray every time they bore down on the visitors goal. This was perfectly illustrated when Colligan, with perfect control opened up the Glens defence, but then made a complete hash of his pass and the chance was lost. Referee Courtney did his best but despite 7 minutes of added time the game ended in a 1-1 draw. A fair enough result, but yet another match we could well have done without as we're already four games behind the schedule. We'll just have to go to the Oval on January 25 and complete the task. I feel I must pay tribute to both sets of fans who reverently kept the one minute of silence as a mark of respect for the untimely death of Michaela Hart!

Nelson (8), Sparky (5)(Sub: A. Smith 5,), Archie (9), Denver (8), Albert (9), Mikey (6), Gazza (8)(Sub: Berry 6,), Hanly (7), Murray (6)(Sub: Colligan 5,), Gibbo (5), Cutch (7)

Man of the match: Archie Stewart