Technology Needed!!

After four meetings with the Crues this season, 3 of which were at Ballymena, United's record against the 'hatchet' men leaves a lot to be desired. A draw in their previous meeting at the Showgrounds, is all United have got, while they've suffered 3 defeats. The previous two defeats were close, 2 goals in stoppage time at Seaview in a 2-1 defeat in the league back in August 31 and a week later a 1-0 loss in the County Antrim Shield. Those two defeats and the manner of them were honourable defeats, when with a bit of luck the result could have gone the other way. Tonight United were punished two fold, they played poorly and they were 'robbed' of a perfectly legitimate goal midway through the first half which would most likely have changed the whole game. If that wasn't bad enough referee Steven Weatherall, who seems to believe that elbowing players is okay, gave a dubious penalty to the visitors for a push, when it was a United player who was pushed.

United manager Roy Walker, who likes to 'tinker' with his formation made one change to his starting line-up from last Saturday, Andy Smith for Gibbo. Not content with this he changed his formation, starting with Sparky upfront and Andy on the right-wing. This formation never clicked as Sparky was badly off-form and he soon switched to right-midfield and then to rightback, with Mikey going to right-midfield and Andy up front. United started, as is their want, very sluggishly and it seemed only a matter of time before the visitors scored. This they did after 15 minutes when after a corner was partially cleared the United defence defended too deep and when the ball came back in Morrow had the easy task of heading past Nelson.

Try as United might they could barely string two passes together and when they did the linesman at the Fisherwick end flagged them offside whether anybody was offside or not and regardless if he was up with play. It seemed as if the 'gods' were against us and this point was perfectly illustrated when after the Crues keeper made a hash of a clearance the ball fell to Andy Smith about 45 yards from goal. With the keeper trying to regain his ground Andy hoisted a shot goalwards, the keeper misjudged the flight of the ball stepped back into the net and then tried to claim he'd stopped the ball crossing the line. The linesman who was making offside decisions when 'miles' behind the play, suddenly could see nothing and even Steven Weatherall who can make decisions in semi-darkness from 30 yards, couldn't award a goal in perfectly good visibility from 35 yards.

I have to say here that' I'm against goal-line technology and even though this incident wasn't as clear-cut as Frank Lampard's goal for England v Germany in the World cup, it still was quite obviously a goal. Goal line technology would have proven the fact, but it wasn't needed as it was obvious to everybody but the referee and the linesman that the ball was technically 'in the net'. This was United's lifeline back into the game, but it was cruelly snatched away and even though they came more into the game they couldn't make the vital breakthrough.

2nd half
Five minutes into the 2nd period Walker finally took off the 'out of form' Sparky and brought on Gibbo and even though we created a few chances we couldn't find the vital breakthrough. The final nail in our coffin came when after the linesman missed another 'blatant' offside the ball was returned into the box and Jordan Owen headed into the net after pushing Denver Gage. The referee immediately blew his whistle but to our utter amazement awarded a penalty to the visitors, when it was our man who had been pushed. This was strange to say the least as the referee was at least 20 yards away at the time, but suddenly he saw things no-one else did. Morrow duly dispatched the penalty and United were out of the C.I.S. cup.

One of the few success stories for United on the night was captain Gazza who led his players by example as he continually probed and tried to find incisive passes. With about 8 minutes remaining United made a double substitution, taking off Gazza and Hanly and bringing on Berry and McCaughern. As luck would have it Berry missed a chance to give us some hope, firing over from close range shortly after coming on. It was a sad night for the Sky Blues and their supporters, but especially sad for one United player. Albert Watson was making his 300th appearance for the club and his disappointment was enhanced somewhat by a totally unnecessary challenge from former Glentoran player Michael Halliday who pushed the United stalwart onto the Stock car track. Referee Weatherall blew the final whistle and took no action against Halliday, but Albert, quite rightly in my opinion, refused to shake his hand after the game. The Crues are back at the Showgrounds for a league game this Saturday, hopefully we'll be up for that!

Nelson (7), Mikey (6), Archie (6), Albert (6), Denver (7), Andy (6), Hanly (5)(Sub: Berry 5,), Gazza (8)(Sub: McCaughern 5,), Murray (6), Sparky (5)(Sub: Gibbo 6,), Cutch (5)

Man of the match: Gazza