Nailer Gazza!

Rumour has it that United manager Roy Walker decided to call it a 'day' after last Saturday's capitulation to D.C.. Seemingly he only decided to stay on after some senior players persuaded him to change his mind. Surely Captain Gazza must have been one of those men, I think, but tonight by a strange quirk of fate, the ever loyal Gazza put the final nail in Roy's coffin. With barely 2 mins on the clock Gazza's attempted header back to his keeper fell at the feet of Crues striker Jordan Owens who blasted it into the net to give the visitors an early lead. This was the worst possible start for a 'makeshift' United side, with Andy Smith and Sparky dropped, there were starts for McAreavey and McCaughern while Taggart started in place of the suspended Gage.

Referee Steven Weatherall was at his most inept when after Caff was adjudged to have fouled a Crues player, the stupid referee admonished United's Lee Colligan instead. When the error of his ways was pointed out to him he exacted revenge on United by awarding the Crues a penalty from the resultant free-kick, cautioning McAreavey in the process. Coates, who had been the fouler, tugging McAreavey's jersey, scored from the spot to give the visitors an undeserved 2-0 lead. Worse was to follow when United mounted a counter attack, as McAreavey out-jumped Coates to a high ball, the yellow Crues player screamed as if he had been felled and the referee immediately cautioned McAreavey which being his second offence meant he was sent off. I'm certain any cameras, if there were any in the ground, will show no contact was made and that Coates conned the referee.

This ended the match as a contest and United to their credit didn't lose their discipline although they did pick up several other bookings, while Coates elbowed Sparky who came on as a sub in the 2nd half, but no action was taken, just a free kick awarded. This is the 2nd time referee Weatherall has over-reacted and sent a United player off this season and surely it's high time for United officials to let the I.F.A. know he's unwelcome at the Showgrounds. Roy, as seems to be his wont at the moment only used two subs, bringing on Sparky at halftime for Caff and then Rory for McCaughern. McCaughern wasn't the worst player by any means, as both Gazza and Taggart were badly out of touch.

Gazza was caught out again late in the 2nd half when he missed a tackle and Morrow ran through to steer the ball past the hapless Brown and give the visitors a totally undeserved 3-0 lead. United were poorly served up front by Cutch, who is just going through the motions at the moment and needs to start scoring goals again. He actually jumped for a ball tonight and won it, which is something anyway. Maybe if he challenged a wee bit more, we might get something out of games and not the sweet F.A. we're getting at the moment. Strange as it may seem all is not lost as far as a top six spot is concerned, but now we need a miracle or is it an impossibility. There's an old saying that goes, 'miracles happen every every day, the impossible just just takes a little longer' amen to that!

Brown (7), Mikey (7), Archie (6), Albert (7), Gazza (4), McCaughern (6)(Sub: Carson 5,), Caff (5)(Sub: Sparky 5,), Taggart (4), Colligan (6), Cutch (5), McAreavey (5)

Man of the match: Mikey Smith