Santa Gary!

So often the hero, Cutch became the villain when he missed a 79th minute penalty which would have given United at least a share of the spoils. I have no doubt in my mind that referee Crangle gave this spot-kick to go some way to diminish his howler in the first half when he punished United keeper Drummond for an alleged back-pass. I was, like the rest of United fans herded to the stand behind the goal which United were defending in the first half and 'hand on my heart' I couldn't say it was a deliberate back-pass. Why then could Crangle decide it was a back-pass, when he was behind the play and in no position to judge who struck the ball never mind if it was deliberate. I honestly can say I have never seen any team punished for that offence in the last five years and our keeper, who has grown up with it, didn't do anything wrong.

United showing two changes from the team that started on Wednesday, Cookie Munster for Rodgers and Boyd for Baker, got off to a dream start after 4 minutes, when Boyd tried a speculative shot from 25 yards and former United keeper Sean O'Neill fumbled the shot into his own net. The lead was short lived and United were undone by their abject failure to deal with set pieces. Crues won a throw-in on the right, the benevolent United defence allowed them the freedom of the park and when the cross came in Jordan Owen was a free as bird at the far post, although Drummond should maybe done better, but where was the covering defender. United had a let off when a Coates header flew inches wide and then in 22 minutes we had the Crangle gaffe.

Unlike when Linfield were awarded a controversial free in a match at the Showgrounds, United did organise a wall, but when the ball was pulled square for Aiden Watson to shoot goalwards, Conor Downey played Jordan Owens on and he had the simple task of giving the Crues the lead. Cutch had a chance to draw the sides level but O'Neill saved well with his feet and from the rebound Cutch tried to score at an impossible angle, instead of crossing. Boyd was unlucky to see a left foot shot sail wide in what was a positive end to the half for United. As the teams left the field for their halftime cuppa United keeper Drummond was still remonstrating with referee Crangle in regard to his gaffe.

2nd half
Disaster struck for United shortly after the break when Boyd was seen pulling at his hamstring and he had to go off to be replaced by Elvis. This half was epitomised by us seeing the two sides of Crues skipper Colin Coates. Coates, the accomplished defender who never wastes a ball and can score goals as he demonstrated in the 60th minute. But before that Curtis Woods lifted a shot past O'Neill only to be thwarted by the crossbar. Then when the United defence failed to clear a corner, the ball was driven back in, a Crues player rose unchallenged to head to the unmarked Coates, who had time to steady himself and drive the ball into the net. Rip van Roy woke up and took off Downey and brought on Eamon Murray and we gradually got into the picture.

With Eamon on the right and Ally on the left we started to move with some cohesion and when Ally struck an in-swinging corner in the 73rd minute, Cookie got his head to it to reduce the leeway to 2-3. Six minutes later we won a penalty and I have to say it was a soft penalty and I think the referee was trying to make amends for his earlier gaffe. He adjudged that Burrows, who had just come on for Rainey, hauled Jenks back as he was trying to get to a Cutch cross and booked Burrows in the process. Crues keeper O'Neill, easily saved Cutch's feeble penalty and with it United's chance of getting something from the game. Then we saw the other side of Crues Colin Coates with a horrendous tackle on Ally, reminiscent of the Kevin Kelbie tackle on Sparky. At least the referee took the right course of action, an immediate red card as the match threatened to boil over.

Ally, was not too badly injured and he came close with a free kick three minutes later from the left which hit the post with O'Neill scrambling. In a last throw of the dice Roy took off Vauls and brought on Tony Kane and we went to three at the back to try to get something out of this game. Kane did have a chance when we got a free about 25 yards from goal, but the ball sailed harmlessly over the crossbar. Despite the home team blatantly wasting time, referee Crangle only seen fit to add on the obligatory 3 minutes, adding insult to injury. The Sky Blue Sport team were left wondering whether that player from yesteryear, Jimmy Martin, who struck his penalties low and hard to the posts, would care give Cutch, whose missed two already this season, some tips!

Drummond (7), Woods (7), Vauls (6)(Sub: Kane,6), Cookie (6), Archie (6), Downey (5)(Sub: Eamon, 6), Sparky (6), Jenks (7), Ally (7), Cutch (5), Boyd (7)(Sub: Elvis, 6),

Man of the match: Jenks