Missing Strikers!

United done what was necessary last night at Seaview against Carrick Rangers, but oh they made heavy weather of it. We could and should have been six up at halftime and had Dwayne Nelson our keeper not ruined a near faultless performance with his needless throw to a man that couldn't seem to keep his feet on the night (Jenks)and he lost possession, Carrick might never have scored. Carrick came out for the 2nd half a new team and subjected us to a fair degree of pressure but our defence held firm while our forwards contrived to miss easy chances. I was surprised to see Tony Kane not stripped but was informed he was injured and that meant a recall for Chris Rodgers at rightback. Gavin Taggart replaced Conor Downey, Rory for the injured Sparky and Ally Teggert replaced the unfortunate Jordan Baker, subject of a vicious attack which left him with a broken jaw.

United lost the toss and were left to play into the strong wind which was blowing down the pitch from the Shore Road end. The Sky Blues got off to a dream start in the 3rd minute when the two Scotsmen combined to open the scoring with Jenks sweeping the ball into the net after a Cutch back-heel. I immediately thought that's good, Cutch is back on form and it augurs well for United for the rest of the season. The 'home' team struggled to get used to the conditions which was just as well as our defenders didn't look too comfortable, Cookie and Chris seemed to be at loggerheads but Taylor steadied the ship. Rory Carson sprinted up the right, got to the byline and pulled the ball to the unmarked Cutch lurking on the six-yard line. Unfortunately the wee man scuffed his shot into the arms of former United keeper Paul Murphy, what a miss. United were struggling to elude the well organised Carrick offside trap, but they got chances and never took them.

Then in a delightful move in the 22nd minute, Cutch fed Elvis and he in turn released Rory and he drilled a low shot into the bottom corner to give United a 2-0 lead. Then United spurned two gilt edged chances when first Cutch fluffed another chance when hitting the ball too firm when clean through and Murphy dived on it and then in 29 minutes Gavin found Ally with a delightful pass. Surely I thought Ally would be equal to the task, but he drove his shot straight at Murphy. These two misses proved quite costly when Wayne foolishly threw the ball out Jenks who couldn't keep his feet all night, he lost the ball, Heatley and Dolan combined with the latter giving Carrick a lifeline with a low shot, that they scarcely deserved to make the score 2-1.

Then we were subjected to the two sides of referee Merven Smyth when he penalised Taylor for handball when the ball was driven at him and then he only issued a yellow card for a two-footed tackle on Ross Black by Carrick defender West. Fortunately Ross was able to continue after treatment, although the ref kept him waiting for two minutes on the touch line. Then we had the 'miss' of the match, when Elvis found himself in on goal, he twisted this way and that way, Murphy committed himself and with the goal at his mercy Elvis drove the ball at the keeper's body. I couldn't believe it and to make matters worse Rory was unmarked if he hadn't the confidence to do it himself, despite 2 minutes of added time there was no further scoring.

2nd half
Carrick came out of the blocks the 2nd half, taking the game to us and if truth be told we were hanging on for ten minutes or so. Then we got a breakaway and won a corner and Taylor 'missed' the target with a free header from Rory's corner. As in the first half the United forwards were struggling to beat the Carrick offside trap, aided and abetted by a linesman who was flag happy. I think he got it wrong more times than he got it right, in one incident a Jenks header found Cutch being flagged, but he was clearly on-side when Jenks made contact with the ball. Nelson came to United's rescue with a good stop from Heatley and from another Rory corner Taylor failed to find the target again. Then in the 60th minute Elvis found himself 'clean through' again but this time he fired wildly over the bar when surely he should've tested the keeper at least.

This miss proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back and Spike could be seen getting a sub ready. Now I was critical in the past of United taking an age to get a sub on and I blamed Roy Walker, but it took our sub a full 2 minutes to get ready and Carrick forced a corner and it was 65 minutes before the sub came on, surely an inordinate length of time. I had supposed it would be Neil Lowry, but no it was Jamie Davidson that replaced Elvis. After good work by Rory, Davidson found Cutch in the right channel and he drove the ball high and wide, another chance missed. Rory was finding room down the right and United began to exploit this new freedom that Rory had found.

United finally made the game safe when Rory and Cutch combined down the right, before Rory found Davidson, he in turn fed Ross Black, who crossed for Cutch to head the ball home to give United a 3-1 lead. I tell you I breathed a sigh of relief for I was anxious for we missed so many chances to have the points safely tucked away. United were calm and collected from then on to the end of the match and it was maybe as well that we didn't amass a good score, for we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground, for there's another 3 banana skins waiting for us. That was a real six pointer last night, we're now 9 points ahead of Carrick, if they had won it would only have been three, bring on the Lurgan men!

Nelson (8), Rodgers (6), Black (6), Cookie (6), Taylor (7), Rory (8), Jenks (7), Gavin (7), Ally (7), Cutch (6), Elvis (5)(Sub: Davidson 7,)

Man of the match: Rory Carson