Double Cutch!

Gary McCutcheon finished his Ballymena career with two goals and was only denied a hat-trick, after an acrobatic save from Whites keeper Brennan, when cutting in from left. Despite the home team getting a fortunate penalty in the 90th minute this was an easier victory than the 3-2 scoreline suggests. United manager Spike made two changes to his line-up from last week's match, young keeper McCauley Cairns made his debut in goals in place of the absent Dwayne Nelson and Ross Black got a start in midfield in place of Alan D, who was one of the subs. It's safe to say Cairns started rather nervously and the Whites with the wind at their backs tried to give him a rough baptism to Premier league football. Within 2 minutes he had to take his first goal-kick and he made a hash of it, he trundled it along the ground to Whites striker Ligget. Ligget took off for goal but missed the target and the ball went behind for a goal-kick, this time Cairns made good contact.

His ordeal wasn't over yet and he made a hash of a back-pass and I think this had something to do with the Whites taking a deserved lead in the 11th minute. Johnny Taylor was competed for a through ball with Ligget but seemed reluctant to make a pass back to his keeper and Ligget dispossessed him before rifling a shot past Cairns. Six minutes later veteran striker Davy Larmour was unlucky to see his shot come back off a post after he ghosted past Dickie Vauls. In a rare United move, Elvis introduced Pat McShane to Susan but couldn't find a telling pass to a United forward. The home team have a long-throw specialist in Andy Hunter and the United defence was subjected to several in the first half. We managed to deal with them all in a mixture of skill and good fortune. Cutch, who has been taking it easy for a few weeks, trying to set his team-mates up for a goal, rather than having a go himself, found his fellow Scotsman Jenks with a lovely weighted pass. But the ball seemed to hold up and Brennan in the home goal came and collected the ball. Cutch then tried his luck from 20 yards but couldn't find the target.

Johnny Taylor was finding Ligget, who has been linked with United as a possible replacement for Cutch, a hot handful. Ligget looks like a real target man, able to shield the ball and lay it off, just what we are looking for. Previous manager Roy 'blame the fans' Walker, had told us he had got his man in Jordan Baker, before the start of season, that proved to be a fallacy, but Ligget really looks like the 'real deal', only time will tell. Gary Thompson, the other Whites player we are said to be looking at, had a quiet game, but a few nice touches. The ploy of playing Ross Black in midfield wasn't working and it was obvious that a change would have to made at halftime, if not sooner. United couldn't get a foothold in the match, the final pass often going astray and this was summed up when we took a short corner on the right and Cutch ending up giving the ball away. Keeper Cairns came to our rescue getting a fist to a corner and he seemed to be growing in confidence and we looked like we could hold out to halftime. Referee McNabb duly blew for halftime and that was the signal for Sky Blue fans to start analysing what changes Spike needed to make and to a man they agreed, that Alan D needed to come on.

2nd half

Alan D did come on at the start of the 2nd half in place of Ross Black and immediately we started to look like the team that's gone 11 games unbeaten. Two minutes into the half Alan D found Ally with a delightful pass and he gave Brennan no chance with a left-foot shot to tie the scores at 1-1. Alan D found himself an opening soon after but with time he went for the spectacular and missed the target. Elvis, who was having a quiet game, cut-in on left but couldn't find the target. Spike decided he had seen enough and replaced Elvis with Baker and he rifled a shot narrowly off target within a minute of coming on. United won a corner on the left in the 67th minute but when this was partially cleared, Ligget back defending was clearly seen to handle the ball and the linesman flagged for a penalty. Despite the protests the penalty stood and Cutch drilled the ball into the net for his 33rd goal of the season and gave United a 2-1 cushion. Alan D tried a volley from 25 yards which went miles over the bar and Cutch tried to chip the keeper from difficult angle but missed the target. But in 75th minute we saw a piece of magic that was well worth the admission charge and I was glad I was there to see it.

Cutch was found out the left from another delightful Alan D pass, he weaved his way into the area and beat Brennan with a delightful left-foot shot for his 34th goal of the season and a fitting finale to the wee Scotsman's career in a Sky Blue jersey. He wasn't finished though and he could have had a hat-trick but Brennan made a marvellous stop from point blank range, but maybe a chip would have been the better option but he decided to blast it. The Whites got a lifeline in the 90th minute when they were awarded a penalty for an infringement I couldn't see, I thought it was a good tackle, but despite converting the spot-kick to make the score 3-2, there was be no fairy-tale ending and United's Ally Teggart missed a glorious chance when he couldn't convert at the far post with the goal gaping, when Alan D found with another delightful pass. As the final whistle sounded to bring to the end, not just a match, but a season, we were left to wonder that if our board had, had the 'balls' to sack Roy Walker earlier, would we be playing in the top six now, not competing in the also-rans league, we'll never know!

Cairns (7), Rodgers (7),Vauls (6), Taylor (6), Archie (8), Gavin (7), Black (5)(Sub: Alan D 8,), Jenks (7), Ally (7), Elvis (6)(Sub: Baker 7,) Cutch (8)

Man of the match: Alan D