In Off!

Gary Thompson managed to get a touch on a Cush shot and score the goal which gave United a deserved draw, 'in off the Cush,' if you'll pardon my pun. The majority of the home stand was convinced that United had equalised earlier just after the Glens had taken the lead, when in a goal mouth scramble the ball seemed to cross the goal-line but referee Hetherington was unimpressed. The majority of Sky Blue fans were less than impressed with the referee later when he booked two United players when fighting broke out after a fair tackle by Sparky. A Glens player pushed Sparky and was seen to spit at him and Sparky gets booked along with Cookie Munster who had come on as a sub for Johnny Taylor. Manager Spike made one change from his starting line-up of Tuesday past, Sparky for Gavin and it was nice to see Alan D on the subs bench.

The Glens started brightly and it was obvious from the start, that they wanted to carry the match to United. Their ploy seemed to be to try and draw United in to committing more men forward, but United would have none of it and the game took on a 'cat and mouse' effect. United were happy to let the visitors dictate play along their 18 yard box and hit them them on the break. This seemed to have worked to perfection, when Thompson fed Jimmy Mac only for a late flag for offside to rule the goal out, I'd like to see that on TV. A Glens player had taken a dive in the box earlier, but referee Hetherington let him away with. When the Glens mounted an attack down their right wing, Jamie D was late with his tackle and the referee harshly booked him, it was a foul, but not a bad foul and no need for the physio, I consoled myself that maybe the ref would stamp out foul play, but it proved nothing of kind.

The first real chance fell to United when Jamie D broke through but shot straight at Elliott Morris in the Glens goal, who blocked the effort. Dwayne came to United's rescue when the Glens seemed destined to score, only to make a point blank save at the far post. Chris Rodgers was struggling with the pace of Stephen Carson and Spike instructed Tony Kane to warm-up, luckily Chris got to grips with the pace of Carson. not literally it should be added unlike Glens defender Callaher who could be clearly seen with a hold on Jimmy Mac, the referee missed that, unsurprisingly. Dwayne got his angles right near halftime when the ref awarded the visitors a free-kick for no obvious infringement, the ball came off the crossbar and was cleared. There was one minute of added time and the ref motioned to a Glens player preparing to take the throw that he was to go back and take it from a different spot, but he ignored the ref instructions (as you would), but the referee had the last laugh when he blew his halftime whistle when the ball came in to play.

2nd half
This half started badly for United when with just 4 mins on the clock (49), the Glens took the lead when the United defence and midfield was too deep and the ball fell nicely for Glens player Howlands and he struck a magnificent shot past Nelson. United came back almost immediately and in a goalmouth scramble the ball seemed to cross the goal-line, but referee Herrington and the linesman were unimpressed. I think the visitors lost their composure somewhat after this, they started to run down the clock and as a consequent they surrendered the initiative to United. United lost Johnny Taylor to an injury which looked like a hamstring and Cookie took his place. I must say at this juncture Johnny was not up to his usual standard against his former club, he seemed to trying too hard. Spike caused somewhat of surprise taking off Jamie D and bringing Ally.

I thought personally that Jimmy Mac should have the player to go off, but Spike knows best. Ally it has to said spiked (not an intentional pun), things up a bit and when he won a ball in the air he set up Jimmy Mac but he shot wide when well placed, a bad miss. Spike played his last ace and brought on Alan D for Ruddy who had been fairly inconspicuous and we started to look like the 'real deal'. Cush earned the wrath of some supporters when he shot selfishly instead of feeding Thommo, but David has his own agenda and that's alright with me and more importantly his manager. Alan D fashioned out an opening for Cush but unexpectedly he miskicked, what a chance. In the last five minutes we had that melee that resulted in two players for home side getting booked and an a Richard Clarke shot which I thought Nelson pushed over the bar but a goal-kick was given.

Then in the 90 minute Andy Waterworth was tearing into our box to make the game safe only for Dwayne Nelson to deny him with a magnificent save. After this United were encamped in the Glentoran half and after a another Cush shot had been blocked for a corner the stage was set for a fitting finale. Cush corners it has to said, were not good all night, too low, but he got this one right and Morris could only palm it away. The ball was driven back in to the Glens box and it fell to Cush who rifled a shot towards goal which Thommo got a touch to, to make certain. This goal sparked wild celebrations in the stands and on the pitch, it was sheer bloody relief. The ref had added five minutes stoppage time and was nice to see the negative tactics employed by the visitors in the 2nd half coming back to punish them at the death, I went home happy. In a break with tradition, I give Dwayne Nelson a rating of 9, no superlatives can sum up his contribution to this match, he was truly outstanding, long may it continue!

Nelson (9), Rodgers (7), Black (7), Taylor (6)(Sub: Cookie 7,), Archie (8), Thommo (8), Sparky (7), Ruddy (6)(Sub: Ally 7,), Cush (7), Jamie D (8)(Sub: Alan D 7,), Jimmy Mac 7

Man of the match: Dwayne Nelson