Alan Speaks!

During the Irish cup controversy last season when United were denied a place in the semi-finals of the cup, when the then Newry City protested that Alan Davidson was not properly registered and it was upheld by the IFA, the player was silent. He's not a shy person normally, not afraid to speak out, but he kept silent on that topic. But he was not silent yesterday, indeed he spoke the loudest in the way he only knows how, with a killer goal 2 mins from time which broke the hearts of Warrenpoint Town (or Newry City mark 2). United were decidedly lucky to be in the tie, they were outplayed, out-thought and disappointedly outfought by the Championship side and owe a huge debt of gratitude to their keeper Dwayne Nelson, who kept them in the tie with some incredible saves. There had been speculation on the forums this week, no doubt started by some scurrilous Coleraine scum supporters, that Dwayne wanted to change teams and go to the gas men. I say to them, keep it up, keep the rumours circulating, Dwayne gave you your answer yesterday, he's Sky Blue, through and through.

United manager Spike, as expected, included his two new strikers in his team and the one change from our line-out of last Friday, saw Peter Duffin drop to the bench in order to accommodate the incoming Gary Ligget, which necessitated in a change of formation to the more orthodox 4,4,2. Whether the United team found it hard to adjust to this new formation, or whether they were feeling the effects of last weekends trip to Rotterdam, I honestly don't know, but we were sluggish from the start and the visitors attacked relentlessly and could have taken the lead as early as the 5th minute, when Chrissy headed off the line to save our blushes. The visitors had well worked corner routine, taking it short getting it back to kick-taker and he crosses it. The United defenders dealt easily with this the first few times, nipping it in the bud, but as the match wore on, we kept missing more and more tackles and it was getting embarrassing seeing our team outfoxed so easily. The visitors were getting inroads to our backline, no doubt exploiting the lack of tacklers in the United midfield.

United could get nothing going upfront where the visitors had a well-oiled offside trap and they were a few close decisions, but as we were attacking the Farm Lodge end I really couldn't say if they were wrong. But it seemed to me the defenders only had to raise their hands and the linesman flagged. But United created chances, but they seemed to be shot shy, Cush had a shot from distance early on but he should have done better when released by Dolan, but inexplicably turned away from goal instead of getting the ball onto his more reliable left-foot and missed the target. Dwayne had already pulled two great saves to keep the match scoreless when we took the lead against the run of play. Thommo started the move and when it broke down Captain Jenks took over and sprinted up the middle, he looked odds-on to score but somehow the ball was cleared of the line. Thommo picked up the loose ball and fed Dolan and he found the net to give the Sky Blues a fortuitous lead in the 25 minute, surely now we would start to play with a bit of composure, but I was wrong.

Dwayne was keeping us in it and we were saying Spike needs to make a change because we were being over-run by the Town players and it looked like only a matter of time before they scored. As we approached halftime Chrissy went down with a head injury, but he was okay after treatment, what a relief for he was our best defender and Dwayne was our best player. Our new striker Ligget was having a quiet game and nothing would go for him, but he needs time to settle. Cush inadvertently set up a Town attack when his attempted back-pass was intercepted but Dwayne make an excellent save at the expense of a corner. Dwayne the shot-stopper was excellent, but his distribution was woeful. One incident springs to mind, when Dolan signalled for the ball down the centre and Dwayne put it out left where we had nobody, but his shot-stopping was superb and he kept us in the the lead at halftime, surely Spike would change things, we needed tacklers in midfield and someone to show a bit of urgency wouldn't be amiss.

2nd half
Thommo made way for Gavin, but he made no appreciable difference to our play we were just getting wave after wave of attacks from the visitors, thwarted by Dwayne. In one attack Dwayne was out of position, but he scrambled back and averted the danger. Spike made another substitution, taking off Ally, who was no means our worst player and bringing on Alan D. We started to get a few attacks going then, but we couldn't trouble Parr in the Town goal. Then 20 mins from time disaster struck, a Town player was allowed to waltz through our non-tackle defence and pass to the unmarked Johnston, who appeared to be offside, but no flag and he gave Nelson no chance to tie up the scores at one apiece. The goal had been coming and it was a reward for Town's attacking football and thoroughly deserved and it woke United up. Captain Jenks broke free and with only the keeper to beat managed to make him earn his keep. Spike played his last ace bringing on Duffin to replace Cush and suddenly we looked urgent.

We were talking about a replay, when the ball was played to Ligget on the right wing and he found Alan D on the edge of the box and he rifled a shot past Parr and into the bottom corner of the net, a goal worthy of winning any game. We were on our feet applauding this goal, with enjoyment, tinged with relief and I managed to spare a thought for the visitors who had battled so gamely, but to no avail. That goal came in the 88th minute and we held out for a memorable victory, not a deserved victory by any means, but a victory nonetheless. We were in the draw for the next round and when we came out the hat first, we knew we would be at home and waited with baited breath and with one voice said 'the Coleraine fecking scum', or words to that effect. It'll be a tough game, but they're all tough in this league and when the going gets tough, the tough get going, lookout you Coleraine scum, we're going to dump you out of the Irish cup, it's going to be a cold February for you!

Dwayne (9), Kane (6), Cookie (6), Chrissy (7), Black (6), Thommo (6)(Sub: Gavin 6,), Cush (6)(Sub: Duffin 7,), Jenks (6), Ally (6)(Sub: Alan D 8,), Ligget (6), Dolan (7)

Man of the match: Dwayne Nelson