Let Down!

The 950 Sky Blue fans that were in the home stand were sadly let down by their team, whereas the 813 Gypsies went home to their caravans wrecking all before them, proving that they are just scum, it didn't matter to them whether their team won or lost, they were going to plunder regardless of the result. The United midfield were again found wanting, I heard a rumour that Gary Thompson is carrying an injury, well if he is, he should be rested or on the subs bench at least. Better to have a fit team, we already carry a passenger in Captain Jenks, but we can't afford two passengers and that's what we had yesterday. We also had no width in our team, are King Billy Bingham and Peter Duffin injured, or is Spike saving them for the quest of a top six place, starting next Saturday. Well I have news for our manager, yesterday's match epitomised our season to date, we were second best in every department, except maybe goalkeeping. But worse than that, we had no pride, we had nobody prepared to go that extra mile and when we got back on level terms, we capitulated and the pessimist in me wasn't surprised.

As expected Spike selected Shaun Maher in place of Cookie and Dolan in place of the suspended Cush, but sprung a surprise with Mike Ruddy replacing Vaulsely. Ruddy hadn't played since getting injured in November against the hatchet men but Spike showed faith in him and he didn't let him down. I'm not sure if we lost the toss or we elected to kick-off, but we were attacking the Farm Lodge end in the first half. Commentators on the radio and twitter take note, saying a team is playing from left to right, means nothing to your listeners or viewers, we either attack the Farm Lodge end, or the Fisherwick end and you are in the Warden Street stand or the Slemish stand, give us the basic facts, please! Anyway we got off to a brilliant start taking the lead in the 12th minute, from Gavin of all people, not captain Jenks as reported on BBC TV. United won a corner which the scum defence couldn't deal with properly and Jenks had a shot blocked and it was cleared to Gavin about 30 yards from goal. He managed to trap the ball and promptly fired it back towards goal, where Docherty in the scum goal made a hash of it and the ball nestled in the net to give United the lead. Three minutes later the United defence was undone when Maher slipped and Allen saw his chip beat beat Nelson, but not the crossbar.

The United midfield were giving the scum players plenty of space and they paid a heavy price for this when Scullion found acres of space on the left, was allowed time to cross and pick out Allan and he headed the scum level. For the remainder of the half we were hanging on, the scum midfield were dominant, but Thommo and Jenks were ineffective and Dolan and Liggie had to come back and tackle. Not much was seen of us going forward, for in my humble opinion Dolan and Liggie were too far apart and could never find a pass that would unlock the scum defence. Referee Davey Malcolm, who had sent Gavin off in his last appearance at the Showgrounds for kicking an opponent, let Allen away with the same offence when he kicked out at Chrissie. Ruddy seemed to be struggling and I thought we wouldn't see him in the 2nd half as the United defence was at sixes and sevens but they hung gamely until halftime. We were talking idly at halftime what the manager should do, bring on Vaulsely for Ruddy and get Lowry on for Thommo or Jenks and try to shake up the forwards, but alas this after all was idle speculation.

2nd half
United took the field with the same eleven and the scum took up where they had left off and I was surprised we held out so long, for we had nothing to offer against the scum juggernaut. After 11 mins the scum took the lead but it was a tragedy for new signing Shaun Maher, when he turned a Lowry cross into his own net. Soon after this Spike made his first substitution, springing a surprise when he took off Dolan and bring on Neil Lowry. But still we stuttered, Jenks had one forceful run but couldn't find a telling pass and Liggie had a shot charged down at the expense of a fruitless corner. Ally gave us some hope but Docherty turned his powerful shot over the bar. With 10 mins left Gavin made way for Alan D, but he couldn't get us going and 5 mins later Ruddy made way for Sparky and we went three at the back. Scullion almost put the tie beyond doubt when he broke clear but Nelson saved his attempted chip. As we approached the 88th minute we got a lucky break when Alan D found Lowry on the right and his cross was nodded home by Liggie for his first goal in a United shirt. The stage was set for a grandstand finish, but it was the scum who got the breakthrough to sadden United hearts with full-time approaching.

Not for the first time, Tony Kane was left on his own in the right flank and he appeared to strike the ball off Scullion for a goal-kick, but Malcolm gave a corner. When the ball came over it was to the back post, it was nodded across the six-yard box and it fell to Scullion at the near post and he slammed it home to send the scum into the next round. During the 3 minutes of added time, Malcolm finally booked the scum keeper Docherty for deliberate time wasting, but he added nothing on for this deliberate cheating. In the end we felt hard done by, but in truth we had got a lifeline which we hardly deserved and then capitulated soon after. Spike has said its a learning curve, but when are we going to learn, I can see no evidence to suggest we are any better than we were at this time last season, in fact in many respects we are worse off. At this time last season we were still in the Irish cup and embarking on an unbeaten run and we had a striker who was scoring goals for fun. This season except for the Shield win, we've flattered to deceive, but maybe Spike has a plan, I and al the other Sky Blue fans, definitely hope so, I have a dream, a Sky Blue dream!

Nelson (7), Kane (6), Ruddy (6)(Sub:Sparky 6,), Maher (6), Chrissie (6), Thommo (4), Jenks (5), Ally (6), Gavin (7)(Sub: Alan D 6,), Dolan (6)(Sub: Lowry 7,), Liggie (7)

Man of the match: Gary Ligget