Two Alans!

The tale of the two Alan's concerns Ally Teggart and Alan D. Ally had a fair match for him, he wasn't particularly prominent but late on he missed an absolute sitter from inside the six-yard box after good work by Liggie. But Alan D, who couldn't pass water for most of the match redeemed himself and Ally's blushes by getting on the end of Neil Lowry surging run and finishing with aplomb, to make the points safe. United had to make 3 changes from their starting line-up of last Saturday, with Johnny Taylor replacing Tony Kane (family bereavement) at rightback, Ally in for the suspended Thommo and Alan D taking the place of injured Captain Alan Jenkins. United got off to a dream start, going ahead in the 9th minute when after a neat bit of play down the right wing and cross, Liggie's effort on goal was blocked but from the rebound he made no mistake to give United the lead. The die-hard United fans in the smallest crowd I have seen at a senior game in years, were hoping the team could go on from this, but they retreated into their shell and let the hosts come to them.

During the rest of the first half we were treated to a lot of Whites pressure and the United defence holding firm under the inspiration of the determined Dwayne Nelson, who would not let the ball past him. United were under the cosh and when they did get the ball, they invariably gave it away much to the frustration of the fans. Cush, playing against his former club was a shadow of the player he was last Saturday at DC, someone commented that he was trying too hard, instead of doing the simple thing, he was 'trying' to impress. Alan D was also disappointing, playing in centre-midfield I thought he would relish being the motivator, but alas he had a poor game by his standards. The referee Tim Marshall seemed to have no cards with him as he continued to ignore brutal tackles by the hosts, instead he chose to lecture them at length. United held out to halftime, with Dwayne making a point blank save, proving his worth, if proof were needed.

2nd half
Cookie didn't come out for the second-half with Shaun Maher taking his place, whether he was injured I don't know, but he was certainly not the worst player in the United defence in the first half. The floodlights at Ballyskeagh are dire in the extreme and at the start of the second-half fans on the unreserved side we were unable to see the centre of the pitch at the stand side. The centre bank of light on that side were out and they had them at pitch level but later they were extinguished and we could see again, admittedly not too well, but we could see vaguely. But this was no excuse for the dire performance that we were subjected to by the Sky Blues who seemed to be trying to hold on that one goal lead and the fans were suffering from boredom and the chill with the temperature dropping fast. Alan D raised our hopes when he burst through only to blast the ball wide.

After 70 minutes Spike withdrew Cush and brought on Neil Lowry and his pace immediately had some effect. In a promising move up the left-wing, Dolan shielded the ball well but played it back to Alan D and eventually we lost possession, unforgivable in my book. Then we had the Ally miss after good work by Liggie in drawing the keeper and leaving Ally with the simple task of scoring but he side-footed the ball over the bar, an atrocious miss. With 10 minutes to go Ruddy made way for Denver Gage for his first senior game under Spike, he has been out injured since early in the 2011 season. That meant we had four central defender on the team, I sincerely hope that's not a blueprint for next season. Eventually we got the insurance goal in the 83rd minute, when after a surging run by Lowry, Alan D finished superbly and I for one thought he had missed, but the ball nestled nicely in the net.

Liggie had a chance to put the icing on cake two minutes later, but his shot from inside the box just shaved the bar with Brennan in the Whites goal soundly beaten. Eight minutes later it was all over, we had won two nil and the news came in that DC had beaten Dungannon Swifts and the Whites were relegated and manager Tim McCann was sacked with only two matches to go to the end of the season. Obviously the Whites board have somebody in mind to replace Tim and start the process of getting back to the Premier league or do they know something we don't about the league being restructured. What am I saying, I'm living in the real world, no that would be too forward thinking, we are in the IFA's jurisdiction, we would rather bury our head in the sand and hope for the best, but I fear for the league in its present format!

Dwayne (8), Taylor (5), Ruddy (7),(Sub: Denver 7,), Archie (6), Cookie (6)(Sub: Maher 6,), Cush (5)(Sub: Lowry 7,), Alan D (6), Gavin (6), Ally (6), Dolan (6), Liggie (7)

Man of the match: Dwayne Nelson