Fergies Bloomer!

United boss Glen Ferguson chose to ignore the advice handed out to him in Sky Blue Sport news and made wholesale changes to his starting line-up. In all he made eight changes to his starting line-up of last Saturday's match against Dungannon Swifts and worst of all he only had two first teamers as his subs, in Dwayne and McCullagh. When I read the team on twitter, I thought to myself 'if I had known that an hour ago I would have stayed at home', with all the rest of the so called United faithful. Out went Dwayne, replaced by Addis,out went Taylor, Steely and McCullagh to the bench, in came Archie, Cookie and Ruddy. Out went Jenks and Alan D, in came Gavin and Eoin Gillan and upfront out went Ally and Mario and in came Liggie and Duffin.

On paper it wasn't a bad team, they had lots of first team experience, with the exception of Gillan, but there was no cohesion, but they should have had more class than a team two divisions below them. Gary Thompson had a stinker of a match, he kept getting caught in possession, could pass water and gave me the impression he wanted the match over as quick as possible, but he wasn't prepared to take part in it and the Ballymoney keeper got a hand to his penalty in the shoot-out, but luckily it crossed the goal-line. Liggie upfront was a disaster, but he did win us the free-kick that kept us in the match, but otherwise he was a virtual passenger. Duffin was useless except for his corners but we couldn't capitalise on them and we must have forced about 16 or 17 and only scored from one and there were some glaring misses.

United were content to pass the ball about at the back, but this inevitability ended up with a big 'hoof' up on the middle, where Liggie didn't want to know or onto the wing where Duffin would run it out of play. In the 13 minutes disaster struck, Addis brought down Eoin Bradley in the penalty area and was lucky to stay on the field, getting only a yellow card for his indiscretion. Bradley took the resultant spot-kick and despite Stuarty's gamesmanship, trying unsettle him, neatly tucked away the penalty on the keepers right. Now we were up against it but should have got back level when Tony Kane found Liggie in acres of space and with the goal at his mercy his header struck the crossbar, a horror of a miss.

Neal Lowry was having a better game than Saturday, but he was stuck on the left wing and had to cut inside every time but he had no-one to pass to for Liggie didn't want to know. Ballymoney were growing in confidence and they nearly got another goal when Thommo tried a back-pass right out of Alan D category (V Glenavon) and Addis got in a tangle with Bradley and United somehow got the decision for a trip but I thought it should have been another penalty with Addis getting a yellow card, but luckily the decision fell our way. Eoin Gillan, who has been raved about in the reserves had a chance to make a name for himself when he found himself in space outside the box on two occasions but fired the ball harmlessly over the bar, what a waste of time and effort. Halftime was reached with us still trailing 1-0 and I could see no way for us to get back on level terms, but we had to try.

2nd half
The news at halftime that the scum were down 1-0 did little to improve my despondency and the substitution of Gillan who was replaced by Leroy Millar, but I consoled myself that I had heard of him and he acquitted himself well. United continued to miss chances, Cookie got a free header to a Duffin corner and headed the ball down and over the bar and then it was Duffin's turn with his head inside the six-yard box, a dreadful miss. Finally we got a foothold in the match in 68 mins when Archie soared above everybody from a Duffin corner and found the back of the net with a crisp header. We were back on level terms and I sensed the relief in the paltry home crowd, admittedly it was not a good game, but you have to be there to support your team, in my opinion.

But try as they might United couldn't find the winner and the visitors started to believe, urged on by their vociferous supporters in the home stand. The frustrations of United and their fans were obvious and even the arrival of manger Ferguson all suited up in his Sunday best failed to goad the team in to action. Duffin pulled up injured and was replaced by McCullagh with Kane moving to right-midfield. The visitors had a chance to put the tie beyond United's reach when leftback McGarry went on a surging run past three defenders and I was relieved to see his shot sail over the crossbar. Eoin Bradley shrugged off Archie and managed to get a shot in but luckily it missed the target. United were hanging on at this stage and in a period of 5 minutes pressure when they couldn't get the ball cleared it looked ominous, but we survived.

Extra Time
The visitors deservedly took the lead in 6 mins in extra time when number 11 Bradley, neatly side-stepped Archie and found the back of the net with a low shot. How United failed to get on level terms on the halftime whistle beggars belief, when the ball looked like going in from a header and then a shot only to be thwarted by a goal-line clearance. They finally a snatched a wholly undeserved equaliser in the 2nd minute of the 2nd half of extra time. Liggie was hauled down just outside the box and Tony Kane struck a superb free-kick into the top corner of the net that's was worthy of the admission price alone. United were back in the game and Tony was taking the corners now and Gary Thompson capped his night of woe when he missed with a free header from a Tony corner, when it looked easier to score.

Tony almost won the tie on his own when he spotted the keeper off his line but his shot from 45 yards sailed just past with the keeper stranded and then it was the dreaded penalties. Mike Ruddy despatched the first one with aplomb, Stuarty saved Bradley's kick and then Thommo had the luck when the keeper got a hand to his shot but couldn't stop it and it found the net. Ballymoney next penalty taker scored and then it was United's man of the match, Kane and he rifled it into the net, the visitors scored their next to make 3-2 in Sky Blues favour. Then it was the turn of Lowry and he made no mistake and the visitors scored again to make the score 4-3 and up stepped captain Archie to score and send United into round three and the visitors home empty-handed. Did we deserve it, I don't think so, but football is a game about taking your chances and we certainly left it late, but we came through and that's all that matters!

Addis (7), Tony (8), Ruddy (6), Archie (7), Cookie (6), Gillan (5)(Sub: Millar 6,), Thommo (5), Gavin (6), Lowry (6), Liggie (5), Duffin (6)(Sub: McCullagh 6,)

Man of the match: Tony Kane