Grey Gloom!

I apologise for using Sky Blue Sports two summer headlines for my headline, truth be told I think it paints a rightful picture of yesterday's result. There was speculation that Spike was favouring a 4,4,1,1, formation, but alas his team lined up in the familiar 4,3,3. 4,3,3 is alright as a formation but the three midfielders need to be able to perform all three basic skills that a midfielders need, namely attacking, defending and passing. I don't need to tell United fans that United's midfield three of Thompson, Jenks and Alan D don't have these three basic skills. Thompson is alright going forward, is a mediocre passing and hasn't a clue about tackling. Captain Jenks is alright going forward, couldn't pass water and is useless at tackling. Alan D is a brilliant attacker, about 80% of his passes are useless, the other 20% are incisive and he is useless in the tackle, not near the ideal we need.

That said the midfield wasn't solely responsible for yesterday's debacle, the defensive five, Dwayne and his back four had a nightmare. Guy Bates and Mark Farren had the freedom of the park against Taylor and Archie, especially Bates against Archie, that was a mismatch, Archie gave Bates all the space time he needed to score two goals. The third was a catalogue of errors involving a suicidal back-pass, a goalie that caught the ball and a forward who played everybody on-side. We hadn't long to wait for the first goal, precisely 7 minutes was on the clock when Bates was allowed to waltz through our defence from a long goal-kick and pick his spot with a low shot that looped off Taylor's foot and over Dwayne and found the back of the net.

We had our best spell after this but we frittered away chance after chance and they were clear-cut chances. Captain Jenks found himself in the clear and despite having ten yards on his marker he delayed and was fouled, but managed to stay on his feet and but couldn't find the target. In a period of intense pressure the visitors defence was tore open and Liggie committed a glaring miss at the far post. Alan D had a volley well saved by Coleman in the visitors goal and Liggie should have worked the keeper instead flashing his shot across goal and then we were rightly punished in a Glenavon breakaway. Glenavon won a throw-in opposite our penalty area and from McKeown's long throw-in the United defence allowed Bates a free header and he gratefully accepted the space afforded to him by our inept defenders and gave his team a 2-0 lead.

That goal came in the 26th minute and in a 8 minute spell the match was put beyond United's reach. Exactly 4 mins later somebody sent a suicidal back-pass and Dwayne under pressure from Bates, caught the ball and was punished by referee Crangle (where have we seen that before). The free kick was awarded on the edge of United box, but Crangle paced out 12 yards for the United defensive wall. United pulled everyone back for this free-kick but I think that this was their undoing, they had no outlet if they managed to clear the ball. The kick was charged down and the defenders streamed out leaving five Glenavon men in their six-yard box and there was Liggie playing them on-side when the ball came in again and Murphy was left with the simple task of finding the net. Then in 34 mins, Farren was allowed to turn and get his shot off and beat the hapless Dwayne and make the score 4-0, our management team were bereft of ideas and the United crowd looked shell-shocked.

2nd Half
Spike made a change at halftime, taking off Liggie and bring on Sparky, I personally thought this was negative move but Jenks was moved upfront where he was more useful and we got a lifeline immediately. From a long clearance by Dwayne, Neil Lowry, trapped the ball and swivelled and from 30 yards beat Coleman all ends up. Could we get back in the game I wondered, but Gary Thompson, despite finding himself in the clear, could only managed a weak left-foot shot, which Coleman easily gathered. Then in 65 minutes from a spell of United pressure, debut boy Stephen McBride found Thompson at the far post and he gave Coleman no chance with his shot this time and it was his left foot. United huffed and puffed but there was no urgency in our attacks and Neil Lowry epitomised this when he didn't chase down a defender, when admittedly it looked a lost cause, but we needed to chase down everything.

We needed fresh legs and an all-out attack but the manager dithered and then disaster struck, in a rare breakaway the United defence allowed Farren a shot from 18 yards and he duly obliged to score his team's fifth goal and two mins later it was six when Dwayne got a hand to a shot but it ballooned up and McGrory was allowed a free header which found the net. Spike had brought on Neil Gawley when Glenavon scored their fifth goal, but he took off Lowry and not Alan D, who was a virtual passenger in the 2nd half. Next he took off Thompson and brought on Ruddy and then we conceded our sixth goal, talk about uninspiring substitutions, you could write a book on this match alone. Gawley's first piece of action involved him taking a long throw-in, but the United attackers were having none of that and they let Coleman in the visitors goal have a free-hand. United did grab a consolation goal when Taylor got on the end of Ally corner to score United's third goal in the 88 mins, but it was too little too late, United had been comprehensively beaten by 6-3, it was a grey, gloomy day, feck, feck, feck!

Dwayne (5), Kane (5), McBride (5), Taylor (6), Archie (4), Thompson (6)(Sub: Ruddy 5,), Jenks (5), Alan D (5), Lowry (7)(Sub: Gawley 6,), Liggie (6)(Sub: Sparky 5,), Ally (6)

Man of the match: Neil Lowry