Debut Goal!

Mike McClellan repaid the faith shown in him by United manager Glenn Ferguson, who only signed him at the eleventh hour on the transfer deadline, by setting the Sky Blues on a wholly unexpected victory over the previously unbeaten Ports last night, with his debut goal and he had only just came on as a sub. When United's 'man of the match', Ally Teggart, delivered his pinpoint corner from the right, there was Mike unmarked and he headed it into the net to set the Showgrounds crowd alight. That was spark needed to set United going and they continued to press forward and got the winner in a fortuitous circumstances it has to be said, but Mike and Ally were involved yet again and brought the whole Showgrounds crowd to their feet in rapturous applause.

Our manager had to re-jig his team due to a groin injury to Mario Dolan and he chose to start with no recognised striker and out went Steely McBride, I don't know whether he was dropped or injured and in came Archie to play leftback and Mike Ruddy to play midfield allowing Captain Jenks to take up a striking role. When I saw the team on twitter I was to say the least disappointed, it looked like we had no striking options and the manager was trying to hold on to get a result, but maybe he was trying to bluff everybody, including me and it worked to a T. Little was seen in that first half of United in attack, we tended to try one pass too many and for the most part we couldn't get out of our own end, the Fisherwick end, where we were defending like crazy and we rode our luck.

Fifteen minutes were gone when we had our first slice of luck, but in saying that maybe I'm doing our keeper Dwayne a disservice, maybe he got his angles right when his defenders were left for dead by Ports striker Kevin Braniff and his shot from the edge of box cannoned off the inside of the post, a real let-off. United didn't learn from this near calamity, when the same player wriggled loose only to see his shot parried by Dwayne, Gary Twigg (the Portadown groundsman), could only head against the bar but Murray was on hand to tap home the rebound, I felt sorry for Dwayne he had been let down by his defenders. They didn't learn from this benevolence and truth to say we could've let in more as the visitors were almost completely in control and should have added to their tally.

United made a subtle change in their formation with Archie and Ruddy swapping positions and we started getting a lot more possession and Ruddy started to fulfil the promise he had shown at the start of last season, prior to a bad injury he sustained against the Crues which ruled out for 3 months. Alan D was a virtual passenger in our midfield and the fans were calling on Glenn to replace him, but to no avail. I must mention the officials here, referee Carvill saw fit to book Johnny Taylor and Tony Kane for fouls, not bad fouls and let Ports players away with the same offences time and time again. The linesman at the Fisherwick end was useless or biased, I can't make up my mind which, only once did he raise his flag in the first half for an offside against Portadown and they were at least two or three incidents when they were players offside.

Then in the second half he 'never' gave United the benefit of the doubt on throw-ins they all went Ports way and he missed or ignored an elbow on Ruddy in the first half and flagged Ally offside when he wasn't up with play in the 2nd half. Ally was offside I have to agree but he couldn't be sure but he flagged anyway and in injury time he ruled that Neal Gawley had fouled a Ports player, when Neal was fouled himself. I was thinking idly that we were playing the IFA/Linfield at Windsor Park, that is where in the Irish league you don't get a decision, the benefit of doubt always favours the home team, but in this case it was the away team. Archie had been in the wars a few times, head injuries from Ports elbows completely ignored by the referee and we got a lengthy stoppage when Jenks and a Ports player had to receive treatment, so it was no surprise we had 3 minutes of added time in the first half, but thankfully we survived.

2nd half
Mike McClellan came on as sub for Alan D and what a transformation he wrought in United's play, not only in his own contribution that was immense but he seemed to lift the players also. Jenks was able to fall back to midfield where he was supported by Archie and Thommo and they started to win tackles. The Ports defenders including Chris Ramsay, who was a former United player in Roy Walker's time looked less than secure when McClellan was running at them. Mike won a corner in the 52nd minute and Ally delivered it left-footed into the six-yard box where Mike was on hand to score with a header. That goal brought the Showgrounds to life and they urged their team to go out and get the clincher, which they did, eventually.

The Ports weren't finished by any means and Murray missed another free header and Braniff screwed his shot wide with the goal at his mercy and in a goalmouth scramble United just managed to get the ball away. At the other end we had a scramble in the Ports goalmouth and the ball was kicked off the line. Ruddy was having a superb game and linking up with Ally too and was great to see, but Ports players got away with some tackles that to say the least were dubious, no bookings. From one of these free-kicks, which should have merited a booking, Miskelly in the Ports goal managed turn a Tony Kane shot around the post. The Ports took off Murray with 15 mins remaining and McStay took his place, whether this was a holding sub or a attacking one I couldn't say, but anyway it didn't work. McClellan then had a shot from distance but Miskelly was equal to it, was this our last chance I mused.

The match looked like petering out for a draw when with just 3 mins left, when M M (I've decided to call McClellan, M M), chased a long ball which seemed to be the keepers all the way. Miskelly seemed to mistime his dive and M M and he fell in a heap, I fully expected referee Carvill to give the Ports keeper the benefit of the doubt, but he pointed to the spot, but why didn't he at least book the culprit I'll never know. Up stepped Ally and he duly struck the penalty into the corner of the net and sent the United faithful and me included, delirious. The referee only added one minute of stoppage time, for they had only been one sub, we brought M M on at the start of the 2nd half and the ref got that right. Dwayne was a calming influence in the closing minutes and despite the linesman ruling against Neal Gawley we deservedly held out to record a victory, but it was so, so close!

Dwayne (8), Tony (7), Archie (8), Marky (6), Johnny (6), Thommo (7), Alan D (5)(Sub: M M 8,), Ruddy (8), Gawley (7), Jenks (7), Ally (8)

Man of the match: Ally Teggart