Monkey Business!

The Sky Blues were hoping to get another 'monkey' off their back when they travelled to Windsor Park yesterday to take on IFA/Linfield. But they suffered at the hands of IFA/Linfield some 'monkey business' and it made their quest nearly impossible. We are well used to being outnumbered at Windsor, normally the IFA/Linfield have 14 men, eleven on the pitch and the three officials, but that wasn't enough yesterday, for referee Hugh Carvill sent off United Alan Jenks for 'dissent'. Since the inception of yellow and red cards, I have never seen anybody sent off for dissent, it usually is two yellows, one for committing one offence, foul or dissent and followed by a second, for a second offence, but Carvill gave Alan a straight red and we were down to 10 men against 14 men, nigh impossible odds, but even then we should've got something from the match, but we frittered away really good chances.

Spike made two changes to his line-up, Gavin Taggart came in for the suspended Archie and Alan D for the injured Neal Gawley and they were both a disaster. The Belfast men took the lead in the 10 mins when they mesmerised United with good inter-passing, but Gavin Taggart, failed to track Mulgrew of Linfield, when he exchanged passes with McAllister and from Mulgrew's inch perfect pass Waterworth had the easy task of heading into the net. Nine minutes later it was Alan D's turn when he had the chance of clearing the ball, his misplaced pass fell to Linfield and then we were on the back foot and despite looking offside Waterworth was left with the simple task of of tapping the ball into the net. Sammy Patterson had invited us all in the car to make a wager of when Gavin picked up his first caution and he almost got his guess spot-on, he said 'half an hour', officially its recorded as 31 mins.

It looked like 'dissent' as the referee seemed to warn him and then Gavin said something and was promptly booked. Contrast this to some of tackles Linfield got away and deliberate handballs, but handballs it seems are not an offence as long they're committed by Linfield. We even had a home player get up after he had been tackled and grab a United players shirt, an automatic booking or even a red card, but referee Carvill took no action. With 8 minutes to go in the first half, Gavin committed another foul and Fergie took him off and Neal Lowry came on to play on the right and Thommo, who was like a fish out of water on the right, returned to the middle of the park, where he is more at home. Little was seen of United in attack, they were too deep but Ally had a chance to embarrass the Linfield keeper, but he delayed his shot and the chance was lost. Dwayne was having a match he'll want to forget and he seemed slow to come off his line despite the prompting of his defenders, anyway we survived to halftime but it was obvious changes would have to be made.

2nd half
Alan D was subbed at halftime, with Liggie taking his place and we a version of 4,4,2 instead of Fergie's preferred 4,3,3 and we only had to wait 6 mins for this formation to bear fruit. There's been much criticism directed at Neal Lowry but in this case he delivered when he took the ball down the right wing and crossed and MM headed it on for Liggie to blast it into the net. Referee Carvill reluctantly gave the goal but he must have made a mental note to punish United for this offence, 'how dare they score a goal in his beloved Windsor Park', they would have to pay for this indiscretion. The Linfield players were shirking out of tackles and Carvill punished United players for fair tackles, but that wasn't enough for him. Gary Thompson committed a clumsy foul just inside the Linfield half and was booked by Carvill, unsurprisingly and then from the long free kick, Waterworth chased a ball that he had little hope of getting and Dwayne committed himself to trying to get the ball and the two players collided. We were treated to a master-class in diving technique, as Waterworth done a great swallow dive, but to my astonishment ref Carvill pointed to the spot, despite United's protests and the linesman insistence that it was no penalty, but Carvill was in no mood to listen.

When Waterworth, who had looked like a stretcher case, miraclessly got up, he duly dispatched the penalty, Dwayne diving the wrong way and United were down 3-1, just when we had got ourselves into the match I thought, it couldn't get any worse, but I was so terribly wrong, it did get a whole lot worse. United Captain Jenks sought an explanation from referee Carvill why he ignored the linesman saying no penalty and to the astonishment of him and everybody, was promptly shown the red card. The only explanation I can think of, he must have called the referee's parentage into doubt, or Carvill can't understand the Scottish dialect or a combination of them both, but any way he was off. Three minutes later Johnny Taylor became the 3rd United player to be booked, his fifth booking this season and 3 mins later Spike took off MM and brought on Cush to add some bite to his midfield. Oh how we have missed Cush, our talisman, since he had to go off in our 2nd match this season and he was only on the field 5 mins when he set Liggie off on a run down the right.

Liggie held the ball up to let his team-mates get up in support and Tony Kane made a lot of ground and only just missed with a flying header to Liggie's cross, a chance gone begging. Then it was the Cush's turn when he burst into the Linfield box and with the goal at his mercy he screwed his shot wide. I can only imagine the ball must have bobbled on the unlevel playing surface that is our national stadium, for it is so un-Cush-like (I've just invented a new word for the English language), to miss the target completely. United had two claims for handball turned down and ref Carvill added insult to injury and gave the home team a foul when Liggie done nothing but made the player look like a mug, but the ref is boss and any question of his decisions usually end with a red card, so the United players didn't protest. Referee Carvill finally booked a Linfield player, Burns, for going in late on Taylor as he attempted to clear the ball, but it was too little too late, but just for good measure he booked Ruddy of United 3 minutes later for a foul that can best described as clumsy, 'tit for tat' you could say, but not if you're a player.

Ruddy, who had a good game otherwise blotted his copybook in the dying minutes off this game (90 + 1), when he failed to track McCaul, who had come on as a sub and he passed to fellow sub Brown and he bundled the ball into the net at the second attempt, to make the score 4-1. The referee blew his whistle to booing from the United fans and they laid this defeat squarely at the door of the referee, sure he contributed to it, but I think Spike and the three baldies have to bear some of the blame, for persisting with Alan D and playing Gavin who doesn't seem to have the nous to follow orders and keep his mouth shut and it was foolhardy in the extreme to start with only one man upfront and leave the Linfield midfield to control the match, which they duly did in the first half. It was different in the 2nd half, until that controversial penalty and sending-off, but it will be interesting to see what comes out if anything when Spike decides to speak, but in fact nothing will be changed as result and Spike has decisions to make this week before our next match, away to the Glens!

Dwayne (6), Kane (6), Ruddy (6), Taylor (7), Marky (6), Alan D(5)(Sub: Liggie 7,), Gavin (5)(Sub: Lowry 7,), Jenks (6), Thommo (6), MM (7),(Sub: Cush (7), Ally (6)

Man of the match: Johnny Taylor