Gutless Surrender

I must pay to the United fans who journeyed to Seaview last night to support their team, they were a credit to Ballymena. It's more than I can see about the team, excuse me, I digress, we are not a team, just a useless bunch of individuals. I couldn't define any shape to our team last night, we were that disjointed. This was epitomised by Gary Thompson, I really don't know where he was playing last night and one time in the first half a Crues player went on the run from defence and Gary stood idly by and watched him. It's true we were decimated by injuries and suspensions, but Stephen Baxter only started 5 of his players from last Saturday, but we never looked likely to punish this act of benevolence in Mister Ugly's part.

Our manager, Spike, was forced to make five changes in his line-up of last Saturday, Stuart Addis came in to replace the injured Dwayne and Marky switched to rightback in place of the suspended Tony Kane. Cookie came in to replace the injured JT, Captain Jenks switched to central defence alongside Cookie and Archie replaced the injured Steely McBride. Sparky and Gavin came in to replace Jenks in midfield and we played with one striker, leaving Liggie on the bench. It was obvious from the start that we had no cohesion and we had no player in midfield to get us moving. Marky has said his preferred position is rightback, he was so bad in that position last night, I hope it's many a long day before he plays in that position again.

Captain Jenks excelled at central defence, but he was up against nothing and the same could be said for Cookie and Archie, they dealt adequately but up against nothing untoward. The one bright star in our defence was our stand-in keeper, Stuarty Addis, he dealt capably with anything that came his way and was blameless for the goal which eventually beat us. It's not too difficult to describe the action from our point of view in the first half, because they're wasn't much. The first shot was by Cush, but it was wide, but only a sighter I consoled myself, then Ally bounded clear and when one-and-one, with Crues keeper Sean O'Neill, he bottled it and took the easy way out and passed behind MM and the chance was lost.

The home team gave us a fright next when Cleary and Coates rose unmarked to a free kick, not a United defender in sight but luckily Cleary's headed went past. The next significant attack saw Archie deliver a low cross but nobody could get on the end of it, a chance gone begging. Then Marky showed his dribbling skills (lol), advancing up the line before letting the ball run into touch, what a waste. The rest of the half was devoid of chances and consisted of Crues playing a 'cat and mouse' game, where they played the ball about in their own half and then released a big 'up and under' which generally came to nothing. Halftime was reached and you could hear the audible sigh from the spectators, surely Spike would change it at halftime, but he didn't.

2nd half
The Crues made a substitution at halftime, with Morrow coming on to replace Robinson but it was United who had the first chance when Cush got a bit of space on the left, cut inside, but his right-foot shot flew past O'Neill's right upright with the keeper stranded. A miss it has to be said, but I was hoping to see more from Cush this half, I was disappointed. Spike took off Thommo and brought on Neil Lowry at this juncture, but it made little or no difference to us. Crues almost took the lead when Gavin got caught in possession and Addis made a smart save at the expense of a corner, but referee Burns gave a goal-kick. Baxter played his joker and introduced Owens for Cleary and the United defence was subjected to real pressure from this moment on.

Then it was Jenks turn to get caught in possession, but Addis saved his blushes pushing away McMaster's shot, but it was only an interlude. The goal that sealed United's fate finally arrived midway through the second period, when a Jenks header fell nicely to Morrow and his shot from inside the box, took a wicked deflection, leaving Stuarty stranded at one end of the goal, while the ball went in the other. A cruel piece of luck but I'm of the opinion you make your own luck. Spike made a sub at this point and I was expecting him to take a defender off and bring Liggie on, but instead he took Sparky off and brought Ruddy on, a midfielder going off and a defender coming on. Sammy Patterson was of the opinion that Ruddy was going to replace Archie at leftback and Archie was going to replace Captain Jenks, but Ruddy settled into midfield and Jenks was left in defence where he was struggling against the tall Owens.

Ally was next to go and Liggie came on for the last 9 minutes, too little too late and I don't think he got one positive attack in. We huffed and puffed, but there no plan, just a big ball up to the strikers but it was easy meat for the Crues defence. With time ticking away United were leaving gaps in their defence and Addis kept us in the match with a fine stop from sub Heately. But it was to no avail we hadn't a clue and we had relinquished our hold on the County Antrim Shield without so much as a whimper, an utterly disgraceful performance, but I suppose it is nothing new from this United team, we expect nothing and they deliver nothing, a sad state of affairs. I wish I could offer some hope that were getting better, but sad to say, I think we are getting worse and we've only less than three days to recover when the Glens visit this Saturday, damn that Gypsy curse!

Addis (8), Marky (5), Archie (7), Cookie (7), Jenks (7), Thommo (5)(Sub: Lowry 6,), Cush (7), Gavin (6), Sparky (6)(Sub: Ruddy 6,), Ally (6)(Liggie 6,), MM (6)

Man of the match: Stuarty Addis