Name's Dwayne!

I thought of this headline driving home from Dungannon and I think it sums up our keeper and hero yesterday and my man of the match, Dwayne Nelson. He took the all player of the year plaudits last season and this season he looks a likely candidate to stage a repeat. I think if you were talking to him, he would say 'the name's Dwayne and saving's my game' or words to that effect. It wasn't a 'perfect' match for him, he came for and missed one ball but his defenders covered his blushes on that occasion and he nearly gave away a penalty, rushing from his goal and colliding with an unseen Swifts player, but luckily he got a touch on the ball and there was minimal contact with the player. I'm in no doubt if we had been playing the scum 'diving birds', they would be claiming a penalty, but Swifts manager Darren Murphy, plays the game the proper way, not like that other diving bird.

Dwayne has come on 'leaps and bounds' with the coaching of 'big Wes Lamont' and it was obvious when we under pressure in the 2nd half yesterday, the calming influence Dwayne had on our defence in the absence of the suspended Taylor and the injured Ruddy. He was plucking balls out of the air as Swifts must had ten corners at least in the second half and he made two of the best saves I have seen in a long time near the end of the match. Manager Spike made four changes to his starting line-up of last Saturday, Cookie and Liggie replaced the suspended Taylor and Mario, Steely McBride came in for the injured Ruddy and Archie dropped to the bench and was replaced by Ally and we played 4,4,2, although in the latter stages of the 2nd half, we played 4,5,1, as we were under the cosh.

United got off to a dream start when Liggie surged past the Swifts defence from a pass from Captain Jenks and his cross-cum-shot squirmed under the body of Swifts keeper Buchanan to give the Sky Blues the lead. That goal came in barely 60 seconds and I had just said to Sammy Patterson I was disappointed that we were playing down the slope in the first half, but we had taken the lead, maybe we could go on and win it. We nearly doubled our advantage after 10 mins, when a Tony Kane in-swinging corner hit the far post and Cookie just failed to make contact. The United defence almost committed 'suicide' when they allowed the Swifts player Fitzpatrick a free header at a corner, but luckily the ball went over the bar and then moments later Fitzpatrick played in Lavery but he shot over.

The rain came on and we adjourned to the stand and we had just barely taken our seats when United doubled their advantage through Thommo. Ally ran on to a through ball down the right and his cross deflected off a defender and into the path of Thommo who beat Buchanan from 8 yards to give United a 2-0 lead. As the rain lashed Referee Hetherington (or Heth as we like to call him), missed a blatant handball by a Swifts player but he didn't miss an alleged foul from Thommo and gave the free in a dangerous position to the Swifts. Heth, who's not that big, counted out 12 paces instead of the regulation 10 paces for the United 'wall'. It was obvious the way the Swifts had lined up that the free was going to be taken short to Harpur and I thought surely we had to have a man detailed to mark him, but we didn't. His shot took a deflection of a United defender and fell nicely for the unmarked Lavery who beat Dwayne easily to reduce the deficit to 2-1. Someone said Lavery came back from an offside position, but I couldn't say and the goal stood.

The Swifts nearly got back on terms when a Hazley shot flew past the post, as the Swifts buoyed by their goal found some form. Then in 41 mins United increased their lead when a Kane long throw-in found Liggie's head and in turn came back off an upright. Liggie got his boot to the rebound but Buchanan managed to parry the United man's shot and in the resultant scramble, Captain Jenks forced the ball into the net to restore United's two goal advantage. With halftime approaching the rain got worse and I for one was hoping the pitch wasn't going to 'cut up' but I needn't have worried, it stood the test, a testament to the Dungannon groundsman. I had remarked earlier that Dungannon had no loudspeaker, when it sprung into life in the halftime interval, with the recorded Pete Snowdon Spiel about 'football for all'. I thought it was 'fixed' and we would get the halftime scores but alas it was only a flash in the pan and we never heard from it again.

2nd half
I hate to say I told you so, but we struggled to get the ball out of our box in the 2nd half playing up the slope and it was no surprise when Swifts fashioned a goal about 6 mins into the half. After good work by Hazley and Fitzpatrick out on the left, the latter's shot was blocked but fell kindly for Boyce, who was lurking at the far post, to score. I don't mind telling you I was worried at this juncture as we were struggling to clear our lines and our talisman Cush was struggling, although he managed one shot past the post, when well placed. On 58 mins Cush made way for Robbo and he flattered to deceive, getting into good positions and then delaying his pass. But he did show some of his pace when he waltzed by his marker and crossed, only for the ball to be deflected for a corner. On the other wing Steely and Ally produced a bit of magic, with close passing, but from Steely's cross MM could only head past, a horrible miss.

A goal then would have given us some breathing space and it was obvious MM was struggling and he was replaced by Sparky in 65 mins and we went in to lock-down. I thought that Sparky was going to play upfront but he went into midfield and we hardly threatened after that. It was nearly all Dungannon now, with occasional breakaways for us that came to nothing. At the back we were struggling except for the calming influence of Dwayne, it was just another day at the office for him. With about five minutes left, Hutchinson's 25 yard shot was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Dwayne and then he recovered to grab the rebound, a marvellous piece of goalkeeping by the ex-Swifts man. Liggie was replaced as we approached injury time with James McCabe coming on and ref Heth reminded Liggie to hurry up. There was no blatant time-wasting by any of our players, but the Heth added on 4 mins stoppage at the end of the ninety.

United were indebted to Dwayne during this stoppage time when he pulled another dramatic save from a Hazley free kick. It's fair to say United were under the cosh, but with a little bit of composure they could have punished the Swifts for their all-out attack as Ally was left one-on-one with their keeper on the halfway line, but we were content to clear aimless balls into their half and they came back again and we were under the cosh once again. Sammy Patterson remarked that he thought Captain Jenks should have used his experience and held the ball but he was content to hoof it into their half and soak up the pressure like the rest of our team. After what seemed to be an age, Heth finally blew his whistle and we had won and in the process we had become the first team to beat the Swifts on their own ground in the league this season, but even better, we got the three points, bring on the Linfield.

Dwayne (8), Tony (7), Steely (7), Marky (7), Cookie (7), Cush (6)(Sub: Robbo 7), Thommo (7), Jenks (7), Ally (8), MM (6)(Sub: Sparky 7,). Liggie (8)(Sub: McCabe 7,)

Man of the match: Dwayne Nelson