Mister Magic!

United manager tied up midfielder Thommo to an extended contract just before kick-off and Gary repaid Spike's faith in him by scoring two goals as United beat Ards 4-2. Manager Spike made no changes to his starting line-up of last Tuesday night, selecting the same eleven that beat Portadown so convincingly in that game. Peter Duffin and Alan D got places on the bench at the expense of Dwayne and MM. We had a 'new' referee, Steven Wallace from Stroke City and he was called into action in the 4th minute when United Captain Jenks chased a long clearance and as the Ards keeper McKibbin advanced outside his area, Jenks headed over the keeper and he caught it outside the penalty area. When a keeper handles outside the penalty box, it's an automatic red card, but Wallace merely flourished a yellow one, a blatant disregard for the rules.

Stephen Alexander in his report for the Ballymena Times said that the ref maybe allowed that as there were two Ards defenders between the incident and the goal-line it wasn't a goal scoring opportunity. I don't want to disagree with so an illustrious reporter as Stephen, but I couldn't see any of the two defenders getting back to thwart Jenks's goal-bound header. But is the rule changed (just like the rule on throw-ins seems to be changed, arms only go back to middle of head now, which used to be a foul throw), when a goalie handles the ball outside his area, is it not an automatic sending-off? Justice was done anyway when Cush's free-kick deflected off the wall and beat McKibbin all ends up. United continued to press and Archie went on a surging run and his dangerous cross was headed behind for a corner.

The Ards defence was at sixes and sevens and from a sloppy back-pass Jenks gave chase and McKibbin had to come outside his area and tangled with Jenks. I don't think Jenks did anything wrong but McKibbin took exception to the challenge, raising his hands, the ref decided to book Jenks and let McKibbin off scot free, yet another clanger. Ally then bounded up the right wing but couldn't find a telling pass and at the other end Cully came close to equalising, curling his effort wide. The usually reliable JT was struggling and Tony K saved his blushes with a last ditch tackle, after Ards player Mitchell left JT for dead. At the other end Ally bounded up the wing again, but chose to shoot this time, but it was a feeble shot and easily cleared. United won a corner and JT was denied a goal by the keepers foot, from a shot at close range. Nine mins before halftime, Thommo intercepted a pass on halfway and surged forward and from the edge of the box drilled the ball into the net to give United a 2-0 lead.

Ards got back into the game when the United defence stood back and admired, instead of tackling, as Neil Dougan passed to Faulkner and he sidestepped Archie and drilled the ball into the net. A minute later the United defence failed to deal with a long throw-in from Hunter and Dougan scored with an overhead kick past Addis to tie the scores level at 2-2. JT was booked for a rash challenge and United spurned another chance to get back in front when Jenks found Cush and the United talisman bore done on goals, neatly sidestepping his marker and with the goal at his mercy, blasted his right-foot shot wide, a shocking miss, but an entertaining player. Despite 3 mins of added time, Ards had to make a substitution as early as 5 mins, but there wasn't a terrible lot of time wasted I thought, the teams went in at the half with the score 2-2.

2nd half
United attacking their favouritism Fisherwick end went on the attack to try to find a breakthrough and I thought they had got it when Cookie got on the end of an Ally corner only to be thwarted by an Ards defender on the line. Then in a spell of United pressure Sparky was upended, but the ref saw nothing. Sparky was involved yet again when he exchanged a pass from Jenks but shot harmlessly wide. Ards tried to hit us on the break, but Gordon's shot flew across goal and behind for a goal-kick. In a neat bit of play, Jenks found Thommo in space and he hit a 'daisy cutter' from all of 30 yards which beat McKibbin easily to restore United's lead, 3-2. Sparky was subbed soon after with Mario coming on and Jenks dropping back to midfield and it would be true to say we lost some of our fluency after this and were defending too deeply for my liking.

Ards nearly made us pay for this change of tactic when Addis had to dive full length to keep out a Faulkner effort at the expense of a corner. Cush, who had been in the wars, was subbed with 12 mins to go, with Liggie taking his place. We were still having possession but we weren't using it very well and Ards looked destined to find an equaliser. From one promising move I was glad to see Mitchell's fierce shot catch the side-netting. Our manager decided to make his last change and Mike Ruddy came on to add a bit of defensive stability to our team. Liggie, who must be the most maligned striker we ever had on our books, had the last say when he outfoxed his marker and ran into the box before picking out Ruddy for a tap-in to score and give the Sky Blues a fourth goal. This was in fact the first senior goal for Mike in a Sky Blue Jersey, I hope he has lots more and this was the icing on the cake, so to speak.

This goal came in 89 mins and Ards tried to to get back but they were leaving holes in their defence and the United forwards took advantage and forced two fruitless corners in time added on. United were awarded a free-kick near the goal-line and as this was taken ref Wallace blew his whistle to end the game and United had scored 4 goals for the 2nd match running. Next up is a trip to Dungannon to play Warrenpoint Town and we'll need to be on our guard for that one too, it's another 6 pointer to my way of thinking. We're are still in 10th place in the league, but getting close to our friends along the A26, but we have to keep on winning points and JT looks destined to be sitting out two matches any time soon as he nears the dreaded 10 bookings. Alas we won't be at Dungannon for we are away to the sun (hopefully), for our winter break, but we'll be cheering in Spain, as twitter keeps us informed, come on Sky Blues!

Addis (7), Marky (7), Archie (7), JT (7), Cookie (7), Tony K (7), Sparky (7)(Sub: Mario 7,), Thommo (8), Ally (7)(Sub: Ruddy 7,), Jenks (8), Cush (8)(Sub: Liggie 7,)

Man of the match: Thommo