No Mask!

There's an old saying that comes to mind when you think you been harshly treated and goes like so, 'Dick Turpin at least wore a mask', alas for United yesterday there was no mask. It was daylight robbery! True they contributed to their own downfall, missing numerous easy chances, I counted 5 alone in the first half, but what possessed Spike to go with no recognised strikers for the second week running, I'll never know. Then when we were chasing the game in the 2nd half he didn't make a change until the 70 minute and only another two changes in the 88 and 89 mins. Somebody in the crowd said he is saving them for Tuesday night, when United play Portadown in the league cup, it got an ironic laugh. Despite being fit, Dwayne didn't make the starting line-up and I'm not blaming Stuarty for Chickenville's two goals, but he was beat at his near post for the first one and nutmegged for the second one, Susan Bap eat your heart out.

Spike made one change from his starting line-up, Thommo for Marky and I thought Thommo had a better game than he's been having of late. Liam Boyce almost made us pay for slack marking, when Donnelly found him but he screwed his shot wide. At the other end Thommo fed Jenks and he brought best out Devlin in the Reds goal, but it was a real chance, he could have squared for Thommo. There seemed little danger when the United defence failed to deal with a cross-field ball, but Stephen Garret, neatly sidestepped Mike Ruddy and beat Addis at his near post, who never moved. Referee Hetherington or Heth as I like to call him, failed to observe the rules when Jenks broke free, only to ruby-tackled to the ground by a Reds defender, surely a booking at least if not a sending-off, but Heth merely gave the foul. Five minutes later he yellow carded Ruddy for a clumsy foul on Garret, but it was not vicious. Ruddy came to his sides rescue when after a spell of Reds pressure he showed his fellow defenders how to clear the ball.

With half an hour gone United had a real chance when a Thommo volley was parried by Devlin and gathered with Cush closing in. Then Cush fed Sparky but he shot straight at Devlin, another chance gone and then it was Cush firing a right-foot shot at the keepers chest. United were in control at this stage but with time ticking away in the first half it looked like we were going to be denied a deserved equaliser. Then the offside flag came to our rescue, as a Reds attacker strayed offside and Ruddy took a quick free-kick and found Thommo, who played a delightful ball into Cushley's path, Cush sprinted down the 'inside-left' portion of the pitch and beat Devlin with a crisp left-foot shot to the far post, to tie the scores at 1-1. It was no more than we deserved I thought, for we created at least 5 chances, but at the end of the day, its only goals that count.

2nd half
Surely I thought Spike has to see the error of his ways and bring on at least one striker, but no he went with the same team and we were punished within barley three minutes after the start, when we had three players bunched on Garret, Ruddy, JT and Sparky but he still found Boyce in acres of space and he nutmegged Addis from inside the box, to give his side the lead 2-1. The usually reliable JT was caught out of position and Cookie couldn't get across to intercept Boyce, a bad defensive goal. The Reds mounted the pressure after this and Gormely missed a sitter when he blasted a corner over when unmarked in the 6 yard box. At the other end in a spell of United pressure Thommo failed to find the target once more as his effort flew by the post. With 70 mins on the clock, Spike took off Ally and brought on MM, twenty minutes too late in my book and he took up Ally's place on the wing, surely the right decision should have been to replace Jenks up front, who was starting struggle with the pace of game.

From a Tony Kane free-lick, JT found Jenks, but he failed to find the target at the near post, another miss. With time ticking away, MM, found Cush in space and he played a delightful through pass to Captain Jenks. He sprinted into the Reds box and I thought surely he must score, but he hit his shot too close to the keeper, who blocked with his right-foot. That was the signal for Spike to bring on his 'big guns', lol. Cookie made way for Mario on 88 mins and a minute later, Thommo made way for Liggie and an idle thought came into my mind, does Fergie really care about this result, or is he just giving his strikers a run out, nonsense I know, but stranger things have happened. The Reds keeper and his team-mates had been wasting time and the Heth was speeding them up but he never took any action. The worst bit of time wasting was when Scannell was subbed with 15 mins left, he pretended not to hear or see his number being displayed and when the Heth invited him to hurry up, he ignored him and done a slow march.

Despite 5 subs being used and the Reds wasting time, Heth only seen fit to add on 3 mins and was in this 3 mins that United missed their greatest chance to get something out of this game. There seemed little danger when JT chased a ball that looked destined to be a goal kick, but the variance in the bounce of the Reds 3G pitch allowed the ball to hold up and JT managed to get in a pass to Mario, which Mario turned back to Sparky, who turned like a ballerina and crossed for Jenks and he headed past. Sparky had set it on a plate, but Jenks had missed it and we had missed our chance. Next up is a league cup meeting with the Ports at the Showgrounds on Tuesday night, played to a finish and the times getting short for Spike and three baldies to get this United team sorted, out or we could be in a dogfight for survival in this league and every game could now be likened to a cup match. We need to play as if our very futures depended on it, no need to panic some say, but I think its getting close, the next three league games will tell a tale, its squeaky bum times, bring on the Ards!

Addis (6), Kane (6), Ruddy (6), Cookie (6)(Sub: Liggie 6,), JT (6), Thommo (7)(Sub: Mario 7,), Sparky (7), Gavin (7), Ally (7)(Sub: MM 6,), Jenks (6), Cush (7)

Man of the match: Thommo