Just Enough!

I was getting dogs abuse from Sammy Patterson last night about my headline for this game and Omar sniped in as well, but I think it sums up the match perfectly. The Coleraine scum did all the attacking, we soaked up the pressure and then hit them on the break. Fergie will no doubt say his plan worked perfectly, but it was nervy to watch. As expected Fergie made just the one change from his starting line-up from last Saturday, Stuarty Addis to replace the injured  Dwayne in goals. Not to be outdone, Oran 'the diving bird' Kearney, named his goalkeeping coach in nets for the scum and I want to personally thank for his kindness to us, for Greg's shortcomings as a keeper were evident to be seen in United first goal.

The referee, Colin Biased Burns was soon called in action and he got it wrong when he only booked Stephen 'one cap' Carson, for an horrendous foul on United keeper Stuarty Addis, dislocating Stuarty's  finger in the process. Have we gone back to the bad old days when keepers were considered 'easy meet' by forwards and the like and away from protecting them. I believe if a keeper has his hand on the ball and a player charges in and fouls him, it should be a red card, end of story. The ref had to stop the match for 6 minutes until Stuarty could have treatment, including a doctor trying to to get his finger relocated. If we had  a replacement keeper we would surely have had him on, but we are down to the bare bones as far as keepers are concerned and anyway like most managers Spike doesn't name a sub keeper in his panel.

After treatment Stuarty, was able to carry on and its true to say he wasn't up to his usual standard, but he showed tremendous courage and I have nothing but admiration for him. The Coleraine scum, as Omar alluded to in his column last night, booed Stuarty as the match continued, there's no other word for them but scum. The home team stepped up the pressure, alike to a pride of lions when they sense a kill, but their ineptitude in front of goal came to our rescue as they missed three or four chances. United could get nothing going up front, Cush was labouring on the heavy surface but he did manage to get one shot in, but it didn't trouble Greg, whom I know from experience doesn't cover his angles well.

The referee was even more biased than he had been at at Seaview in the League cup semi, in one incident when Thommo was unceremoniously dumped as he attempted to send Ally away about 30 yards from the scum goal, the ref merely gave the foul, no card and two minutes later when Thommo fouled a scum player at halfway, the yellow card was flourished immediately. Bradley seemed to impede Addis as the keeper jumped for a high ball, but Burns is of the opinion that keepers are easy meat and he allowed the striker to carry on, his header seemed to be destined for the net, but JT was able to clear. United were under the cosh at this stage, but they were indebted to their midfield three, Thommo, Sparky and the outstanding Gavin Taggart for mopping up.

Bradley nearly broke the deadlock when he forced his way past Cookie and Tony K but his powerful shot cleared the bar. United in a spell of pressure won a free on the left on the edge of the box and Tony Kane's shot was scrambled away for a corner with Greg Shannon in no-mans land. United gradually were getting more and more into the game and they took the lead when an Ally cross was missed by everybody including Greg and rolled into the net to give United the lead. The United supporters were in raptures, myself included and we had a supporter on the field but he was quickly shepherded back to the fold. Coleraine stepped up the pressure and JT got himself into a tangle and Bradley seemed to foul him, nothing given and JT repeated the favour and promptly got booked.

The ref added on 6 mins of injury time and we seemed about to crack any minute, but from a scum attack Thommo's clearance was picked up by Cush and despite the attentions of a scum defender, Cush managed to shield the ball and release Captain Jenks with a delightful pass and the big Scotsman took it in his stride and beat Greg with a right-foot shot into the corner of the net to make the score 2-0 to the Sky Blues. To say I was delighted by this turn of events was to put it mildly, I was in wonderland. I was wondered how we had survived when we under so much pressure and wondering how we were leading two nil and wondering if this was to be the day we finally beat this scum team after over four years of trying. Sammy Patterson went down to have word with Greg Shannon, as the former United keeper was making his way off for his halftime cuppa, merited I think.

2nd half
United took the field with no changes and the same pattern emerged with the scum doing all the attacking, aided and abetted with a biased referee and United holding on to their two goal cushion. Bradley missed a glorious chance when he cut in from the right but missed the target. United were trying to counter-attack, but they were continually being thwarted with the ref Burns and his biased tactics. Two incidents stand out, Cush was getting in position to challenge for the ball, when a scum defender blatantly pushed him in full view of the ref and Burns ignored it and later on when Thommo was fouled he waved play on as we had possession only to penalise us two seconds later when the lino flagged for offside.

Surely he had to give us the free kick for the foul on Thommo as we got no advantage, but he gave the scum the free kick instead. Bradley was shrugging off JT and I thought the United bench would have spotted this and switched JT and Cookie, but they didn't and we paid the price. From another run along the right-side of penalty box, Bradley's cross was only half cleared by Cookie and Tommoms shot through a ruck of players with Stuarty unsighted, to reduce the leeway to 2-1 in United's favour. We are up against now I thought but immediately we went down the other end and Ally was put through but Greg seemed to get a hand on him as he went past, but there was no chance of Burns signalled for a penalty. The scum defence made hash of the clearance and McIlmoyle fouled Thommo on the by-line.

From the resultant free we won a corner and the ball fell kindly to Captain Jenks from Ally's delivery and he had time to chest it down and find the net, past the statuesque Greg in the scum goal to restore United's two goal cushion. That goal came in 70 mins and I thought the United bench would react and bring on defender, Mike Ruddy for Cush, who seemed to be out of puff. Some idiot in the United section of the crow let off a flare, there's wiser people locked up in my opinion. The ref took another hand in proceedings as Gavin was fouled going forward, totally ignored by the ref, who blew for an innocuous challenge on a scum player instead. One cap took the free quickly and Bradley sold JT a dummy and beat Stuarty at his near post to make the score 3-2 in United's favour. Finally the United manager Spike, acted with a double substitution, bring off Cush and Sparky and bring on Lowry and of all people, Alan D.

Alan D was no sooner on the field when he tried to set off a run and was fouled first by a high foot which nearly decapitated him and then when that didn't stop him, he was broke in two, Mister Burns saw nothing wrong with this and Alan D retaliated and promptly got booked. Captain Jenks missed a great chance to complete his hat-trick when he failed to find the net, Greg just getting his fingertips to his goal-bound shot and then stood back in amazement as the ref gave a goal-kick. The scum spurned a good chance to get on even terms when Heggarty blasted over.  At last Ruddy replaced Ally, but with our Captain struggling with the heavy pitch tasking its toll, I thought he should have come off, but what do I know.

With the game petering out, three minutes were added to the ninety and United were trying to play possession football, but when the ball came to Lowry he unleashed a glorious shot which thundered off the scum crossbar with Greg looking on as if saying 'where did that come from'? It would have made a fitting end to the match but Mister Burns would have none of it and from a poor clearance by Greg, Captain Jenks was just off target with a 35 yard shot. Still Burns kept his whistle dry in spite of nearly 5 mins elapsing but the scum were finished, they had no more to give and the ref finally blew his whistle and the celebrations began. We applauded our players off, but it has to said the scum players played well too, but they had no luck, that's the difference this season, our star is in the ascendency, long may it continue to be so, 'four and twenty blackbirds were baked a pie', etc..etc..!

Addis (8), Kane (7), Archie (8), JT (7), Cookie (8), Thommo (7), Gavin (8), Sparky (7)(Sub: Alan D 7,), Ally (8) (Sub: Ruddy 7,), Jenks (8), Cush (7)(Sub: Lowry 7,)

Man of the match: Gavin