Second Time!

Darboy, who has been so prominent after his move from Coleraine, had a stinker today. Barely two minutes had gone in the game and Darboy rose perfectly to a left-wing cross, but headed weakly into the arms of  Jonny Parr, the Warrenpoint keeper. Worse was to follow, when he got repeatedly caught offside during the first-half and he headed over the bar with another effort. He seemed unable to hold the ball or pass to a fellow United man. He missed a glorious chance in the 2nd half, with the substitute keeper in shooting tamely at him, but showed his prowess in front of goal eight minutes from time, when he volleyed home an unstoppable shot from Ally Teggart's cross.

United manager Spike had made three changes from his starting line-up of last Saturday's encounter with our fierce rivals the Coleraine scum. Out went Cookie, Marky and Thommo and in came JT, Alan D and Darboy. That meant no place for Ally and the hero of our fightback last week, Mark Kelly. As expected and forecast on Sky Blue Sport news page, we went back to the favoured 4,3,3 formation which our management team seems to prefer, with JT and Archie at the heart of the defence. It was obvious from the start of the match that our goalie, Shan, seemed to be not 100% fit and only took about two dead ball kicks the whole match, a worrying time, with the Irish cup match coming up next Saturday.

That's not to give him any excuse for the howler he committed near the end of the game, letting in a soft goal, which meant United hanging on for 5 mins to record a victory that should have been done and dusted. United playing into their favourite Fisherwick goals and with the wind at their backs, were struggling to get the final pass to unlock the visitors defence. The Point had a well oiled offside trap and Darboy in particular got caught, time and time again. He wasn't alone in this and Cush was caught five or six times too, but it spoiled the game as a spectacle. In my years of experience when following the Sky Blues and you come up against a team playing the offside trap, you always get at least one chance when the lino flags stays down.

But this time it was different, we got our chance from a misplaced back-pass, which Cush controlled and sped down the inside-right channel. One of the United academy coaches was screaming for Cush to pass to Darboy, who looked to be in an offside position, but luckily Cush ignored him and scored a with a right-foot shot to Parr's right side. We just about deserved to be in front, but we continued to get caught offside and surrender possession in midfield and I was concerned that needed to score another goal before halftime, as we had to play the second half against the strong breeze and with a keeper that didn't look fit. Then fate took a hand and we got a goal from an unexpected source.

Davy King our announces has just said that there would be no time added on at the end of the forty five and whether that strange turn of events unsettled the visitors defence I don't know, but United managed to elude the offside trap for the first time. Captain Jenks sprinted clear and pushed the ball round the advancing Parr in the Point goal, only to be tripped by the keeper. Referee Basketfield, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and red carding the keeper. Some fans said it was a harsh sending off as Jenks was heading away from goal, but to my way of thinking, it was goal-scoring opportunity and he had to go. Shaun Parr took over in goal and the first time he got his hands on the ball, he was picking it out of the net from Cush's spot kick.

2nd half
Its true to say that United struggled against the ten men, there was only one team in it in the 2nd half and that was the Point. Surely our manager had to see that and bring a midfield tackler or a winger on and change the system to a 4,4,2 or something. Admittedly his plans were hampered somewhat, when Archie, on his 201 appearance, had to come off ten minutes into the half with a groin strain, with Marky taking his place. But surely the players he had on could've changed their formation and got to grips in midfield. Point changed their goalie at halftime with Boyle taking over the gloves but it was United's keeper Shan who was called into action at the start of this half clutching a corner at the second attempt, near his goal-line.

Captain Jenks spurned a great chance to give United a 3-0 lead when he rose magnificently to a McBride cross but headed over the bar, a dreadful miss. I feel I must mention Tony Kane here, much has been said about the pluses of  playing him in midfield and I admit I was one of them saying it . But he seems to be getting carried away with his new found role. Instead getting the ball away, when we were struggling in the 2nd half, he got caught in possession time and time again. Jenks and Alan D were running about like headless chickens, they have no idea about closing down men, which meant we had little or no outlet and the ball was coming back into our beleaguered defence.

Finally with 20 mins gone in the 2nd half, Fergie took off MM and brought on Ally and he was only on the field two minutes when the Point reduced the arrears, when Devlin split the United defence with a neat pass to McCabe with the United defence claiming offside, but the flag stayed down and McCabe lifted his shot over the advancing Shan in the United goal. Now we had a match on our hands and the Point supporters in the home stand were making their presence felt with not so nice comments about United players. I must say I was not best pleased about these supporters sitting among us, when the this new stand was opened, the United supporters had to give up their seats in order for a roped off area to be provided for the opposition board members to sit. That's where I think they should be sitting and our stewards need to ensure they don't mix with the rank and file supporters or they'll be trouble.

Point nearly equalised, when Devlin found Smith but his header cleared the bar with Shan struggling. United finally awoke from their slumbers and Darboy tested the stand-in keeper with a shot which he dealt easily with.  From a throw-in, Ally sped along the right wing and Darboy got on the end his cross to volley the ball into the net. Surely that would be the end of that I thought and Spike seemed to read my thoughts as he took off Alan D and brought on Gavin to add some bite into midfield. But the visitors got some hope when Shan let the ball slip from his grasp somehow to bring the scores to 3-2 with 2 mins remaining. The referee added on the normal 3 mins and Cush was fouled by Smith which he took exception to and was promptly yellow-carded along with Smith.

From the free-kick taken by Tony, Boyle in the Point goal made a routine save and United managed to hang on for a victory. When the Banbridge official, Basketfield, finally brought the game to a close, United fans could breathe a sigh of relief. Their team was up into sixth place in the league table and miracle of miracles, we had only gotten one yellow card and I thought it was harsh. They'll be much sterner tasks to come, if United are to maintain this push for a top six position and get into the semi-final of the Irish cup with Dungannon Swifts standing in our way. But we seemed to come through without any major injuries, excepting the groin strain suffered by Archie and after a weeks rest and treatment, who knows, he might make make his 202 appearance against the Swifts next Saturday!

Shan (6), Jimer (6), McBride (6), JT (6), Archie (7) (Sub: Marky 6,), Tony (5), Jenks (6), Alan D (5) (Sub: Gavin 6,), MM (6) (Sub: Ally 7,), Darboy (7), Cush (8)

Man of the match: Cush

Ned Kelly!

Ned Kelly, according to legend, was an Irish bandit in Australia, I'm not going to enter in to the folklore surrounding him, I merely want to illustrate how United came back into the derby game with the Coleraine scum, with their own version of Ned Kelly. All seemed lost when the scum went two-up with two opportunist strikes and threatened to score again through McDaid, only for United keeper Shan, to pull off a marvellous save to keep us in it. That save came with an hour gone and United were given a lifeline when Cush found MM and he rounded the scum keeper Ferris (player of the month for January, no less), who got a hand to the ball, but it squirmed loose and MM scored from an impossible angle, to halve the deficit.

The comeback was complete when United manager Spike took off McBride and brought on our own Ned Kelly, Mark Kelly, to be precise. He proved to be the lynch-pin and the fightback was complete when he found Cush and Cush was floored by Ogilby just inside the box and the ref pointed to the spot. Ally, who had to came on as a sub himself, duly scored the penalty and tied the scores at two apiece. United manager Fergie sprung a surprise when he omitted JT from the starting line-up, preferring to go with 3,5,2 formation he used at Windsor Park, in last weeks victory over Linfield. The only changes to his starting line-up of last Saturday were Tony who replaced Sparky and MM got a rare start in place of the ineligible, Darboy. There was also a new name on the bench as Mark Kelly's International registration had come through at last.

The wind was howling as the match kicked off and Sky Blue Sport's fears about the referee, Mark 'ham shank' Courtney (called 'ham' from now on), were soon realised, when he produced a yellow card for Marky barely 5 mins after the start, when he got in a tangle with a scum forward. The United 'wall' did its job, forcing the kicker to balloon his shot  and the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar. United carved out a chance a minute later, but Captain Jenks shot didn't have the power to trouble Ferris unduly. Then it was Jimer's turn to try his luck, when his cross-cum-shot took a slight deflection of a scum defender, eluded Ferris, but unlucky for United just missed the target. In the absence of Ally, Tony took the in-swinger from the left, but in spite of a scrambled clearance from the scum defence, United couldn't take advantage of it.

Stephen Douglas, ex-Linfield and reputedly a native of Ahoghill, tried his luck with a volley, but Shan in the United goal was equal to it. Browne of the scum then tried to con Ham with a blatant dive, but Ham ignored him, instead of booking him, but he later booked Cookie for a foul on Bradley, despite the scum player having his arms around Cookie, obviously that is allowed to Ham's way of thinking. Ham finally realised there was two teams playing and booked Ogilby of the scum for a dangerous tackle. But just for good measure he booked Cush and Jimer of United for what only can be described as clumsy tackles. The lino on the Fisherwick end of the ground missed three blatant offsides, but luckily United survived these scares.

There were lots of bizarre incident taking place, but the most bizarre was when a scum player nearly decapitated United's Thommo with a high foot and Ham gave the free-kick to the scum, obviously Gary was leading with his head. We had five bookings in the game so far and the the physio was only on once, so it was not a dirty game, far from it. Cush came close to breaking the deadlock when he crossed but MM was beaten to the ball with a scum defender at the expense of a corner. Tony tried to take this short and we lost the ball as a consequence, when will we ever learn, never it seems. Browne had a chance when he met a cross but didn't trouble Shan.

With time ticking away at the end of the half, Cush of all people missed a glorious chance when Archie, playing his 200  game I think, found him with only the keeper to beat, but he screwed his shot harmlessly wide, with the goal at his mercy. That proved to be a costly mistake when on the stroke of halftime, McDaid found space about 20 yards from goal and his wind assisted shot flew into the net past a startled Shan, to give the scum a halftime lead 1-0. The United players tramped off dejected at the halftime interval and I was thinking surely Spike had to change things round and come up with a different plan if we were to get back into the game.The main talking points at halftime was the referee's performance and the 'secret' weapon, Mark Kelly, that was among our subs.

2nd half
United took the field with the same team, playing the same old system that had not worked in the first half, but they should have levelled in the first minute, when Cush miskicked in the six-yard box and the ball found Jenks, who fired wide. Four mins later United very nearly were made to pay for their benevolence in front of goal, when Tommins teed up Bradley, via a mistake by Jimer, but he didn't trouble Shan, shooting wide. United seemed to be trying to play their way out of defence and this led to the scum's second goal, when Tony passed to Thommo, but he was clattered by Lowry, but Ham saw no foul and Harkin picked up the loose ball and drilled a shot from 25 yards, which just eluded the despairing dive of Shan and ended up in the net.

Harkin went on a celebration run, removing his shirt and became the sixth player to be booked and rightly so in my opinion. Still Fergie didn't act and the scum nearly put the game beyond our reach when a McDaid shot produced a brilliant save from Shan. We made them pay for this when Cush found MM in the box and he rounded Ferris in the scum goal, who got a hand to the ball, but it squirmed from his grasp and MM scored with a brilliant shot from a tight angle to reduce the deficit to 2-1. Fergie had been looking like bringing a sub on and two mins later Ally came on to replace Cookie and we went to the familiar 4,3,3. Thommo, due to start a two game suspension next week, was having a poor game by his standards, but he was starting to play but unfortunately he was booked by Ham.

Browne tried another dive, ignored by the ref and Cush dragged a shot wide when well placed, but Jenks got in the way of a shot from Browne, at the expense of a corner. With less than 15 mins remaining, Spike made another change, bringing off Thommo and bringing on Alan D. I was less than enthralled by this substitution, but it turned out to be a good one and Fergie made another 5 mins later, bringing on Mark Kelly in place of McBride. Don't ask me what system we were playing now, it seemed to be all out attack and the tall Kelly was putting in a shift, winning high balls and Ogilby, who had it all his own way up to now, was being beaten in the air, time and time again.

Could United find an equaliser and remain unbeaten throughout this season against their greatest rivals, the Coleraine scum. It seemed to be going to elude them when fate took a hand, as Kelly blocked a clearance, it fell nicely to Cush and he was floored by Ogilby. Ham sprinted up-field and pointed to the spot and didn't book Ogilby, which I thought was fair enough, it wasn't a clear goal-scoring opportunity, but it was a clear penalty. Cush went to retrieve the ball and for one 'heart-stopping' moment I thought he was going to take it, but I needn't have worried, the responsibility fell to the reliable Ally. Ferris, in the scum goal was racing about his line like a man demented, obviously trying to put Ally off. But Ally was coolness itself and he stroked the spot kick into the net and the 'player of the month' for January embarrassment was complete, when he dived the wrong way.

That tied the scores level at 2-2 and I was reminded of a another derby match two years ago, when United got level at 2-2, but fell to a killer goal at the end of the ninety. It was end to end stuff in the 3 minutes of added time and there was a spate of further bookings, Captain Jenks for United making it six in the game and McDaid for the scum. Bradley became the ninth player to be get a yellow card, but worse was to follow for the scum, when Browne took another dive when tackled fairly by United's captain Jenks, he protested vehemently to the referee and was promptly shown a red card and sub  McNeil was booked for good measure, making 11 bookings and one  red card in the match and the physio was only on one time and it proved to be a just a bluff, to get Jimer booked. As it was the scores finished level and we were displaced by Glenavon in the top six, but we've still 4 matches to go and they have a lot of catching up to do!


Shan (8), Marky (7), Cookie (7) (Ally 8,), Archie (7), Jimer (7), Tony (7), Jenks (7), Thommo (7) (Sub: Alan D 7), McBride (7) (Sub: Kelly 8,), Cush (8), MM(8)

Man of the match: Shan

Goliath Slain!

United manger Glenn Ferguson made four changes from his starting line-up of Tuesday night, one of them forced due to the suspension of defensive king-pin JT. The other three were tactical, with two Alans, Alan D and Ally Teggart and Tony dropping down the bench. Marky McCullagh came in to replace JT and Archie returned for his two hundredth appearance in a United jersey, along with Alan Jenks and our talisman, Cush. Fergie (bless him), sprung a couple of surprises, firstly he changed our formation to a 3,5,2 and the jury is out on this one, when it worked it was a thing of beauty, but when it didn't work, there were alarming holes in our defence.

Another surprise was in appointing Jimer as Captain, whether that was a one-off I honestly don't know, but I think Jimer showed great leadership, when we were under the cosh in the last quarter of the match. When most of the Linfield fans had petered away at the end, Jimer made his way over to the United fans and applauded them for their undoubted contribution to the victory, much appreciated by the United faithful and he applauded the small handful of Linfield fans who had stayed on as well. I don't like to get involved in criticising football fans, but that really was a miserable home crowd for the team with the biggest fan base in our wee country, is it a sign of the times, too much distraction, or is the football too boring?

It was anything but boring yesterday, when the Linfield juggernaut was halted by the Sky Blue crew and beaten into submission. It really was a David and Goliath situation, but for once, David was on our side and we slew the Linfield Goliath. Cush, our talisman, its fair to say, was not having his best game in a Sky Blue jersey, but they say 'form is temporary, but class is permanent' and Cush has class in abundance. But that said, he is his own man and despite scoring a wonder goal yesterday and setting up Jenk's goal with his corner kick, United fans were less than pleased when he tried an audacious shot from fully 40 yards, just moments after scoring the winner, but that is so Cush, you either love him or hate him, the Sky Blue Sport crew love him and so does every right thinking Sky Blue fan.

Linfield started the better and they pounded the United goal from the start and McAllister just failed to get a touch to a Carvill cross and then a Mulgrew shot was blocked and Shan was called into action several times and saved a header from the home teams Mark Haughey. Referee, Crangle, who had so much bearing on events the last time the two teams met in mid January, was at his most biased, insisting United take their throw-ins from the correct place and letting the home team take them wherever they pleased. But he inadvertently done us a favour one time, when Shan tried to take a short goal-kick to Jimer, he called it back, signalling that the ball was moving at the time of the kick and it was just as well, as Jimer looked set to be dispossessed by two Linfield players and we had had little or no cover.

Little was seen of the United attack, the Linfield defenders were on top and the first real chance we had in the first quarter fell to Archie. He picked up the ball in his own half, ghosted past two tackles and then unleashed a shot which Tufney in the home goal saved. It is true to say Tufney wasn't unduly troubled with the shot, but Archie did make him earn his wage. Linfield were forcing corners, but the United defence held firm and our keeper Shan was in inspired form. United started to get into the game and Darboy found himself some space on the right and he forced a corner. Cush took the in-swinger with his left-foot and Darboy got on the end of it near the goal-line and the ball was going in, but Tufney managed to scoop the ball back and over the bar for another corner, I thought it was in at the time, but I'm no hawk-eye.

Cush trotted over and took the corner on the left and with his pin-point accuracy found the head of the 'flying Scotsman', Jenks and he found the back of the net, the United fans, me included, were delirious, it was sheer joy. That goal came in  25 mins and I was hoping that United could hold out to halftime, but it was obvious to me that the systems wasn't working and we needed to go to a flat back four, but what do I know. My worst fears were realised, when that diver Quinn, who had got Tony sent-off with his antics at the Showgrounds the last time the sides met, was allowed to advance up the left and he found McAllister in space and from his cross, Phillip Lowry was on hand to tap it in and bring the sides level. Surely Spike would change the formation now with 10 mins to go to halftime or at least change it at halftime.

2nd half
The teams took the field with the same personnel but we started to get more possession and Stephen McBride, playing left wing-back was instrumental in this, combining well with Darboy and Cush. Spike made a change taking off Sparky and bringing on Tony. United took the lead when Thommo got the the ball in his own half and shrugged off a couple of challenges and set Darboy on his way on the right, Darboy delivered a great cross and Cush hit it on the half-volley to beat Tufney all ends up and send us delirious again. A minute later Cush found himself in space and with Darboy  unmarked beside him, he tried an audacious shot, but it was high wide and not so handsome. Darboy had a chance to wrap things up when he was found by McBride, beating the offside flag, but he tried to chip the advancing Tufney, who made a great save, but Darboy I think chose the wrong option.

Referee Crangle  was telling our keeper Shan to hurry up every time he had the ball and I was anxious that he was going to add five mins at the end of the ninety. Waterworth had a shot easily saved by Shan and then Fergie took off McBride and brought on Ruddy. It was backs to the wall and Linfield had made two subs themselves and one of them was former Omagh Town winger, the speedy Ivan Sproule. Shan came to United's rescue when he tipped over Tipton's fierce shot and from the resultant corner he clutched the ball from another shot. With five mins remaining Cush made his way off to be replaced by MM and I was getting nervous I can tell you. United carved out another chance, when Tony released Jenks down the left, but he tried to cross with his weaker left-foot, another chance gone begging I thought.

Linfield won a free kick on the right with full time approaching and from Quinn's delivery the ball was nodded to Lowry, he in turn found Sproule in acres of space and his shot cannoned off the post and Jenks cleared for a corner. I give Shan the benefit of the doubt here, he had covered his angles well and deserved a bit of luck, Shan clutched the ball to his chest from a shot at that corner and when the 4th official held up the added time, 3 mins, I could hardly believe, I was in a Sky Blue wonderland. United had one further chance to wrap up the game when Tony found Darboy, but he couldn't find the target but Tufney looked relieved to see the ball clear the bar. MM wasted some time, winning us a corner, but he got himself booked for kicking the ball away when Linfield won a free kick and Crangle added on another few seconds, but it was all over bar the shouting and when he finally blew, we did plenty of shouting I can tell you!

Shan (8), Cookie (8), Marky (8), Archie (8), Jimer (8), Thommo (8), Sparky (7) (Sub: Tony 8,), Jenks (8), McBride (8) (Sub: Ruddy 8,), Darboy (8), Cush (8) (Sub: MM 7,)

Man of the match: Cush

Red Mist!

I was worried when I saw the referee that had been appointed to officiate at this game, Colin 'the Blind man' Burns, or should that be Colin 'tunnel vision' Burns, because he only sees one team and its not definitely Ballymena United. I thought last night it was going to different, but when he completely ignored a linesman flag when Chickenville scored their equaliser, I realised he was reverting to form. Then when JT and Gormley were tussling for the ball in the United box and Gormely went down, he sent off JT and gave a penalty for what can best be described as an innocuous challenge and was more obstruction, if indeed anything. But we know from painful experience just how incompetent Burns is and how ready he is to give a penalty against us, but not for us.

United manager Spike made four changes from his starting line-up of last Saturday out went, Marky and Archie and in came JT and McBride in defence. Tony Kane and Alan D replaced the suspended duo of Cush and Captain Jenks. The Showgrounds pitch was looking remarkably well considering all the rain that fell on Monday (or so I'm told, I was flying home form my hols on Monday) and it remained in good condition throughout this match, a credit to the groundsman or men, as the case may be. The Reds were first to threaten, when Liam Boyce's header was tipped over for a corner by Shan in the United goal and then he  saved from the same player in the resulting corner. Then it was Gormely's turn, looking suspiciously offside, but the flag stayed down, Shan saved his goal-bound shot.

United were trying to get things going but struggling with 4,3,1,2 formation, but Alan D went on a run and beat several players only to be hauled down in the box and the ball ran loose to Sparky and his effort was blocked. But I thought surely it was penalty for the foul on Alan D, but Burns thought otherwise, tunnel vision I've no doubts. At the other end Boyce and Gormely seemed to get in each others way and Boyce had to go off injured after this collision and was replaced by O'Carroll. O'Carroll was straight into to the action and should been booked for a blatant dive, but Burns took no action. The Reds goalie, Devlin, sporting a false beard (according to Jim O'Halloran of Glentoran), was in jittery form and gave United a corner when he made a hash of a routine save. United took this short and it came to nothing, but they got another corner luckily, when will we ever learn about taking short-corners, never it seems.

Ally should have given us the lead when he cut in from the right and got the ball onto his favourite left-foot but his shot was powder puff and easy-peasy for Devlin or as like to call him FB (false beard). In a spell of United pressure Jimer picked up the ball near the halfway line and waltzed through the Reds defence and tested FB from 25 yards, which FB diverted for a corner on the left. Tony delivered this in-swinger with his right-foot and FB appeared to punch it into his own net to give United the lead. That goal came in the 41 mins and three mins later the Reds won a free-kick on the right and from this delivery from Donnelly the linesman raised his flag and the United players stopped expecting  the ref to blow his whistle, which he didn't and the ball seemed to take a deflection of Sparky's head and found the corner of the net and the ref ignored the linesman flag and awarded the Reds a goal.

The United players were incensed, surely the linesman had flagged for something and they thought that the referee had disallowed the goal and this seemed to be echoed from the Reds bench and supporters as they took a few seconds to celebrate what indeed was a fortuitous equaliser. The United faithful were left shell-shocked, but I was expecting Burns to do something controversial, he really is useless. I was surprised he only added one minute of time on at halftime and we had at least 2 mins of stoppage time when Liam Boyce was injured, but that is Burns for you, he seems to court controversy, in fact it is his middle name, I think I will call him Cont for short. Luckily there were no further incidents in this half and the teams went in at halftime locked at 1-1, a fair score I thought, but the Reds equaliser left a bad taste in the mouth, little did I know, that was only the appetiser.

2nd half
United were defending the Fisherwick end in the second-half and the wind and rain was getting up and I thought they be some freak goals or bad bounces on the wet surfaces, but I was subsequently proved wrong, Cont took a hand in proceedings when Gormely was left one-on-one with JT and as they tussled for possession, the crafty Gormely went down and Cont prom ply awarded the penalty and sent JT off. I thought in my unbiased opinion, that it was no more than obstruction and Gormely should got a yellow card for conning the ref, but as we know from painful experience, he's too easily conned, but to send JT off it just adds insult to injury. Gormely calmly struck the penalty home to give the Reds the lead and United were forced to make a change with Ally coming off to be replaced by Marky.

I fully understand we had lost a defender, but in my opinion Spike should have taken off Alan D instead of Ally or switched Sparky to defence, to see how it panned out. But I'm not the manager and Alan D seems to be a favoured one in Spike's eyes. In spite of us playing with ten men for a great portion of at least three matches, Jenks sending-off at Windsor, Addis sending-off at Portadown and Tony's controversial sending-off at home to Linfield, our management seems not to grasp the organisation needed to survive these crises. In my humble opinion you have to switch to 3 at the back, 4 in midfield and keep two men up front. We seemed to go for a 4,4,1, formation which meant our midfielders running all over the pitch and left Darboy isolated up front. The Reds enjoyed almost total possession, but didn't threaten Shan's goal due to to some last minute tackles by the United defence.

Its a well known saying, 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' and that man last night was Stephen McBride, he was everywhere, tackling, breaking up play and at times leading the attack. United did create one glorious chance when Tony found space on the right and found Darboy unmarked, but with the goal at his mercy the former scum striker headed past the post. With 10 mins left Spike brought on MM for Thommo and I thought it should be Darboy coming off for he seemed to holding his groin and stretching his legs constantly and Thommo was having a good game. Shan made another great stop when from an O'Carroll shot at the expense of a corner. Had Fergie had given up on this game and was thinking about Saturday's cup game with his former employers, Linfield/IFA. Two mins later the Reds wrapped up the points when Donnelly found space and his shot took a cruel deflection off Cookie on its way into the net to leave the score 3-1 in the Reds favour.

O'Carroll was finally booked for another dive and Fergie made his final substitution, taking off of all people Cookie and bringing on Lowry. I could make no sense out of this substitution, there was less than ten mins to go and Davey was playing well and we weren't going to snatch this game out of the fire, so then what was it for, the mind boggles. Despite there being 5 subs used, referee Cont only added on 2 mins of stoppage time, but it made no difference to us, we never looked like getting back in the match when Darboy missed that free header. So has Spike given up on his chase for a top six position and now all his energies are geared to dumping Linfield out of the cup. It'll be a tall order, Linfield are struggling at the moment, but they'll want to give a good account of themselves and I fear they'll have more firepower than us and we'll miss JT, it's going take a titanic struggle and a load of luck!

Shan (8), Jimer (7), McBride (8), Cookie (7) (Lowry 7,), JT (7), Sparky (7), Tony (7), Thommo (7) (Sub: MM 7,), Alan D (6), Ally (7) ( Sub: Marky 7,), Darboy (7)

Man of the match: Shan