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