Card Happy!

I honestly didn't know how referee Keith Kennedy was going to conduct himself at Shamrock Park yesterday, but he turned out to be card happy. On 12 mins he booked Redman of Ports for a clumsy foul on Gawley,  I've seen players get away with worse and then on 28mins he booked United Captain Jenks, for an aerial challenge and when he booked Ports player Garret for a 'run of the mill tackle', I was worried I can tell you. Subsequently I was proved right, when he sent JT off for a tackle on the halfway line and he booked Garret again for a foul, with United fans baying for his blood, but really it was not a 'too bad' foul, we just wanted to see the balance restored.

Spike ignored all our requests and started the game with the same centre-midfield pairing, of Captain Jenks and Thommo and our defenders were under pressure right form the start. Spike had dropped Archie and Darboy and continued with the 'out of form', Cush, partnering Tippers. Taking Archie and Darboy's place was Kyley and Ally. United had the first real chance, when a Gawley free-kick went straight into the arms of Ports keeper, Miskelly. I vaguely saw this, as Ports like Chickenville and now even Linfield, herd opposing fans in a stand at the back of one of the goals. Its a toss up for the worst view, at Solitude you're closer to the action, but the stand isn't banked enough.

At Shamrock Park and Windsor, its banked enough, but you're a good 40 yards away from the pitch. There was an incident yesterday late on when Darboy, who had come on as a sub, was flagged for offside, even though he ran after the ball was played, but we had to give the lino the benefit of the doubt, for we couldn't be sure from our jaundiced view of proceedings. Redman fouled Gawley and Cush took a free, not a good free I thought, but it was met on the volley by Kyley, he drove a sweet shot past the startled Miskelly in the Ports goal, to give United a 1-0 lead.

Ports almost got back on level terms when Mackle tore through our non-tackling midfield and tricked Tony Kane and sent over a dangerous cross, but Twigg's header rebounded off JT and was cleared to safety. Then we had a yellow card for United's Captain Jenks for a clash of heads. Thommo surged forward with 34 mins gone and his looping shot crashed off the crossbar with Miskelly motionless. Then we had our third booking, when Garret found his way into the refs notebook, but it was not a 'dirty game', far from it, we just had a card happy referee. There was no further scoring and we went in at halftime leading by the scoreline of 1-0.

2nd half
Seven mins into the 2nd half disaster struck for United when JT and Murray exchanged greetings and Murray took a dive in the centre circle. JT seemed to claim Murray had elbowed him, but from my jaundiced viewpoint I couldn't say, I only saw Murray going down. The ref astounded me and every United supporter by issuing a straight red, but it was only to be expected, taking account of everything that had gone on before. Spike moved his Captain back to fill the hole temporarily and United started to  get a sub ready to come on. During this time the Ports tried to get a foothold in the match, but we had Dwayne's  steadying influence, as he plucked balls out of the air.

Ally spurned a great chance to set the 'cat among the pigeons' , when bursting through in the penalty box, he tried to pass to Thommo, other than trying a shot himself and the chance was lost. Finally we made our substitution with half an hour left to play, with Archie and Marky, replacing Gawley and Ally. Three mins later the equilibrium (that's a big word), was restored when Garret was somewhat harshly shown a second yellow card. Surely we would go on and win the game I foolishly thought as Tony had moved into midfield, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

United continued to create chances and Captain Jenks should have done better when he found himself with a route to goal, but he decided to pass rather than shoot, a bit like Ally before him, but unlike Ally, there was no United players in the box. Then disaster struck when United failed to clear their lines and McMahon was on hand to score with a cross shot, despite Dwayne getting a hand to the ball, to tie the scores up at one apiece. Tippers had a chance to restore United's advantage but his lob from the right finished the wrong side of the crossbar and at the other end Dwayne managed to get a hand to the ball when 'one-on-one with Murray and the danger was cleared.

Spike took off Cush and brought Darboy but I for one couldn't see the benefit of this, surely we wanted to win, therefore we should take the struggling Thommo off,  or Steeky and go 3,3,3. I fully realise Cush has lost form, but he's still a match winner and unless he was injured, he should have stayed on until the bitter end. Just when it seemed that both managers would be happy with point, for McFall had took off Murray and replaced him with Mouncey, Ports struck. Marky and Archie got in a tangle dealing with a high ball and the unmarked Twigg was on hand to head the ball into the net and give his team a 2-1 lead.

We looked a beaten team but we got a lifeline when Darboy found himself with the only the keeper to beat but Miskelly was equally to the task and snuffed out the chance. Steeky became our third player to be booked by the card happy Kennedy who saw fit to add 4 mins of added time, but in truth we were a beaten team, the Ports had won ugly and we let them them dictate the play. In added time mostly played in our half with Ports killing the game off, Tony became our 4th player to be yellow carded, letting his frustration boil over. When referee Kennedy blew his final whistle, we all tramped off  known that we blown our chance big time, bring on the Glenavon!

Dwayne (7), Tony (6), Steeky (6), JT (6), Kyley (7), Gawley (6) (Sub: Marky 6,), Jenks (6), Thommo (6), Ally (6) (Sub: Archie 6), Cush (6) (Sub: Darboy 6), Tippers (6)

Man of the match: Kyley