Complacent United!

United turned in a dispirited performance today against basement club Dungannon Swifts and they rescued an undeserved point, as substitute Ally Teggart's cross,  took a wicked deflection of a Swifts defender and into the net. United manager Spike, had ignored 'Sports advice and the advice proffered to him by all in sundry and started Jenks and Thommo as his midfield pairing. This proved to be a recipe for disaster as the Swifts gained confidence in the 2nd half and started to dominate the midfield exchanges.

Spike had made Tony his only change from the side that started last Saturday and the unfortunate Marky (McCullagh), didn't even make the bench.. United started in lethargic fashion and it wasn't until 18 mins that we had our first effort on goal, a JT header, easily grabbed by Swifts keeper Neil Coleman. At the other end end Sanussi should have done better when through on goal, but Dwayne was off his line fast to deflect the ball away from goal. This seemed to awaken United and Cush played Darboy in with a clever free-kick, but the ex-Swifts loanee, shot feebly at Coleman.

How Swifts number 10 Harpur, had escaped a booking after some tasty tackles, i don't know and then to add insult to injury, he kicked Cush in the head and the ref let him off free again. Cush, for his part, had to come off to get stitched up. Harper continued on his merry way, sure referee Deighan had given him free reign to go on fouling. Cush came back two mins later and we started to up the pace, but our final pass was found wanting, Then Ryan Harper fouled Thommo near the halfway line and the referee finally flourished the yellow card.

From the resultant free-kick taken by Archie, JT found Tippers in space and he back-heeled to his Captain Jenks who chested the ball down and beat Coleman from close range, to give the Sky Blues a 1-0 lead. As the match was going into added time, Harper, was again involved in a tasty tackle and the ref warned him, that anymore of that and he was off. But Sky Blues supporters ,including me, thought that he should have been giving his marching orders, for the foul on Cush, but the ref thought different. There were no further incidents and the ref blew his whistle for halftime and was barracked by United supporters as he made his way for his halftime cuppa and rightly so.

2nd half
United are slow starters after halftime usually and they were made to pay for this sluggishness a minute after the restart. Swifts manager Darren Murphy  had replaced Ryan Harper with Glacken at halftime and pushed Sanussi into a more forward role. When Sanussi got the ball in space he wasn't closed down and hit a sweet half volley that swerved past the outstretched arms of Nelson and found the net to tie the scores at one apiece. The Swifts were rampant at this time and they twice almost took the lead, firstly when Sanussi muscled his way through but Dwayne managed to parry his shot with Steeky completing the clearance at the expense of a corner.

Then Steeky was on hand to make a goal-line clearance, when Sanussi shot looked to have stole through. Moments later the bold Sanussi showed his darker side with brutal tackle on JT when he had no chance of winning the ball. A Swifts player faced up to JT in the ensuing melee and took a blatant dive which angered the United players, in an attempt to get JT sent off. Luckily referee Deighan saw through this subterfuge and booked Sanussi and gave JT and the Swifts player who took a dive, a stern talking to.

United tried to up the pace after this and despite forcing a few corners and long throw-ins, the closest they came was when JT headed narrowly wide, when it looked easier to hit the target. Cush, out of sorts, tried a few long range shots but never hit the target. It was obvious a change would have to be made and Fergies hand was forced when his opposite number, Murphy, brought on former United player Liggie, in an obvious attempt to seal the game. Spike took off Thommo and brought on Gavin to add a bit of steel in midfield.

But it was the Swifts who took the lead with less than fifteen mins to go when the ref adjudged that Gavin was guilty of a foul, even though Gavin's path was blocked by a Swifts player, as Gavin tried to bring the ball out of defence, a ridiculous decision in my eyes anyway. From the resultant free-kick the ball was partially cleared, but it found its way to Sanussi, with United players claiming he had come back from an offside position, he fired a cross shot and found Liggie lurking at the far post and he found the net to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

That goal came in the 77th minute and Glacken, who had only come on a sub for Swifts at halftime, went down injured and had to come off in the 80th minute and Spike took this opportunity to make an inspired sub of his own. He took off Steeky and brought on Ally and we went three at the back, which meant an all-out attack for the last ten mins of the match. Three mins later JT strode forward and we saw the dark side of Sanussi once more, when he cleaned JT, with not a hope of getting the ball and ref Deighan flourished the yellow card and then the red card, sending him off.

A minute later United fashioned an equalising goal, when Ally was on hand to get a knock-down from a high ball into the box and his cross shot took a deflection off a Swifts player and ended up in the back of the net to tie the scores at 2-2. Surely United could make the extra man count and go on and claim all three points, undeservedly it has to be said, but that's football. But the Swifts held out and Tony got a tonguing from his manager, for shooting wide, instead of finding a man in scoring position, another chance gone abegging.

United did carve a great opening near the end when Tippers, found Darboy, with a great cross, but the ex- Coleraine striker muffed his lines and the chance was lost. United almost paid dearly for this benevolence in front of goal, when Liggie broke free, but Dwayne managed to divert his shot, a great stop and a point saver as well, well done Dwayne. Referee Deighan brought the match to a close and some Swifts players seemed not to want to shake hands, unsporting or what, but maybe somebody said something out of place. As luck would have it, we drew them in the next round of the league cup, should be a humdinger, bring on the Ports!

Dwayne (7), Tony (6), Steeky (7) (Sub: Ally 7,), Archie (7), JT (6),  Gawley (7), Thommo (5) (Sub: Gavin 7,), Jenks (6), Cush (5), Darboy (5), Tippers (6)

Man of the match: Dwayne