Double Cookie!

You may be surprised by my headline, 'double Cookie', no its got nothing to do with a new flavour of chip cookies, but it is to do with United veteran stopper, Davy 'Cookie' Munster, scoring his second goal this season and coming a game after his first on Tuesday past in the league cup success over the Ducks. Cookie comes up for nearly every set-piece, long throw-ins, corners and free kick and its usually his heading ability that's called for. So its somewhat ironic that his two goals in as many games, were actually shots and good shots to boot.

United started with the same eleven  that broke our 'duck' at Ferney Park (in no uncertain manner), on the 'Stute pitch which looked as if it hadn't seen a roller since god knows when. I was slightly worried when me and Sammy Patterson, compared our first goal times, he had 1 min and I had 2 mins. Now as United are invariable slow starters, our only hope was of the home team scoring first and truth be told we didn't want that. So our hearts were in our mouths, when in the first minute 'Stute won a dubious free-kick out on our left flank.

When the ball eventually come over, Stuarty managed to punch it and we somehow survived. A minute or so later Stute won a corner on the left and it was taken low and hard (obviously a move that was worked out in training) and when Toland found the unmarked Hume on the edge of the box, his shot took a wicked deflection off Steeky and ended up in the back of the net. There were four mins on the clock officially, just a couple minutes over Sammy and my times and we breathed a sigh of relief, but were sobered by the thought that United were losing 1-0.

Referee, Keith Kennedy, looking remarkably like Tim 'nice but dim' Marshall, seemed to be trying to emulate Bangor ref, Andrew Davy, going through the 1st half without booking anybody. As United tried to gain a foothold in the match, they were subjected to some tasty tackles, gone unpunished except for free-kicks by referee Kennedy. Gawley, the barber took his 'man on' out on the right with 11 mins gone and his superb cross was met by Darboy and his powerful header was brilliantly saved by Stute keeper Gallagher at the expense of a corner.

Three mins later Darboy beat his man and his goal-bound shot, was headed off the line by a defender, from the resultant corner the keeper saved Cookie's header.  But United weren't to be denied for long and from another corner, Cookie was on hand to shoot United level leaving the keeper no chance. The goal was no more than United deserved and some of the football they were playing had to admired. Stute continued to have some success down United's left flank and some confusion reigned when a ball came into the United box, when JT and Stuarty left it to each other, before JT cleared the danger.

Straight away United went up the other end and from a neat bit of play they won a corner on the right. The barber took this one and it went for another corner on left. The barber trotted over to take this one, but before he could deliver, JT was pulled to the ground by Stute defender McLaughlin and the ref awarded United a penalty. They were protests from the home team (usually in these situations the ref calls the two parties together and has a stern word with them), but in this case he seemed to think it warranted stronger action and after all, he is the man in charge.

How McLaughlin escaped a booking, is beyond me and when Ally placed the ball on the penalty spot, Gallagher, the Stute keeper stood over it and the ref took a lot of time to get him to back off. A yellow card for the keeper, would have soon sorted it out or one for McLaughlin, but ref Kennedy, was letting them get away with their gamesmanship. I was sort of worried about the effect this was having on Ally, but I needn't have worried for the when the ref gave the signal, he drove the ball with his left-foot into the corner of the net, leaving the keeper clutching at air, to make the score 2-1 in United's favour.

United turned up the heat on the Stute defence and Ally had hard luck when his shot beat Gallagher, but came back off the post and into the grateful arms of the keeper. In a rare attack by Stute, the lino on the far side, failed to flag a Stute player, that appeared to be 20 yards offside but luckily this didn't lead to anything. The lino seemed to get his act together, for moments later in a promising Stute move he flagged for offside. With United in the ascendency as the half drew to a close I was wondering if Spike thought we needed fresh legs or would he wait and see.

2nd half
We took the field with same eleven as started the match, but the home team changed their keeper with Ferris, the former scum keeper taking over from Gallagher. Ally messed up, when put in the clear by Tippers, blasting the ball harmlessly wide, but United fans encouraged him to keep trying. It was obvious to me that United were feeling the pinch of having played on Tuesday night, but they were still searching for that clinching goal. The barber should have done better with a chance when Ally found him with a neat pass, but he blasted the ball over the bar from 20 yards.

Then it was Captain Jenks turn and he worked keeper Ferris with a good shot on target. Halfway through this half, Spike started to ring the changes, taking off the tiring barber and bringing on young Spike and United went into defensive mode, leaving Tippers and Darboy isolated up front. Despite loads of possession, the home team couldn't get any clear-cut chances, but I was worried in case they got past our tiring defenders.

Ally got a cheer when, he chased a seemingly lost cause, much as Captain Jenks did on Tuesday night, in front of the small band of United supporters, blocking a clearance from a Stute defender. The lino on the far side wrongly flagged for an offside against Tippers, when he was clearly on-side when the ball was played and he was bursting through on goal. With less than four mins to go, Darboy was replaced by Marky and this in turn released Tony to right midfield and we looked more balanced as a result, but leaving only one up front, Tippers.

Stuarty came to our rescue sort of Pat Jennings like, when he cleared the ball with his feet. A United supporter questioned this method but our Sammy retorted, 'he did save it and that's all that matters' and so say all of us. Ally, my 'man of match' became the third United player to go off and was replaced by Owen Kane and United went into lock-down. This signalled a period of 'killing time', one of my pet hates, as Tony Kane and Tippers tried to waste time at the corner flag before eventually losing possession, a waste of energy in my way of thinking.

Just when I thought that Ref KK (Keith Kennedy), was going to play all night, there had been no blatant time-wasting by United, he blew his final whistle and we started to make our way from the ground. For anybody that hasn't been to Stute of late, they have changed the entrance to the ground for visitors, making them walk the guts of half a mile to get to their end, which has changed to the Riverside stand, which used to be the home stand. Talk about a '3 mile camel hike' and the car parking is another thing, be sure and read Sammy's away view, coming out soon!

Addis (7), Tony (7), Steeky (6), Cookie (8), JT (7), Barber (7) (Sub: Ferguson 6,), Sparky (6), Jenks (6), Ally (8) (Sub: O. Kane 6), Darboy (8) (Sub; Marky 7,), Tippers (7)

Man of the match: Ally