Deaf Ears!

United manager Spike, has ignored requests to get some spice in midfield, in short, tacklers, but it has fell on deaf ears so far. He chose to play a 4,3,3, system yesterday with not a tackler in sight in his midfield three, of Thommo, Mack and Captain Jenks. Glenavon couldn't believe their luck and took full advantage of it. In truth some of their goals had looked dodgy, especially the last one, when it looked like an offside as the scorer was on the goal-line, clearly offside, but no flag and referee Stephen Wallace, from stroke city saw nothing wrong, in fact he didn't see anything wrong the whole of the game.

The lino at the Fisherwick end, was atrocious as well and missed numerous offsides by the visitors in the first half and then in the second half, flagged United's Darboy offside, when he was clearly on-side and the score was 1-1 at that stage, talk about a crucial decision. But he evened that up with two mins to go when he didn't spot Cutch in an offside position and the wee man reduced the arrears with a half volley. Alas it was too little too late, 88 mins to be precise, for a minute later Glenavon regained their two goal advantage with a hotly disputed goal and Cutch and Jenks got booked for their protests.

Referee Wallace had a stinker, but he was aided and abetted by his two linesmen and how. Glenavon won a penalty in the first half, when it was clearly outside the box, but justice was done when Bradley dragged his spot-kick wide. Glenavon who hadn't played for 8 days, looked fitter than United and coped well with the conditions of the ploughed up Showgrounds pitch, courtesy of the Stock Cars. Fergie made four changes from his starting line-up from 2 goal loss at Warrenpoint., out went Marky, Sparky, Ally and the Barber and in came Cookie, Thommo, Mack and Cutch.

United started well and Thommo won a corner in the 1st minute, but in the absence of the Barber, Mack took the corner and it wasn't up to the usual standard and it was cleared. Five minutes later, JT found Cutch and the wee striker turned and flashed a shot straight at the Glenavon keeper.McGrath. Bradley came close to giving his side the lead but JT got back to clear the danger, but United committed a sin that led to their downfall, not clearing their lines and Bradley picked up the loose ball and was fouled initially outside the area but made sure he 'dived' in the penalty box.

Despite the protestations of the United defenders and keeper, the ref decided it was a penalty and Bradley stepped up to take it but dragged his spot kick wide and Addis had it covered anyway, I think. Steeky came to United's rescue, with a toe poke that just cleared the bar for a corner when under pressure. Tippers released Darboy, but his heavy first touch went to the keeper, a chance gone begging. United were made to pay for this benevolence in front of goal when Bradley beat JT twice and found Martin unmarked and he shot the visitors into the lead 1-0.

They nearly increased their lead when Marshall rose to nod the ball over the bar from a Kyle Neill corner, a lucky let-off for United. United almost got back on level terms through Cutch, but Marshall got back to block the strikers shot. Then it was Tippers turn to break down the left-wing but his cross was too close to the keeper. Then Cutch and Thommo played a one-two, but it was too close to the keeper. United were well in the game at this stage but they couldn't get the vital breakthrough, from an uncompromising Glenavon defence.

The Lino at the Fisherwick end missed another blatant offside, but O'Brien's shot only found the side-netting. Steeky and Cutch worked well down United's left-flank, but no-one could get on the cross. Then it was Thommo's turn when found by Tippers, but he couldn't get his cross past the keeper. United won a corner and it turned in to a break by the visitors, but Bradley shot wide, another let-off for the United defence. With 3 mins of the half remaining Cutch found Tippers but United's leading goalscorer was denied by a block on the line and Tony's follow up shot was just over the bar.

A minute later, Tony found Darboy, who in turn found Tippers, but his volley was just wide of the target. In the absence of Davy 'the' King, we didn't get to hear how much time the ref had added on for stoppages, but he blew for halftime, with United still well in the game at 1-0 down. Surely I thought Glenn has to see the error of his ways and change the system, by going 4,4,2, it would mean dropping one of the strikers, but needs must and he had three midfielders on his bench in Sparky, Barber and Ally, but he didn't.

2nd half
United were back level within two mins of the restart, when Thommo blocked a clearance and sped down the right to a pass from Cookie and his low cross was side-footed into the net by Darboy, not a classic goal by any means, but they all count. Then Cutch, not to be outdone, found some space nut his shot was just over. United won a corner on the right and Cookie's header was straight at the keeper another chance gone begging. As so often happens, Glenavon, looking stunned at his point fashioned another goal.

Captain Jenks was pulled up for a foul on McCabe, when it looked like the Glenavon player ran into him, but the referee was adamant it was foul. Neill took the kick and the United defence didn't deal with properly and Martin found the unmarked O'Brien, who scored from close range.  United almost got back on level terms a minute after that when Jenks found his fellow Scot, Cutch, but the wee man delayed his shot and Marshall got back to block the effort. Then Cookie picked up a booking for winning the ball, but the Glenavon player and bench made a meal of it and the ref succumbed to their pressure and booked the United stopper. When  a Glenavon player committed a similar foul two mins later, the ref let him away with it, double standards or what.

United almost fashioned an unlikely equaliser when Tippers found Captain Jenks and he was fouled by Murphy but stayed on his feet to round McGrath but his left-foot was cleared off the line by Marshall Then came the turning point in the match when after Bradley had come off to be replaced by Hamilton, the linesman at the far end failed to spot O'Brien offside from Hamilton's header and he ran through to round the keeper and give the visitors a two goal cushion. It was a close decision, but an alert lino has to give those decisions and it proved a crucial goal.

Spike made his first only substitution then taking off Steeky and bringing on Ally. United to their credit kept plugging away and Glenavon brought on fresh legs with Patton replacing Singleton. With time running out, United got a lifeline and it was debut boy Cutch, who gave them it. A through ball found Cush in an offside position, but the lino unsurprisingly allowed him to continue and the wee striker finished with aplomb as his half-volley beat McGrath all ends up. Could United snatch a point from this unlikely  juncture I wondered idly, but a minute later as they failed to clear the lines, they conceded a fourth goal.

Patton, the man who's goal broke United hearts in the Irish cup final last May, had his initial shot blocked by Addis but he lifted the rebound over the keeper and O'Brien on the goal-line was adjudged to be on-side and completed his hat-trick to give the scoreline 4-2 for the visitors. The protests from the United Captain resulted in a booking for him and his fellow Scot Cutch, the rest of our team just accepted it and that's the sad part, just another bad day at the office. The referee, who had let the visitors keeper away with blatant time-wasting much to the annoyance of United fans and not pulled players for kicking the ball away, seen fit to add the requisite 3 mins, adding insult to injury, if that's possible. Next up for United is a home tie against Crumlin Star in the Irish cup first round proper, they had better be up for that one I hope!

Addis (7), Tony (7), Steeky (6) (Sub: Ally 6,), Cookie (7), JT (6), Thommo (6), Mack (6), Jenks (7),
Cutch (8), Darboy (8), Tippers (6)

Man of the match: Cutch