Tippers Brace!

United and their hosts Portadown, played out a 5-5 draw in atrocious conditions yesterday at Shamrock Park. Its a credit to the fitness of both sides, for the way the match was played, with no quarter asked or given. With a more stricter referee than Ian 'Handy Andy' McNabb, who seemed to have forgotten his yellow cards, as Ports especially were guilty of meaty challenges. Indeed he warned Michael Gault and Garret and then proceeded to let them both off with yet another foul.

Not so United's Thommo, his first foul brought a booking and rightly so as according to 'eagle eyed' United fans, it was a bad tackle on Ports fullback, Casement. But surely the blame for this tackle lies firmly at Handy Andy's door, if he had had a grip on the match, Thommo wouldn't have taken the chance, but in my opinion (IMO), the ref didn't allow for the treacherous conditions and Gary was committed to the tackle and he couldn't avoid it.

That portion of the pitch, 80 yards from where I was standing, seemed to be like a skating rink, considering the number of times players lost their footing and the same could be said for the pitch in the other half, about 25 yards from goal where United were attacking in the first half. Our manager, Spike, made one change from his starting line-up, Cookie in for Marky, no midfield tacklers in sight. Ports took advantage of this after only 4 mins, when McMahon was allowed to go unchecked and he crossed to the unmarked Murray who chested down and Twigg gave Addis no chance from 14 yards.

United, to their credit, responded right away through that man Tippers, the ex-Ports striker made it look easy, as he sprinted across the box evading two powder puff tackles, before dispatching a curler into the net, past his old pal, David Miskelly. Five mins later it should have been two, when Tippers, ten yards out blasted the ball straight at the Ports keeper, from Thommo's cross, a great save, but Tippers should have buried the ball in the net, but he went for power instead of placement.

United were made to pay for that missed chance when McMahon, was allowed to waltz through our defence, before drilling a daisy cutter which struck the left post of the United goal and ended up in the net. Our keeper Stuarty Addis was livid, as he had got no backing from his non-tackling team-mates and Ports took an undeserved 2-1 lead. The United defence led a charmed life after this score, when the Ports had their tails up, but we survived and Tippers should have restored parity, when he found himself unmarked from a Thommo square pass, but with the goal at his mercy he volleyed over.

United's defence capitulated again when Twigg, was allowed to go unchecked into our box, before dispatching a shot past Addis, to make the score 3-1 in the hosts favour. As United tried to get back in the game they were subjected to a series of foul tackles by the Ports midfield pair of Garret and Gault, only getting warnings from the ref, which in my mind gave them leave to keep on fouling. Cutch, playing behind our front two strikers, Darboy and Tippers, looked a shadow of himself and he got a bad tackle himself and it didn't help his play any.

But he combined with Tippers near halftime out on the left and Jenks was denied by the keeper from Tippers cross, but Darboy was on hand to plant the rebound firmly in the Ports net. I thought that Darboy was offside, but no flag came and United had reduced the leeway to 3-2.. Then on the stroke of halftime Thommo, fouled Casement in front of the main stand and the Ports, players and fans were up in arms about this tackle and ref McNabb, bowed to this pressure and booked Thommo. Bearing in mind what the ref had let go before and the conditions underfoot, I thought this booking harsh.

2nd half
United made no changes to their starting line-up in the 2nd half and not surprisingly the hosts were in the ascendency during the early part of this half. First Garret, seemed to get the ball stuck between his legs and the United defence managed to clear and Addis came to Uniteds rescue, when he saved Breen's header at the expense of a corner and subsequently punched the corner away. Murray was guilty of a bad miss as the United defence waited for a flag which didn't come, when he skied the ball over from close range. But the hosts weren't to be denied for long as JT was claiming offside, Twigg was allowed to run at Addis's goal when Tony slipped and he completed his hat-trick, with a Susan Bap (nutmeg), past the exposed Addis.

Twigg, celebrated in front of United fans and I think the referee should have spoken to him and the Ports player about their provocation of the small band of United fans in  the away stand, but not surprising handy Andy did nothing. At last Fergie acted and brought off Brian Mack and brought on Jimer and Tony moved to midfield. As United tried to get back in the game, Ports were wasting time and feigning injury, to try to hold the game up. But United got another foothold in the game as a Tony free-kick, found the net off JT's head. There seems to be some doubt who scored this goal, as JT and Jenks were together, but our Jackie on the BBC gave it to JT.

Sky Blue fans didn't care, they were celebrating the goal, but their celebrations were short lived, when Murray, who looked yards offside, was allowed to go unchecked before rounding Addis and walking the ball into the net, to restore his team's 2 goal advantage, 5-3. That signalled the end for the disappointing Cutch and he was replaced by Cush (a Cush for a Cutch, you could say).  United didn't lie down and from another free-kick taken by Tony (or was it a kikc), Tippers back header found the net in 84 mins. Now we had a match on our hands and United completed a fantastic comeback with 3 mins to go when Captain Jenks beat Miskelly at his near post when found by another cross from Tony.

Captain Jenks saved Thommo's blushes, when a moment earlier the United midfielder had screwed a shot wide when it seemed easier to score. The Ports nearly wrapped up an undeserved win when first a Gault shot was stopped by Addis and then Mackle, shot feebly at the keeper. The referee brought proceedings to a halt soon after this and United and the Ports had drawn 5-5. I would like to say it was a thrilling match, but because of the jaundiced view that visiting fans are subjected to at Shamrock Park, I could only see definitely only four goals, even though ten were scored in the match. But we got a point, bring on the Chickenville next Saturday and come on Sky Blues!

Addis (8), Tony (8), Steeky (6), Cookie (6), JT (6), Thommo (7), Mack (5) (Sub: Jimer 7,), Jenks (7) , Cutch (6) (Sub: Cush 7,), Tippers (8), Darboy (8)

Man of the match: Tippers