Time's Up!

It was good while it lasted, we had some good times and some bad, but alas the bad far outweighed the good, culminating in an abject display yesterday against Portadown in the Irish cup semi-final. Time and time again, we at 'Sport told Glenn that Thommo and Captain Jenks wouldn't work as a  midfield, partnership, but he seemed determined to ignore all our pleas and we paid penalty for his insistence in sticking to his guns yesterday.

The ease of which the Ports were able to get to our last line of defence, beggars belief and they were found wanting, not for the first time I might add. It was obvious that playing a 4,3,3, or the diamond formation was going to play into Ports hands and they took advantage of it. In the absence of Tall Tim, out with a chest infection, Dwayne got a rare start and JT was passed fit in an otherwise unchanged back line, to release Jenks to midfield, in a midfield three of the afore mentioned Jenks, Thommo and Kane.

The strike force was made up of Tippers, Cush and Cutch, who was rested last week, because of a gentleman's agreement between him and Crues manager, Stephen Baxter. Did United manager Spike and the United board know about this gentleman's agreement, between Cutch and Mister Ugly or not? I would go so far as to say they have no place in Football and should be outlawed by the authorities, but I realise, the IFA/NIFL will sit on the fence as usual.

If Fergie and our board knew nothing about this agreement, before it came to light, then Cutch's contract should have been torn up, or better still, he should have been suspended until the end of season, in my mind, if he's not for us, then he's against us. I feel sorry for Darboy (who was the subject a gentleman's agreement himself), who was left sitting on the bench, to let Cutch play. Darboy has proved how much he likes the Irish cup, but our manager went for Cutch instead, the mind boggles.

United won the toss and chose to defend the Sydenham end in the first half, with little or no wind, that would have been my choice, but it didn't do us any favours. Ports almost took the lead as early as the 2nd minute as Mackle was allowed space to cross, Twigg headed it to McAllister, but luckily for United his shot was over the bar. But the 'luck' that was on our side against Chickenville and the Welders, deserted us two mins later, as Paddy Mac's, attempted clearance bounced off McAllister and fell nicely for the striker and he beat Dwayne from close range.

I thought there was a hint of offside, but the Lino's flag stayed down and the Ports were one up. I had visions of a collapse, but I was hoping against hope, that we would change things around and get a grip in midfield, but nothing could be further from the truth. Tony Kane had our first meaningful chance, but he screwed his shot wide when well placed, he should have worked the keeper. With 15 mins on the clock, Ports struck again when Mackle found Gault in  acres of of space in our box.

Captain Jenks got back to close him down, but Gault got past him and his shot was blocked by Jimer on the line. But Gault never broke stride and he met the rebound to score and give the Ports a two goal cushion. United managed to pick themselves up off the floor and started to get something going for themselves. Cush, so often our talisman, was a shadow of himself, but he managed to get a shot in after a one-two, between him and Thommo.

But alas he scuffed his shot, but Cutch headed it back and Jenks missed a sitter with the goal at his mercy. A goal then would have got United back in the game but alas it was only a flash in the pan and the Ports put the icing on the cake five mins later. There seemed little danger as Twigg won a header just over the halfway-line, but he nodded it into to space and McMahon ran from deep, easily out-pacing Kane and as Dwayne came off his line, he chipped the ball over his head to make the score 3-0.

Surely Spike would act now, I foolishly thought, but no he seemed to be bereft of ideas and when we got a free-kick, taken by Tony, JT could only head wide. United nearly conceded a fourth goal near the break, but luckily this time, Twigg's shot was easily gathered by Dwayne. When the ref blew for halftime United came off to a crescent of booing, they had let us down badly and let themselves done even more. The booing became louder when our manager Spike and his backroom staff passed below us, they were the architects of our downfall, so to speak and it was only fitting that they should get the louder boos.

2nd half
United took the field early, with one change to their starting line-up, with Darboy replacing Cutch and reverted to a 4,4,2, formation, with Tony and Cush in the wide positions and Thommo and Captain Jenks in the centre. I feared for this combination as Jenks and Thommo, are non-tacklers, but we started to get into the game. Darboy sent in a teasing cross and Miskelly in the Ports goal punched clear, but Thommo's powder puff rebound was easily gathered by the keeper. Miskelly had been time wasting since the Ports went three up and he continued to do so and the ref done nothing.

I deplore time-wasting,. its depriving spectators who have paid hard earned money from enjoyment and in my mind its a fraud, but I stress that's only my opinion. United almost got hope 11 mins into the 2nd period, When McMahon volleyed a ball, when facing his own goal, that cannoned off the post with Miskelly beaten all ends up. Despite loads of pressure United couldn't get a foothold in the game and things were looking black indeed.

Things looked blacker, when Paddy Mac's attempted back header was woefully short, but Dwayne came to his rescue with a smart save. Paddy Mac seemed to be injured and had to come off  to be replaced with Ally, Jimer moved to central defence, with Tony filling in at right-back. On 70 mins United got a glimmer of hope when Darboy latched onto a long clearance from JT and his shot took a deflection off Redman, to find the net and leave the score, 3-1 in the Ports favour.

Could United mount a comeback and scupper Miskelly's time-wasting, ref Davey had done nothing to hurry the Ports keeper up and he just delayed the game evermore. Time and time again the ref let the Ports players away with questionable tackles, no yellow cards and kicking the ball away or not retreating at free-kicks, but he took no action and it was frustrating to watch him being  made to look a fool out of. But worse was happen in the last minute of normal time, when Cush chased a seemingly lost cause and was tripped by Miskelly near the by-line.

The ref astounded me by awarding a goal-kick, surely if it wasn't a penalty, then it was a corner, but the fifth official was our old friend, Colin 'blind man' Burns and he was adamant there had been no contact, and he had the best view, TV highlights has since proved that he was wrong, he has tunnel vision when it comes to the Sky Blues, which we know to our cost. The ref added insult to injury by only adding on three mins, admittedly there had only been three subs used, two by us and one from the Ports, but the blatant time-wasting by Miskelly and the rest of the Ports team went unpunished.

Try as they might, it was hopeless cause for United and they were left to think what may have been. The ref didn't cover himself in glory it has to be said, but he wasn't solely responsible for our defeat, he contributed to it. In the first half we got a free-kick about 30 yards from goal and the a Ports player broke before Cush took it short to Tony, but the ref let it go, typical or what? I tried to clap the players off, but some, including my friend were too intent on barracking Fergie, with shouts of 'resign and your times up', reluctantly I have to agree with them!

Dwayne (7), Jimer (6), Steeky (6), Paddy Mac (5) (Sub: Ally 6,), JT (6), Thommo (6), Jenks (5), Tony (6), Tippers (6), Cush (6), Cutch (5) (Sub: Darboy 7,)

Man of the match: Darboy

Another Flop!

United manager Glenn Ferguson, did as we at 'Sport suggested and selected his captain, Alan Jenks, to partner Paddy Mac in central defence. We hold our collective hands up and say we're sorry, but it just didn't work. Jenks made a hash of a routine clearance, which led to a corner early on and two mins later he back-passed to Tall Tim, who inexplicably passed it back to him, then Jenks contrived to play in Crues player Heatley. Jenks managed to recover and got a tackle in and Heatley took a blatant dive.

Tim, 'nice but dim' Marshall, wasn't fooled but didn't book the culprit, in fact he never booked anybody in the entire game and we had at least three head injuries, but no yellow cards. The Lino at the Fisherwick end was diabolical and missed at least three blatant offsides, including Heatley, when he was 2 yards offside, to score the Crues equaliser, prompting our Sammy, to make reference to his patronage. All in all, Fergie made four changes to his starting line-up of last Friday's loss at Dungannon.

Out went Cookie, presumably injured as he was not on the bench and in came Captain Jenks, who was suspended last week. Sparky, replaced the suspended Thommo and Ally replaced Cush, who was also serving a one match suspension. In his wisdom Fergie, dropped Darboy and his replacement was Brian Mack, who was a virtual passenger throughout the match. We had been campaigning for Spike, to get some bite in midfield and when he does, it isn't needed (sods law), for the league leaders don't play in midfield, they just hoof the ball up-field and hope to win possession off it.

They are very good at this, but like us they tend to ride their luck and luck was on their side on Saturday and the ref was too. The Crues juggernaut started brightly and Heatley almost gave them the lead after 7 mins, when his thunderbolt shot was expertly tipped over by Tall Tim. From the resultant corner, Jenks had ample time to clear the ball, but he dithered and let it run out for another corner. Worse was to happen two mins later, when he and Tall played a one-two in our penalty box and Jenks gave the ball away to Heately.

Heatley, who had been in offside position, seemed confused by this turn of events, he hesitated and allowed Jenks to get a tackle in, before regaining his senses and taking a blatant dive. To his credit ref Tim, wasn't fooled by Heatley, but he didn't book him as he should have done. Jenks made the Crues pay for this gamesmanship when United won a corner after 15 mins. Maca, who seems to our corner kick taker now and he is useless IMO, took the corner and didn't get past the first man, but maybe that was the ploy,lol.

The ball came to Tony and he whipped it back in to Mack, his pass ballooned up in the air, but Tippers managed to control it at the far post before finding his Captain lurking in the box. Jenks shot at goal but Adamson got in the way and got the final touch as the ball found the net to give United a fortuitous  one goal lead. United's lead just lasted for a mere 10 mins, when Owens was allowed to pass to Heatley who was at least a yard offside, to side-foot the ball home, but the Lino's flag stayed down and the score was one apiece.

United's ploy of playing one man upfront and leaving the Crues to thump the ball up at every opportunity, meant the match as a spectacle was boring to say the least. But at least there was no further scoring after that and United managed to hold out to halftime, but it was obvious a change of personnel was needed, with Maca struggling to get into the game and I for one, couldn't understand his inclusion, as he is cup-tied next week, better to have Gawley on, who isn't cup-tied, but what do I know.

2nd half
United turned around with the same team as the first half and the game continued on the same vein, with the Crues hoofing the ball up-field and fighting for secondary possession. With youngster Gardiner on the bench could Fergie have taken a chance on him and moved Jenks up to midfield at the expense of either, Maca or Brian Mack, but he dithered. After 15 mins play in this half Fergie acted, withdrawing Maca and bringing on Gawley, like for like, changing nothing.

Tippers was struggling, for he was running his heart and his control had deserted him, but Spike just let him run. Crues had a couple of chances before they took the lead in the 66 mins and like last week it came from a mistake by our keeper. There seemed little danger as he was challenged for a high ball by Owens, but inexplicably he dropped the ball and Adamson was on  hand to side-foot the ball home. Despite the protests of the United defenders, the goal stood and it seemed a good goal to me.

Tall is a wee bit naive and no doubt he will learn that when he comes out for the ball he needs to be commanding, instead of getting bullied. But he needs to learn fast, or no doubt Twigg and Murray will take advantage of him next week. Jimer had to go off 10 mins later with a gashed face and Fergie made a positive sub this time bringing on Darboy and moving Tony back to fullback. But alas it was too little, too late and Crues wrapped up the points with 9 mins to go. Firstly, Colin Coates's header was brilliantly tipped over by Tall, but from the resultant corner, Owens stole a march on Paddy Mac and headed the insurance goal into the back of the net.

United's day was summed late on when they got a free-kick, about 25 yards from goal and Gawley's free-kick bounced off the Crues wall, what a waste. Mack had gone off to be replaced by youngster, Jake McNeil, but like Mack before him I honestly didn't see him make a difference. So its back to the drawing board for Spike ant the three baldies and they better come up with a plan soon, for we look to be on the slippery slope now and then on top of that we have an Irish cup semi-final next week against Portadown, hope our luck holds, we definitely need a lotta luck!

Tall (6), Jimer (6) (Sub: Darboy 6,), Steeky (6), Paddy Mac (6), Jenks (6), Maca (5) (Sub: Gawley 5,), Sparky  (6), Tony (6), Mack (5) (Sub: McNeil 6,), Ally (6), Tippers (7)

Man of the match: Tippers 

Third Best!

It may seem a strange headline to anyone who wasn't at Stangmore Park last night, but I thinks it sums up our performance last night. We were outplayed by the hosts and they weren't good by any means, but they wanted it more than we did. Every so often United give one of those abject performances and this was such a performance. They never rose above the depths of mediocrity and it was all summed for me when Maca missed our best chance of the match with a free header, which may have given us a share of the points.

But justice was done in the end and we got what we deserved, nothing. This has to a worrying time for our manager, we were out-thought and outplayed for 75 mins last Saturday against the Welders and if it hadn't been for an incompetent ref, we would have been soundly beaten, as he disallowed a legitimate goal for the Welders. But we came good in the last 15 mins of that match, but there was to be no fairy-tale ending last night and the stats prove it, the hosts had about 8 shots on target and we had only two and one of them was pathetic to say the least.

Our manager made four changes from his starting line-up of last Saturday's game. Cookie came in for the injured JT, Steeky returned from his two week lay-off in place of the youngster, Craig Gardiner, who dropped down to the bench. Maca as expected, replaced the Barber and there was a rare start for Darboy, in place of the suspended Jenks. Cutch didn't make an appearance either but Sammy said he was busy at the cheese, factory, they got an order from a big Cheese, for a big cheese, lol. The rest of our bench was made up with Brian Mack, Ally, the Barber and our forgotten man, Sparky.

United Captain for the night, Jimer, seemed to have won the toss and elected to play down the slope, with a strong wind helping. As the weather forecast stated that the wind would get stronger as the night wore on, as it did, I think this was a wrong decision, but maybe our manager told Jimer which way to choose, anyway we paid for it big time in the 2nd period. United spurned a good chance in the first minute, as a Thommo's shot missed the target, slow starters or what.

The hosts seemed able to cope with playing into the breeze in the first-half better than us in the second-half and their keeper, ex-Glenavon stopper, Coleman, kicking against the wind was good. Our keeper fell down in this matter, as his kicking in the first half was too long and in the second was atrocious to say the least. United managed to get one shot on target in the first half and it was that  man Cush, who managed to pull a decent save from Coleman, at the expense of a corner. Paddy Mac, up for the corner, could only head the ball over the bar.

Glackin, looking miles offside, was waved on by the Lino at the dressing-room end. Did the linesman think he was playing him on, stranger things have happened.  Steeky got back to steer him wide but he let him cross and United struggled to clear the lines. First it was cleared for a throw-in and then another throw-in and finally a corner. When this corner came over, Tall Tim, seemed to be impeded, but Heth took no notice and Fitzpatrick, unmarked headed it goalwards.

Steeky cleared the ball, but the Lino, signalled it had crossed the goal-line and we have to take his word for it, for once he was in the right place. United were shell-shocked at this turn of events and lacked the guile to get into the game. But approaching halftime Maca went on a run and was tripped by Glackin and Heth, incredulously did not give the clear-cut penalty and he added insult to injury by booking Maca. Cameras then confirmed that Heth had got it wrong and it looked like a cast iron penalty, as it had done in  real time.

Later on in the second-half, a home player took a dive in the box, but Heth ignored his indiscretion, biased or what? Halftime was reached with the score 1-0 to the home side and United had a mountain to climb in the second period facing that strong breeze and it was getting stronger. The talk at halftime centred around United's sub, Brian Mack and his lack-lustre attitude to getting  loosened up, in case he should get a call. Our Sammy said that's Glenn's first sub would be Mack for anybody and he was proved right.


2nd half
Little was seen of United as attacking force in the early stages of the second-half, they were under the cosh and Tall was called into action on at least three occasions, one save from Hazley had goal written all over it, but Tall managed to claw it away at the expense of a corner. United for their part struggled to get things going as an attacking force and they weren't helped by Tall's erratic kicking against the breeze which was even stronger now.

When they tried to work the ball out of defence, it invariably broke down, with misplaced passes, the culprit nearly every time. We did manage to fashion one chance when Darboy received a pass and burst into the box and his cross was missed by Maca, with the goal at his mercy. It was a bread and butter header, but Maca didn't even get his head to it. Two mins later Maca was replaced by Brian Mack and his first real contribution was to get booked for a  needless foul.

Cush had a shot from distance, about 30 yards out and as they say, it wouldn't have beat your Granny, it was that feeble. Fergie waited until there was only 9 minutes to go before the end, to make his last two substitutions. Replacing Cookie and Thommo, who was our best outfield player, with Ally and Sparky, too little, too late. Cookie and Thommo were unlucky to be replaced, Jimer was a virtual passenger, as was Steeky but to Steeky's credit, he kept trying. Tony, must have been saving himself for the cup semi-final, he was that disinterested and that goes for Tippers and Cush as well.

With time ticking away and the home team anxious to get the insurance goal, a home player took a dive in the box but the referee ignored his cheating and waved play on. I had looked at my watch as the second-half was starting and it said 20-48hrs of 12 mins to 9 o'clock. In the absence of a board you had to guess what time the ref added on, but there were six subs made at 30 seconds each and there were at least three stoppages for injuries. But ref Heth only played 2 minutes as the game was over at 21-35 hrs or at 25 mins to 10 o'clock. But if they had played ten mins of added time, we wouldn't have scored.

I've listened to our manager's comments after the game and he was scathing to our players thinking, that the game didn't matter. He reiterated that league points were vital to our team and that he wanted to finish as high up the table as humanely possible. On this showing we'll be very lucky to escape 11th place, we definitely don't want to be involved in a play-off with a team from the Championship, whoever that could be. I want to see us stay up and hopefully I'll have one 'home' game at least next season!

Tall (6), Jimer (5), Steeky (6), Cookie (5) (Sub: Ally 5,), Paddy Mac (6), Maca (5) (Sub: Mack 5,), Tony (5), Thommo (6) (Sub: Sparky 6,), Cush (5), Darboy (6), Tippers (5)

Man of the match: Thommo

Something Right!

There's an old saying when talking about people making a success in their life,that goes, you must be doing something right. This phrase could well be attributed to our beloved Sky Blues, we did nearly everything wrong yesterday, but we did some things right and we survived to fight another day. I've no doubt in my mind, that this was due to a large slice of luck on our part and despite our manager selecting the wrong players, he used his 'get out of jail free card', IMO.

Why he chose to start with Captain Jenks up front with Tippers and leave two strikers, Darboy and Cutch on the bench, beggars belief. He played  Jenks up front, along with the 'rested' Tippers and the rest obviously done Tippers no good, for he struggled to get to grips with the pitch and the pace of the game. Did Spike, think it was Cutch that was to blame for the abject failure of playing Jenks up front, the last time out against Chickenville.

Cutch wasn't by any means good against the Reds, but he did set up Thommo, for our only shot on target in that game. But the biggest mistake Spike made, IMO, was to give a debut to rookie leftback  Craig Gardiner, instead of jigging his two fullbacks, the vastly experienced, Jimer and to a lesser extent, Tony and getting one of them to fill in at leftback. This was to prove costly, as Gardiner gave away a penalty, which the Welders scored by letting his man go inside and he got caught in possession, instead of crossing the ball, which led to the Welders second goal.

I was always told (there was no coaching in my day and I played fullback), to never let the winger or anybody get inside of you, for you're wrong-footed then, better to direct him toward the touchline, where you can get a tackle in or close him down until help arrives. Maybe I'm being a bit hard on the youngster here, our back-four was trying to play offside and MM was definitely offside but Middleton wasn't and the play was waved on. So Gardiner was the only man that could've got a tackle in, but he was no match for the Welders player.

JT has been struggling for awhile and yesterday was no exception, MM, the former striker with the Sky Blues, who our manager, in his wisdom decided to discard in favour of Tippers, at the start of this season, had JT in his pocket nearly the whole of the game. But JT got a nasty looking knock in the second half and Fergie had to bring on Cookie and after that, MM's threat was greatly reduced and Jimer moved to leftback and we reverted to 4,3,3. This was the formation that the 'Sports crew had thought, Spike would go for, but he had other ideas.

All in all Spike, made three changes from his starting line-up of last weeks game against the Reds. Out went the unlucky and injury-prone, Ruddy and in came youngster Crag Gardiner. The cup-tied Maca (I don't know why he played last week), was replaced by the Barber, who had  poor game on his return to the team. Cutch, was not at his best, on the unnatural surface of Solitude last Saturday, why he chose to go to the Crues and leave the Sky blues where he was close to receiving cult status, I'll never know, made way for the rested, but ring rusty, Tippers, who hadn't played for 19 days.

United won the toss and elected to play towards the dressing rooms in the first half and should have been one up in the first minute. A Welders defender tried to head back to his keeper, but if fell short and Captain Jenks latched on to it, but with the goal at his mercy, his shot hit the keepers legs and the chance was lost. A natural goalscorer would have buried it in the back of the net, but our Captain is a makeshift striker and as such, he doesn't have the instincts that top strikers need. It was so good of a chance, that the much maligned former Sky Blue player, Gary Liggett, would have buried it, it was that easy.

When the players were warming up before the game, Sammy, my right-hand man, remarked that he couldn't see any sense in their six a side game, as in his opinion, the players were tiring themselves out before the match had started. United are notoriously slow starters and the number of goals that we ship in the opening ten mins of games, beggars belief, so maybe Sammy has  a point. After ten mins Thommo, burst into the penalty area, but his shot was blocked and as luck would have it, it fell to the Captain once again, but this time a defender blocked his shot, another good chance gone begging.

United were nearly made to pay for this benevolence in front of goal, when MM slipped JT and brought a fine save from Tall, in the United goal, with a rasping shot. At the other end Tippers, found his Captain with a gem of a pass, but Jenks fluffed that chance and his half-hit shot, was scrambled away by Welders keeper Dougherty, yet another glaring miss. Little was seen of the out of form Cush, but Sammy remarked, that he's not fully fit, as he needed a knee operation mid-season and only returned to the side as a sub at the league cup final.

United were concentrating all their efforts on their right-flank but after 20 mins the Welders got wise to this ploy and snuffed it out. Referee Ian 'not so 'andy McNabb, had a poor game and despite yellow carding a Welders defender for a heavy challenge on Cush, when he was the last man, he let  too many things go unpunished from that moment on.. I thought it should have been a red card, not because he was the last man, as he was, but for the brutality of the tackle, but 'andy thought different. The Barber's corners and long throw-ins placement, seemed to have deserted him and we never looked dangerous from a set-piece taken by him, whereas at the start of the season, we looked set to score every-time, he was that good.

The lino in our half of pitch, near the only stand, was sleeping and a Welders player, was two yards offside, but he wasn't up with the play. A word here about the ground, how this ground is suitable for Irish cup action beggars belief. Its a muck heap and I'm not talking about the pitch here. They have cement slabs laid down in single file, for spectators who would rather not step on wet grass, but no drainage and heavy rain, as there was yesterday, turns it into a calamity waiting to happen, as there was a a puddle that covered at least two of the slabs and we had to step on the grass, which was treacherous to say the least.

There's no railing in front of the only stand and there was a bit of 'argy bargy' with a Welders official, who was definitely 'out of order' and some of our fans, which could've led to an ugly incident, luckily this was avoided, but only just. The pitch looks like it hasn't seen a roller since our chairman was in short trousers and there's a hollow in the middle that looks like a bomb crater, but the IFA, in its wisdom say its alright for Irish cup games, we know all about the IFA's shortcomings, they couldn't run a raffle.

But in saying that, the Welders got a grip on the game after our missed chances and played good football and put our defence under pressure and about ten mins before halftime, we cracked. It was IMO, a rather soft penalty as Gardiner and Middleton were struggling to assert themselves, but Middleton went down and the ref pointed to the spot. I don't know if he consulted the fifth official (or was the sixth), who was behind our goal, but our defenders appealed to him, but to no avail. MM, stepped up and sent Tall the wrong way and gave the Welders a deserved lead, 1-0.

MM made his way over to our fans, who had been foolishly berating him and I think he was justified, I'm not privy to the in and outs of our players reasons for leaving but I'm led to believe that our manager released him and he joined the Welders and yesterdays two goals meant he has scored 37 goals, not a bad return for somebody who wasn't considered good enough for our bench in the Irish cup final last May, when we were crying out for a striker, but Spike knows best. The halftime interval was reached at 14-20hrs, there had been a delay as one of nets was not pinned down properly and there was at least two stoppages for injuries.


2nd half
Our players were out on the pitch again after ten minutes not the normal 15 mins and I was at a loss to guess the reason for this short-time break. Were the players being punished for their slip shod defending and their benevolence in front of goal, I was nonplussed to say the least. They had to stand about for five mins and I could see they were shivering and looking like a team with no leaders, on the pitch or off it. The Welders obviously were buoyed by these events and they went at United for the off and it brought its rewards.

A cross came into the box from the left flank and Tall Tim came to claim it and fell over MM who had ducked, Tall fumbled the ball and MM scored into the empty net. To my utter relief and Tall's I'm sure, 'andy disallowed the goal, but as far as I was concerned, there had been no foul, Tall should've punched the ball, instead of trying to catch it. Buoyed by this good fortune, United went down the other end and won a corner. The ball was cleared to United's left flank and young Gardiner decided to take men on, instead getting a cross into the box.

He subsequently lost the ball and the Welders, set up a counter attack with Magennis and MM  who eventually scored, but I thought Jimer should have got a tackle in but he dithered and MM slotted the ball into the net to make the score 2-0 in the home teams favour. It was no more than they deserved, they were playing all the football and we were playing hit and hope balls at their defence, instead of trying to find a man with a defence splitting pass.

At last Fergie acted and took off the youngster, Gardiner and brought on Darboy. I foolishly thought we would jig our defenders and get back to a back four, but we went 3,4,3 and we continued to struggle to get a grip in midfield and to deal with the threat of MM, who was looking for his hat-trick at this stage. Spike had seen enough of the Barber, when he had to chance to deliver a short throw-in to Tippers, who was in oceans of space, but he delayed and took a long one which came to nothing.

Replacing the Barber with Cutch, meant we had three strikers on the pitch, but no ideas of how to go about using them and we continued to play hit and hope. JT went down injured but he tried to carry on but he had to be  replaced by Cookie and we reverted to a back four and the familiar 4,3,3. Our two fullbacks, Jimer and Tony, were creating inroads into the Welders back line and when Thommo surged forward, as he is  wont to do, he was tripped in the box and 'andy eventually pointed to the spot. In the absence of regular penalty kick taker, Ally, left on the subs bench, Tippers grabbed the ball, but his weak penalty was easily saved by Dougherty.

Sammy said to me I don't think we will score today and I had to agree with him and I thought to myself, we don't deserve to score. But the Welders were struggling with the pace of the game and were defending deeper and deeper and giving away free-kicks. Two mins after missing the penalty, Tony gave us a lifeline when his cross was headed across goal by Cush and the unmarked Darboy, headed home to reduce the leeway to 2-1. Could we salvage something from the match at this late stage and get to extra-time.

Five mins later I had my answer, Cutch was taking all our corners now and they were miles better than the Barber's. His in-swinger was headed back across goal and Tippers volleyed it home, off the underside of the bar with the keeper helpless. The Sky Blue fans went wild and there were singing and shouting, we had drawn level from a seemingly hopeless position and we were looking forward to extra-time, but we weren't finished just yet.

The Welders had been time-wasting nearly the whole of the second-half and I think the ref added some time on for this. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and that man turned out to Thommo, who capped a 'man of the match' performance with the winner. In a goalmouth scramble, Captain Jenks shot dropped to Gary and he slotted home. Our fans were delirious and some of them were on the pitch and Tony Kane was hugging everybody in sight, luckily we were at the back of the stand, lol.

From the Welder's centre, they gave the ball away to Tippers and he hoofed it up-field and the ref blew his final whistle and we had come back from the dead. Is our name on the cup, it looks like it, but we have another hurdle to overcome to get to the final, lets hope we are up for that one and don't leave it to the last minute, my nerves can't take much more of this. I thought the Welders were unlucky, but we got there by our never say die attitude, who would bet against us getting to the final for the second season running, I definitely wouldn't!

Tall (6), Jimer (6), Gardiner (5) (Sub: Darboy 7,), JT (5) (Sub: Cookie 7), Paddy Mac (7), Gawley (5) (Sub: Cutch 7,), Thommo (8), Tony (7), Cush (6), Tippers (7), Jenks (6)

Man of the match: Thommo