Another Flop!

 United team: Alan B (7), Jimer (7), Steeky (7), JT (5) (Sub: 46 mins, Gavin, 7,), Kyley (7), Gawley (6) (Sub: 54 mins, Darhen, 6), Tony (6), Thommo (5) (Sub: 59 mins, Jenks, 7,), Hanley (5), Cush (6), Tippers (5).

Man of the match: Kyler

Referee: A. Davey (3)

As if it wasn't tough for United in the Premier league, this abysmal performance against Linfied/IFA, plumbed new depths. When will our manager learn, that Gary Thompson is as slow as a carthorse and can't tackle a fish supper. To start him in centre-midfield role alongside Tony, shows how naive in footballing terms our manger really is.

I don't think there was a supporter in the surprising large Sky Blue's support, I would say 300 plus, that expected anything but Linfield to come out and steamroller us into submission. Spike's, selection made that task easier for them. Tony Kane's true position is rightback or wing-back, he cannot play  centre-midfield, he doesn't have the know how to play in that position, if you got to play him in  midfield, play him wide right, where he gives the fullback some help.

Too many times yesterday, Tony was wandering about, not picking anybody up and looking like the proverbial spare 'prick'. If Gavin Taggart was fighting fit and he seemed to be, he could have started in Tony's place and ex-Captain Jenks, could have started alongside him. Another mistake Fergie made, was in playing Cush as a striker. The number of times, he was either caught offside or in an offside position, beggars belief.

Cush's best position and I would go so far as saying, his only position, is wide right or wide left, where he likes to run and people and play one-twos with the likes of Tony, not isolated up front. Having said that, Spike was maybe confused by Boyce's change of name to Henderson and felt he couldn't start him. I on the other hand, have got to call Darboy no more (Boyce), his new name is Darhen, taking the first three letter of his new surname and adding them to the first three letters of his forename, now and evermore.

All joking aside, wouldn't it be better to give young Matty (Shevlin), a start and see if he could ruffle Linfield's feathers, but like Nero before him, Spike fiddled while we were burned by the fast moving IFA team. Referee Andrew Davey proved beyond doubt that he has learned to toe the line and his decision in the second-half to give a corner, when Linfield keeper, Ross Glendennig, clearly handled the ball outside the box, proved he was doing his master bidding.

That incident happened in the 56th minute and 21 minutes later he couldn't get the red card out quick enough, to send United Captain, Jimer, off, when TV replays showed there was minimal contact, in fact I would go as far to say the player, Guy Bates, dived. But referee Davey, sent Jimer off, ignoring the fact that there was a covering player. We were a beaten team before that, losing 2-0 and Linfield scored two more to put the icing on the cake.

In an Interview after the game, our manager put the blame firmly on the players, instead of admitting he made a bad choice in centre-midfield and this led to our downfall. As expected, JT was passed fit to play, there was a doubt hanging over him as he was sent-off during a 'friendly game' against Ballyclare, with ex-United player, Randal Reid. But he's struggling for form and got injured in a tackle near halftime and didn't come for the second-half.

Linfied started like a whirlwind, intent on steamrollering us into submission and it nearly worked, Waterworth coming close, after 14 mins, when he held off JT, but his shot went wide of the posts with Alan B, in the United goal struggling. Little was seen of United as an attacking force, but when they played the ball up to Tippers, he was inevitably fouled, by the Linfield central defenders and although this went on the whole game, ref Davey never cautioned the culprits.

Linfield continued to batter us and Steeky was having a nightmare, but he stuck to his guns and Linfied switched their attack to the left, where they started to get inroads into the United defence. Despite winning a free kick and a corner, taken by Gawley, United failed to trouble the Linfield defence, as Gawley failed to beat the first man, a terrible waste. Cush came close with a 35 yard free-kick, hitting the Linfield defensive wall but his follow up shot swerved harmlessly wide.

United managed to hold out for half an hour, but in a spell of IFA pressure, when United couldn't clear their lines,  an in-swinging corner, taken by Millar of Linfield, allowed Aaron Burns, to rise unchallenged to head his team into the lead. It was no more than Linfield deserved, but straight away United missed a glorious chance to equalise when Gawley could only direct a feeble header into the grateful arms arms of the Linfield keeper.

The first Linfield goal came in the 32nd minute, timed on Sammy Patterson's stop watch, it will be interesting to to see what the golden goal time was. Linfield punished United  8 minutes later for this benevolence in front of goal, when Lowry, was allowed to waltz, virtually unchallenged to the by-line on United's right flank and from his cross, Burns was again on hand to bury the ball in the net, despite Alan B, getting a hand to the initial cross.

On the stroke of halftime, captain Jimer, nearly pulled one back when he released a snap shot from fully 40 yards, that had the Linfield keeper struggling, but he was able to punch the ball over the bar for a corner. Nathan Hanley, took this corner, but despite lots of players in the six-yard box, no United player could get enough on the ball to trouble the Linfield goal. As the players shuffled off at halftime, I wondered idly if our manager would make any changes, or would he stick with the same players.


2nd half
United came out for the 2nd half minus JT, replaced by Gavin T, which meant Jimer moving alongside Kyley, Tony reverting to rightback and Gavin taking Tony's place in centre-midfield. The first chance of this half fell to Cush, but with his back to goal he tried an audacious overhead kick, which was just wide with Glendenning scrambling. United enjoyed a bit of possession at the start of this half but they couldn't get the fianl pass that would unlock the IFA defence.

Our manager in his wisdom, decided to change things and brought on Darhen and we changed our formation to a 4,3,3.  Two minutes later, Cush broke free of his marker and Glendenning rushed from his goal and clearly handled the ball outside of the box and ref Andrew Davey gave a corner, much to the annoyance of the Sky Blue faithful and our players, but we were playing the IFA and dodgy decisions are to be expected, it's part and parcel of the job in hand so to speak.

United were forced into another substitution, when Thommo had to come off and was replaced by ex-Captain Jenks. This seemed to waken Linfield up and they started to exert some pressure on the beleaguered United defence. Burns of Linfield, was earlier booked for a late challenge on Tony, who it has to be said made a meal of the challenge. Hanley was booked on the hour mark for a needless challenge and not to be outdone, Tony picked a needless yellow card also.

Gavin first foul brought him a booking also and the Linfield defenders were getting away with fouling Tippers every time and the ref ignored United's protests. With 13 mins remaining, disaster struck for United, when Tony missed a tackle and Master Bates, bore down on goal. Jimer managed to get back and Bates seemed to stumble and fell, with little or no contact from Jimer and there was a covering player, Kyley, but the referee couldn't get the red card out quick enough.

Jimer pleaded with the ref, to no avail, that there was a covering player and he slammed his Captain's armband down in disgust, but he had to go. From the resultant free-kick, Alan B, who had been hesitant earlier, redeemed himself with a wonderful save at the expense of a corner, from the boot of Quinn of Linfield. Linfield continued to barrage the United goal and it was breached with 5 mins to go when Waterworth was on hand to tap the ball into the net.

With injury time approaching, IFA added a fourth goal, when from a free-kick taken by Quinn, the ball struck the far post and fell kindly for IFA man, Reece Glendenning, to tap home and flattered the scoreline, 4-0 in favour of Linfield. Despite lots of pressure and ref Davey adding on more minutes, the score remained at 4-0 and United had suffered yet another defeat at the hands of the IFA/Linfield, but I think its all down to our manager's selection, the buck stops at you, Spike!