Tippers Brace!

Dwayne (6), Kyley (5) (Sub: Ferguson 60mins 7), Rodger (6), JT (6), Jimer 97), Steeky (6),  Thommo (6), Jenks (6), Maggers (6) (Sub: Faulkner 59mins 6), Cush (8), Tippers (7). Subs not used: Paddy Mac, Darhen and O Kane.

Man of the match: Cush

Referee: Keith Kennedy  1

Veteran striker Tippers, was the villain of the piece last Saturday, when he missed two chances as United drew with the Ports. Today he nearly became a hero, when he was alert, when Cush's two shots, one from a free-kick and the other from open play, left him with an open goal and he buried them both. He later proved he was only human, when he blasted the ball over the bar, instead of working the keeper, Ogre.

United manager Spike, made two changes from his starting line-up of last Saturday, with Kyley replacing the suspended Tony and Maggers, replacing the injured Matty. Spike, in his wisdom decided to go with 3 central defenders and this proved to be a disaster from start to finish. The Crues, playing with the wind at their back, were allowed to go through our defence as if it wasn't there and how United only conceded two goals in the first-half, I honestly don't know.

Referee Keith Kennedy, set out his stall from the start, when he clothed himself in a Crusaders kit and he gave them every decision, making no allowance for the conditions, including gale-force winds and a slick surface. United managed to hold out for 13 mins, Owens, was given freedom in our area and he swept the ball home to give his team a 1-0 lead. Little was seen of United in attack and as they seemed content to shoot themselves in the foot, playing the ball back at every opportunity and giving away possession.

When Heatley, was allowed to waltz round our defence, Dwayne rushed from his goal and seemed to get a hand to the ball, but his impetus meant he collided with Heatley and the ref gave a penalty, booking Dwayne to boot. We know to our cost, that is not getting the ball that matters, its what happens after you get the ball, when Kyley was pulled up for a foul at the Loughshore Arena, after cleanly winning the ball. Justice was done on this occasion, when Heatley, ballooned his spot-kick over the bar.

There was no let up in the home teams relentless pressure and Owens missed at least three sitters, the post coming to United's rescue on at least one occasion. The rain was bucketing down at this stage, but after it went off, the breeze seemed to die down a bit and United mounted a couple of attacks. From one of these we won a corner and kyley had a free-header in the six-yard box, which he headed over, a real let-off for the home side and a goal that would have drew United level. The home side stepped up their efforts again and our forwards were guilty of allowing Ogre too much space and he was able to hoist the ball into our box and put pressure on our beleaguered defence.

From a Crues corner, Dwayne was beaten in the flight of the ball and his punch seemed to take the ball goalwards and the Lino indicated that it had crossed the line and Dwayne was accredited with an own goal. Having not watched the TV footage yet, I couldn't say, but I thought we got away with one, ten days ago, that was over the line and missed by the Lino, this week we were punished, swings and roundabouts as they say. Jordan Owens, continued to threaten our defence, but we held out to halftime and it was obvious to everybody except our management, that our system wasn't working and needed to be changed.


2nd half
United took the field with the same personnel and they got a lifeline three mins into the half, when we won a free-kick about 25 yards from goal, almost in the middle of the pitch. Up stepped Cush and his left-foot shot was only parried by Ogre and Tippers was on hand for his 7th goal of the season to reduced the deficit 2-1. Just when we thought, we had got a lifeline, Crues won another penalty, when Kyley, was adjudged to have pushed Owens, when he backed into the United defender. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and booked Kyley in the process.

Crues, having already missed one penalty, through Heatley, changed their penalty kick taker to Burns and he blasted the ball up the middle to restore the Crues, two goal cushion. That goal came at a crucial time, when United were beginning to get a foothold in the match and I thought it would be the death-knell for us.  But the referee decided to take a hand and he decided to book Maggers, but for what for I don't know, he maybe was questioning a decision, or commenting on the refs parentage, we'll maybe never know. The upshot was that Spike decided to make a change and Maggers was replaced by Faulkner and 1 minute later Kyley, was replaced by the manager's son, Matthew.

These two subs seemed to work as United went back to a 4,3,3,, formation with Jenks moving up front. The referee was in booking mode and booked numerous United players, nearly every-time they won the ball and only one Crues player and it was not a dirty game by any means. With over an hour gone, that man Cush, tried a shot from 35 yards and Ogre pushed it on the bar and Tippers was on hand to score his second of the day, to reduce the deficit to 3-2. As the referee was in booking mode, he showed his biased nature, when Heatley went with an over-the-ball tackle on United's JT, but the ref merely talked to him, I thought it merited at least a yellow card.

Ogre and the Crues players were wasting time at every opportunity, but the ref done nothing, he must have been happy with the situation as it was. United continued to pick up bookings with Faulkner, who had a shot well saved earlier and Captain Jimer booked, for an innocuous fouls. The ref called a halt to play, when Cush seemed to be the subject of a block tackle from Magowan and Magowan seemed to come off worst and as United were continuing to attack. I foolishly thought that Cush, had won a free-kick, but the ref merely gave a bounce ball and instructed the Crues player to give the ball back to Dwayne. As it turned out Magowan, was bluffing, but he wasted precious seconds off the match time.

Then Tippers, bleanged the ball over the bar when well placed and despite United mounting several attacks, they couldn't get the vital breakthrough which would have given them a share of the spoils. The referee, added insult to injury, by only adding 3 mins to the proceedings, with the Crues hanging on and played exactly 3 mins. The time-wasting, by the Crues players had went unnoticed by the referee, but nothing strange there. United had come up short, who knows if our manager had started out with the formation he had ended with, we would have got a different result, but that's all for speculation, but we showed fighting spirit and that can't be all bad!