Buckets Blayney!

Buckets (6), Jimer (5), JT (6), Paddy Mac (6), Ruddy (6)(Sub: Fergie 21mins (5)), T Kane (5), O Kane (7), Thommo (6), Cush (7)(Sub: Hanley 63mins 6,), Jenks (5), Matty (5)(Sub: Darhen(6), Subs(not used): Kyley and Gavin.

Man of the match: Cush (for that wonder goal)!

Referee: Tim 'nice but dim, Marshall: 2

United keeper Alan 'Buckets' Blayney, seems to do no wrong in his managers eyes, despite dropping at least three clangers, in the four matches he has played in the last 3 weeks, he's still is selected over regular custodian Dwayne Nelson. Moments after United's talisman, Cush, scored a wonder goal, from a goalkeeping error by Linfield's keeper, Glendenning, Alan, tried to even the score when he headed a through ball weakly and got caught flat-footed. Luckily for him and United, Linfield couldn't take advantage of this and spared his blushes on that occasion.

But he wasn't finished there, in the 2nd half he was caught off his line, as Sean Ward of Linfield, was allowed to waltz through the United midfield, he came off his line and allowed Ward, to chip him and get the equaliser. Goalkeeping coaches, are at pains to say in this situation, if you can't come off your line and get the ball, you should make the attacker make the decision, but Alan gave him an out, in my opinion.

That said, United didn't come out in the second-half and they were no great shakes in the first-half either. Our manager Spike made two changes to his starting line-up, with Ruddy, replacing the injured Steeky and Owen Kane, replacing Willie, who is out with a broken elbow. Owen, slotted in to right-wing and had a good game, but he's not a winger, but Spike, as is his form, expects players to play anywhere he has need of them to play.

Captain Jimer, made a foolhardy decision, when he elected that United should play to our favourite goals at the Fisherwick end, in the first-half, normally we attack this end in the second-half, or maybe Spike, dictated which way we should play, we'll probably never know. Linfield, took the game to United early on, but our defence held firm, but disaster struck after 21 mins, when Ruddy, appeared to fall badly, when a Linfield player made a back for him and despite continuing he had to come off.

Despite having Nathan Hanley on the bench, who filled in at left-back with previous club Crusaders, Spike, decided his son Matthew, would come on switching Tony, to rightback and Captain Jimer, to leftback. Now young Fergie, is showing promise, but its a big ask to hope he has the know-how, to battle it out with the likes of Jamie Mulgrew and Sean Ward. I thought it would be better to bring on Hanley, to slot in at leftback and otherwise leave the team unchanged.

But what do I know, I'm only a keyboard warrior as Fergie, is wont to say, but in my opinion we lost any grip that we had in midfield with this injury. Our talisman Cush, was having a poor game by his standards and he got booked for a foul, by the ref Tim 'nice but dim' Marshall, who seemed to be in a no-nonsense mood when he yellow carded Smyth, of Linfield for his reaction to a decision which didn't go in his favour. Cush, was maybe lucky to stay on the field, as he committed two rash tackles after this booking, but the ref later lost control of the match.

United couldn't get an attack going as the Linfield central defenders, dealt easily with every high ball, I think if memory serves me correctly, young Matty, never won a header and Jenks, only won two, but United still continued to use this ploy, hoping the Linfield defenders would make a mistake, but it wasn't looking likely, but then it came it came from an unlikely source. Now I'm a firm believer that if a goalie has to come out for a clearance, he should kick the ball into touch, safety first is my motto, every time.

But the Linfield keeper came out to a ball on his right flank but didn't follow this piece of advice. He merely kicked the ball up the line and straight to Cush, two yards into the Linfield half and he caught on the volley and despite the keeper back-pedalling like mad, the ball cleared his outstretched fist and bounced once and found the net to send us fans wild with delight. Omar, says he thought the keeper was waving at somebody he knew in our stand, he definitely was well beaten by the Cush wonder strike, hopefully not his last in a Sky Blue Jersey.

Cush, nearly repeated the dose moments later, but his volley was well wide on that occasion and United were indebted to Paddy Mac, when he flung himself full length to block a Mulgrew shot. Despite there being a long stoppage for the Ruddy injury, the ref added just one minute onto the 45, but I suspect United were the happier side when he finally blew his whistle for halftime and they went in for their halftime cuppa with the cheers of the home crowd ringing in their ears.

2nd half
Sammy, is always fascinated by our centres when we we invariably, give the ball away to the opposition, by hitting it into touch or in this case, playing it to Linfield's number two, who had the easy task of heading it back to his keeper, advantage lost. I suppose its better than playing it back and losing possession that way, but surely we can find a better way to centre the ball. But I digress, Linfield upped the pace at the start of this half and United were under the cosh.

As usual we defended too deep and when we got the ball forward, young Matty, was outnumbered and the ball came back again, but we managed to hold out until to the 60th minute. Then Sean Ward was allowed to waltz through our midfield and catch Buckets Blaney, off his line and he lobbed the ball over his head to draw Linfield level. Two mins later we lost Cush with an injury and with him went our last chance to make a game of it. As United tried to get back in the game they were met by uncompromising defence by Linfield and ref Tim, let them away with it.

There was a skirmish when Linfield, were pulled up for a foul and Mulgrew who had already been booked was seen to grab Tony by the throat, but ref Tim did nothing. Then Hanley, who had come on to replace Cush was on the receiving end as Stafford, led with his head, but again as expected Tim did nothing, not even a yellow card. Normally, when a player leads with his head its a sending-off offence, but not according to Tim, a gun totting, rooting, shooting, Marshall, he is definitely not.

For once the United defence decided to play the ball out of defence and its easy to see that wasn't in the plan, as they promptly gave the ball away to Linfield and they said thanks very much and scored to give them a 2-1 lead, yet another clanger from the second most porous defence in our league. This goal came after 75 mins and a minute later Fergie, played his trump card and to my complete astonishment he took off Matty and brought on Darhen.

I couldn't understand this substitution, if were chasing the game as we should have been, surely it would be better to keep Matty on and take off a defender or a midfielder and really go for it, but Spike, thought different. Its true to say young Matty, was a virtual passenger in the game, but he has been that way for a few games now and I can't remember the last time he was a force in the United forward line, but I think its ludicrous to take off a striker when you're trying to get a goal.

Stafford, at last found his way into Tim's, notebook with a bad foul, but it should have been his second booking, but Tim, was not going to do that. Linfield couldn't get the insurance goal to tie up the points and they were indebted to ref Tim, once again, when Stafford, pushed Jenks, in the penalty box, but Tim, was unmoved, no surprise there. He added on four mins stoppage time, but where he got that I don't know, 5 subs and a goal, only means 3 mins in my book.

But he played five mins and United were undone once again, when sub Bates, got on the end of a mistake by United Captain Jimer to score with the last kick of the game and send the United fans scurrying to get away from the ground and yet another setback. Next up for the Sky Blues, is the Boxing Day derby with our friends down the A6, the Coleraine scum. Definitely out of that game is the suspended JT and Cush and Ruddy are bound to be doubtful, we will be relying on our reserves, I can hardly wait, lol!