Aiden Liam?

The news from the Showgrounds is that there’s only one major doubt for tomorrow night’s game at home to Institute, kick-off 19-30ish. That doubt concerns midfielder Aiden Watson, who picked up a leg injury in the game against the ‘Scum’ on Monday. United have so many options open to them and we at ‘Sport would never try to second guess manager Tommy Wright. So it’s ‘perm any 11 from 16 for tomorrow night, when the league reaches the halfway stage against the Liam Beckett managed team. A win against the ‘Stute would mean United leapfrogging Newry and Cliftonville into fourth place for at least 17 hours. It would also put them within four points of third placed Portadown, who could only manage a home draw against Larne tonight. The point for the East Antrim men, coupled with their Boxing Day victory over Ards, sets up a fascinating encounter on New Years day, when United visit Inver Park. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, let’s deal with the threat of Institute tomorrow night. The Drumahoe side have been a real ‘thorn in the flesh’ for United, especially at Ballymena, since their promotion from the Intermediate league. Former United supremo Kenny Shiels, famously or infamously (depending on your point of view), said United would do well against Institute, as they liked to play football. He was right, they did play football, only thing was they didn’t allow us to play any football and so gave us a bit of a lesson in our first ever encounter and on subsequent encounters. Current United manager Tommy Wright has no ‘hang-ups’ about the team playing football and will also hopefully have a plan to take care of the ‘Stute, tomorrow night. However, their manager, Liam Beckett, a regular visitor to Warden Street when commitments allow, will no doubt have a trick of two up his sleeve. So a fascinating encounter is in prospect and ‘Sport would urge all ‘true blue sheep shagging, dyed in the wool’ United fans, to be there, let’s have no silly excuses, your team needs you, ‘let’s shag those North Westerners!