Down Downing!

Ballymena have, according to informed sources, only one decision to make regarding selection for tomorrow night’s match against Portadown at Shamrock Park, kick-off 19-45 (we think). That decision, again according to ‘sources’, is whether young Craig McClean, rested as a precaution on Tuesday night, comes back into the team, or if the manager decides to keep Aby McCabe, who performed so well against the Whites, in instead. One note of caution we at Sky Blue Sport would like to voice is, that the match will be highly provocative, as Portadown in general and Mickey Collins in particular, tend to impose a fairly physical threat. With that in mind maybe playing McCabe would be somewhat risky as he has a penchant to react somewhat ‘violently’ when provoked. Tomorrow night we will need our players to show a lot of discipline and as Aby is a wholehearted type of player, maybe it would not be the place for him to be. United find themselves in unchartered territory at the moment, with only three clean sheets prior to last Saturday’s game against Lisburn Distillery this season, they now have a chance to double that figure at Portadown tomorrow night, after two games in a row without conceding a goal. This will be a tall order against the Ports, who tend to be somewhat free scoring, but if the United defence is ‘up for the game’, then anything is possible. If the Sky Blues can somehow ‘glean’ four points from their next two games, Portadown tomorrow night and the visit to the Oval to play Glentoran on Tuesday December 13th, then we will be set up for the only home match before Christmas when we entertain Glenavon on Saturday December 17th. So Gary Smyth and company it’s over to you, we know you can do it, so come on and show us, ‘let’s shag those Portadowners’!