Sweet Dreams!

Here it comes, goes the old song and here it comes for the Sky blues tomorrow when they tackle cup-holders Linfield at Windsor Park in the Irish cup replay. A win tomorrow is vital for United in order to keep the dream of a first trophy in 18 years alive. To say it won’t be easy is to make a gigantic understatement, we will be playing against a potential 14 men as the referee and his assistants will give the benefit of any doubt to the home team. That said, if we want it enough there’s no reason why we can’t complete the job which should’ve been done at the Showgrounds in the first match. With 3 of our first team panel Melaugh, Patrick and McConaghie missing through injury, and one player Stephen Lowry, cup-tied, the United resources will be stretched to breaking point. Striker Paul Brown has been passed fit and we expect to see him start alongside Kevin Kelbie up front. The back four should be Callaghan, Albert Watson, Kelly and McClean, with an attacking midfield of Picking, Aiden Watson, Scates and King. With the bench being made up of, Haveron, Fitzy and Boydie or Cushley. Surely this is the best attacking selection available to us and as the old saying goes, ‘attack is the best means of defence’. There’s no point of us starting with Gary Haveron in midfield and Scates on the wing as its imperative that we attack Linfield on their Achilles heel, the flanks. If we can get at them from the wings then victory will be ours, if not then it’s in the lap of the gods. So come on Sky Blues, let’s shag those Linfield bluffers!

White Washing!

Ballymena trail tomorrow’s opponents Lisburn Distillery by 6 points, so anything less than a win tomorrow is unthinkable, as we would fail to close the gap on the men from Ballyskeagh. Craig McClean and Aiden Watson return from suspension, while Aaron Callaghan is away on under-21 duty. This leaves the United manager with a couple of tough decisions to make, does he reinstate McClean and Watson immediately discarding the two men who deputised for them so ably last week, veteran Nigel Boyd and Larne man Gary Haveron. He also must decide who he selects at rightback in place of Callaghan, the versatile Gareth Scates could drop back or he may opt for young Gareth McConaghie who filled the position so ably against Portadown a few games ago. The manager will no doubt also be considering his options carefully with United having a potential 7 games inside a 4 week period from next Saturday. The advantages of having an extensive first team squad should bear fruit over the coming weeks, if United are to improve their league position and advance in the Irish cup. So no slip-ups can be contemplated tomorrow at Ballyskeagh, which let’s face it is not really a ground where we tend to excel. We had a good win last Saturday at Armagh, another tomorrow at Lambeg would do very nicely. So ‘come on Sky Blues, let’s drum these pretenders into the ground!’

Stewed Apples!

Here we go once again with our suitcase in our hands in our hands and we’re making our way down river road, oh sorry that’s a song, we just got carried away. But United are off on their travels with 3 away games on the trot, to Armagh and Lisburn City for league games and Belfast for the drawn out cup replay, 3 cities in a row. For tomorrow’s game United must do without the services of Craig McClean and Aiden Watson, who are both suspended. That is the down side, but on the upside it should see a recall for one of our favourite players, Nigel Boyd. Nigel is the obvious choice to replace McClean at left-back and many United fans feel that he should still be occupying the number 3 spot even when McClean is available. Aiden Watson’s position will probably be taken by Gary Haveron, although young Stephen Lowry could get the nod. The only other position up for grabs is that of striking partner alongside Paul Brown, Kevin Kelbie is the incumbent, but he hasn’t been at his best of late and ‘Sport wonders if the United manager would consider starting Fitzy instead. He has two games to try and work out his best striking partnership as after last Saturday’s showing, it seems like United have lost interest in trying to achieve a high place finish in the league table and therefore the cup is our only aim. Armagh will be no pushover tomorrow, but like last Saturday’s opposition they are the type of team we need to start putting to the sword. So ‘come on Sky Blues, let’s shag those apple pickers!’

Rowed Under!

United manager Tommy Wright refused to be drawn on the make-up of his team for tomorrow’s league encounter with his former club Limavady United. All Bruce Balmer was able to glean from the United boss tonight was that everybody was fit and he had the happy task of deciding who to omit from his starting panel. When asked if he hoped to lay the ‘bogey’ which his former charges appear to have over the Sky Blues, again he declined to comment except to a curt reply of ‘wait and see’. He also refused to comment on the continuing saga of United’s Irish cup replay with Linfield, instead he just shook his head and walked away. So all we can say for sure tomorrow, is that United will put out their strongest team and don’t be surprised if winger Mark Picking gets a start with Melaugh moving inside to partner Aiden Watson at the expense of Lee Patrick. Scatesy may also get the nod for a place on the bench, while young midfielder Stephen Lowery may miss out against his former club. One man the Sky Blues will have to keep a watchful eye on tomorrow is former player Austen Friel, who seems to have found his scoring touch since his return to his former club, after scoring only once in a Sky Blue Jersey. After the euphoria of last week’s draw at home to the cup-holders, or disappointment according to your point of view, United need to get back to winning league points in order to pull themselves up the table. A win tomorrow would in fact guarantee our league safety, which though never in real doubt, is a nice milestone to attain. So it’s all systems go for tomorrow, ‘Come on United, let’s shag those Roesiders’!

Blue Bottle!

It’s the battle of the ‘Blues’ at the Showgrounds tomorrow when the Linfield juggernaut comes to town and United must run them off the road in order to reach the Irish cup semi-final. This is the first meeting of the two clubs in the cup since United beat the Linfield Blues in the ’89 semi-final and went on to claim the ‘blue riband’ trophy of Irish football. That was in fact our third cup triumph in the eighties, second only to the Glens who won it six times. Disappointingly we haven’t triumphed since and in fact haven’t won a trophy since, but we believe this is our year. United have no reason to fear their opponents, who despite having six fulltime pros in their squad, are not the team of last season and we ran them pretty close in the County Antrim Shield final then. United manager Tommy Wright told Sky Blue Sport that he has a full panel to choose from and has more or less decided to run with a midfield of, Melaugh, Patrick, Aiden Watson and Stuarty King. The remainder of the team will be that which started the previous two games which means second top scorer Mark Picking will be vying for a place on the bench with, Scatesy, Fitzy, Lowery, Haveron, McConaghie and possibly Darren Murphy who has delayed his operation until the summer. We at ‘Sport believe the United manager, after careful consideration, will opt for Picking, Fitzy and the fit again Haveron as his subs, which gives him the best chance of covering any crisis as Haveron and Picking are both extremely versatile players. So it’s all systems go for United tomorrow, we’ll never have a better chance of progressing in the cup and with a big home crowd (all of us will be praying for that), we can turn over the cup holders. Linfield have stuttered a bit this season, already surrendering two of their four trophies from last term, but as we know they are at their most dangerous when their pride has been hurt, so we’ll have to be at our best if we want to advance to the semi-final. We at ‘Sport are hoping for a strong referee, someone not afraid to make decisions and who won’t be swayed by the ‘diving’ tactics of, Thomson, Dickson and McAreevy, unlike Mark Courtenay 2 weeks ago, never have we seen worse! So come on United, let’s shag those ‘Townies’, remember, ‘we’re the farmers and they’re the sheep’!