Apolgies! Apologies!

For the first time ever (as far as we can remember that is), we find ourselves without a match report for last Saturday's game at Windsor Park. Bruce Balmer (he who rarely misses a game), called in sick and neither Omar or Sammy Patterson were willing to take on his duties and for that we apologise. United did fight it out with the champions, but as is usual we lost by the odd goal, something that seems to happen again and again. We at 'Sport are at a loss to understand why two of the people who should be in our side at the moment aren't getting a 'nod' from the United management. One of course is veteran Nigel Boyd (who must surely have served his penance for attending a family wedding on a match day) and the other is Lee Patrick. These two players turn out for the reserves regularly and are obviously match-fit, yet the manager ignores them and continues with players who are clearly struggling and are a liability we can ill afford. Craig McClean, Gavin Melaugh and Stuart King are playing well below the required standard, which leaves our left flank decidedly vulnerable, while goalkeeper Paul Murphy still continues to struggle and surely its time for Sean O'Neill to come in for an extended run in the first team. Defeat against Portadown next Saturday will keep us firmly rooted in the bottom four of the table and we believe, we will struggle to extricate ourselves during the coming weeks. Let's face it, after the Portadown game, our next three games, away to Armagh and at home to Limavady and Dungannon are not foregone conclusions, they look okay on paper, but these teams invariably raise their game when playing the Sky Blues. So, a result against Portadown is vital next week in our opinion and the only way to achieve this is with our best eleven players on the pitch, anything less and United are in for a long hard struggle to avoid the relegation trap-door as the tough games against the top six teams of last season will be back round before we know it. So, come on Sky Blues, we're with you all the way, but you have to give us something to cheer for, a battling performance is alright, but it's points we need and it's your turn to stand up and be counted!