Hogmany Bonus!

United striker Kevin Kelbie has given the Sky Blues a massive New Year bonus by penning a 2 year extension to his contract, Kelbie is the third player to commit himself to the United cause, following Mark Picking and Craiggers McClean who both signed a 2 year extension a couple of weeks ago. No doubt others will follow as the United manager tries to build a formidable squad to push the bigger clubs in the Carnegie Premier league. They don't come much bigger than tomorrow's opponents, Glentoran, but United may be able for once to match the men from the East. The Sky Blues stretched their unbeaten run to 10 games against Newry City last Saturday, gleaning 26 points from a possible 30, no mean feat for a team written off after losing 4 of their first 5 games in the Premier division. Despite their mounting injuries, Gavin Melaugh being the latest casualty with a leg injury, United's big first team panel is starting to pay dividends. The manager has plenty of options at his disposal for tomorrow's game as Craiggers has recovered from the bout of flu which caused him to miss the Newry game. If McClean does return he can move Haveron to centre midfield or move Lowry to centre and restore Mark Picking to his usual right-midfield role. If instead he wants to go for a more attacking option, he simply has to start Davitt Walsh up front with Kelbie. The United manager was non-committal on whether he would be seeking to extend Walsh's contract beyond its January expiry date. He also refused to confirm an interest in striker Andy Smith, whose contract with Portadown is due to expire in January as well, but he did say he was always interested in quality players. United Captain Albert Watson, who plays his 196 game for the club tomorrow still hasn't signed his contract extension, but the United manager remains hopeful that he will soon. So Sky Blues, the ball is in your court so to speak, let's shag those so called 'wise' men, in fact why don't we give them ' hell boy', 'Kell boy'!