Mister Presents!

It's that time again, Santa Claus is hitching up his sleigh, he's on his way almost as we speak and all we want for Christmas is 'to chase the Coleraine B------ds (love children), down the Ballycastle Road, but even more importantly take the 3 points on offer, so for our sakes we hope Santa comes a day late. Boxing Day is the biggest day of the year for 'dyed in the blessed wool' Sky Blue fans, trophies we can live without, but victories over the 'Scum' from the Bannside are a must. United should go into the tie with a near full strength squad, minus Aaron Callaghan, who has decided he wants to join another club, we at 'Sport wish him luck, on the evidence of his displays in a Sky Blue shirt, in our opinion we hasten to add, he's definitely going to need it! The ploy of playing four centre-backs didn't work greatly against Institute last Saturday and hopefully the United manager will have another formation in mind for the visit to Ballycastle Road on Wednesday. If Garth Scates isn't fit, the United manager could do worse than to slip Gary Haveron into centre-midfield, where he has performed well in the past and to restore Craiggers to the leftback slot. Or in a really bold move go to the 4,3,3, system he used so effectively in the 2nd half of our game at New Grovesnor, when we swept the Whites aside. It would mean dropping Fitzy, who let's face it continues to disappoint up front and playing either Lee Patrick or Picking alongside Haveron and Melaugh, that is of course assuming Scates is unavailable. We at 'Sport are disappointed that the one 'dyed in the wool' Ballymena man (well Cullybackey man actually), Nigel Boyd, a veteran of many derby games is not figuring in the squad, as we're sure he could emphasis the importance of this fixture to his team-mates. In the words of Liverpool legend Bill Shankly, this game is not a matter of 'life and death', 'it's much more important than that'! So come on Sky Blues, let's shag those 'stinking' gas men!