Dire Straits!

With only 3 points gained in their last 4 games, United suddenly find themselves in 'dire straits'. Tomorrow nights game at Newry, which is never an easy venue for United teams, has taken on gargantuan proportions as the teams immediately below us in the league are literally breathing down our neck. This would be bad enough if we had lost a hard fought game last time out, but as we were well and truly trounced, it's the last thing we want to contemplate. But contemplate it we must and it really is time for the experienced men in our team to stand up and be counted. The managers 'logic' (Gaffe),in withdrawing Gazza at halftime last week, backfired almost immediately when Cliftonville drove their midfield 'articulated' lorry through a wide open gap, will surely not be repeated once more.

Yes admittedly we were three nil down and action needed to be taken, but why would you take off your best player, when your defence was having a nightmare, it beggars belief. Surely Albert Watson, who appeared to be 'punch drunk' should've been withdrawn, instead of being moved to rightback where he continued to struggle. Sparky wasn't at his best, while Denver struggled and in fact only leftback Colligan showed us his best side. Ryan Berry looked good when he came on and in fact got a good shot on target, more than can be said for our inept strikers. Gary McCutcheon expressed his surprise at Kevin Kelbie's goal scoring feats when he joined United, reckoning he'd net at least twenty in a season. At this stage last season Kelbie had made 10 starts and 3 appearances as subs and scored 7 goals, Gary has scored 7 goals also, but made 20 appearances, not a great ratio in our book.

We're not saying Gary should be dropped, as let's face it we have nobody else, but maybe it's something we should be looking into come the January transfer window. Hanly, who missed last weeks game due to suspension, will surely earn a recall in midfield, while keeper Ryan Brown, a Walker close season signing will probably hold onto his place, but only just. Who partners Hanly in central midfield will be the crucial decision, we at 'Sport would plump for Gazza, although he may be needed to shore up our leaky defence, in which case it's a toss-up between Taggart and Berry, although Roy may have other ideas. Gibbo, who struggled on the artificial surface at Cliftonville last week (but who didn't), will probably earn a recall, he is after all our only 'target man'.

United fans were saying last week, 'when did we last concede 5 goals'? They were racking their brains, but it's not too distant, in fact it was only 3 months ago when they lost 5-0 away to Limavady United in a pre-season friendly. Before some 'smart Alec', states that that wasn't a full United team, it was after all the nucleus of our team and obviously we learned nothing from that defeat. It's an old old saying, we learn from our mistakes, but obviously this doesn't apply to Ballymena United football club, as they go on repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Tomorrow night we need to bounce back, if we don't we'll be back on the slippery slope and once there it's bloody hard to get going again. So come on Sky Blues, let's shag those Marshmen!