Scum Drum!

United go into the first derby game of the season with the realisation that three points will put them into 2nd place in the Premier table. These heady heights would have been unthinkable after United suffered an embarrassing 4-0 home defeat to Donegal Celtic, in only their 2nd league game of the season. But with wins over Ports. Glenavon and Newry City, before outclassing league leaders Glentoran, despite the efforts of referee Davey Malcolm, we have moved into joint 2nd place with Linfield. Linfield and Glens don't play tomorrow and so a win will move the Sky Blues into 2nd on their own at least for a couple of days anyway. That of course is not to say that a win tomorrow is a foregone conclusion, it is a derby after all and form tends to go out the window on these occasions, but all things considered we believe we've got too much firepower for the Bannsiders.

We have no idea what Roy's thinking may be on his team selection, as both goalscorers, Murray and Gibson were substituted in the Glens game and it's not apparent if they were injured. But as he rightly says it's a matter of 'horses for courses' anyway and he may want to tweak things a little bit. Barring injuries, we expect the back four of Mike, Albert, Denver and Archie to be certain of selection, while if fit, Murray, Hanly and Taggart, with one or two others, as Roy sees fit, will fill the midfield area. In the absence of Carson, serving an automatic one game ban, could Ryan Berry make his comeback, or will the wily Walker, give Mo McDowell his first taste of a Derby game. The strikers, both bang on form, again if fit, pick themselves. Dwayne Nelson, despite his gaffe of gifting the Glens an undesrved goal on Tuesday night is the best man to have between the sticks and will no doubt get the nod tomorrow.

Not to dwell too much on last Tuesday's result, but it's quite ironic that referee Davey Malcolm booked 8 United players, Carson was booked twice, which resulted in him being sent off and he also sent our manager off at halftime, while only booking one home player and they were feigning injury from the word go. Also it should be noted that Davey was possibly getting his own back on Carson, for his gaffe in not bringing the physio on at Mourneview when Carson was clearly suffering from concussion. We at 'Sport thought that was the lowest that Davey could come, obviously we were well wide of the truth and he had quite a few more tricks up his gigantic sleeve. Hopefully we won't have him officiate at one of our games for a wee while but knowing the I.F.A. anything's possible.

Sky Blue Sport's Bruce Balmer will miss tomorrows game and we may have no match report, although we're hopeful someone will step into the breech. Bruce says he's boycotting tomorrows game as United were fined for a bottle throwing incidrnt on our last visit to the Coleraine slum, while scum keeper, Davey 'fat' O'Hare, who goaded United fans wasn't even censored. Noble as this may sound the rest of the 'Sports team don't believe a word of it and we are convinced that Bruce like us all is just doing as he's told, that as they say is how the cookie crumbles. But we digress, this is just the first instalment of what we hope will be a profitable rivalry, as we're guaranteed two home games, including 'Boxing Day' against the Coleraine scum. So it's all systems go for three points, let's drum the scum into the ground, so come on United, let's shag those Coleraine ewes!

Red Rory!

United pay a visit to league leaders Glentoran tomorrow night and it'll be a chance for our recent recruits to gauge themselves against the top team in the country at the moment. The Glens have been scoring goals for fun and the United defence will have to be at their best if they are to thwart, Matty Burrows and Daryl Fordyce, who shared five goals as the Glens swept aside 2nd division side Queens Uni in the C.I.S. cup on Saturday. It'll be a good test for United central defender Denver Gage, in the Oval cauldron, where mistakes are much magnified. But young Gage has so far demonstrated that he is hard to faze as he continues to make himself an automatic selection in United's rearguard.

Will United manager Roy Walker, continue with the midfield formation he unveiled last Saturday, which pitted Gazza alongside the 'wonder boy', Rory Carson? In fact it's hard to know if he'll continue with the same 4,4,2 formation or change to the more defensive minded 4,5,1 which worked so well against Portadown. Whatever selection the 'wily' Walker comes up with, they will have to perform with the highest quality if United are to take anything from tomorrow night's game. The wide spaces at the Oval will be in massive contrast to the narrow confines of Crystal Park, Banbridge, but that's what football is all about, adapting to the different conditions and still getting your act together.

The man in the middle, Davey Malcolm, is not famous for giving us much and does have a tendency to lean towards the home side, so we can expect a few biased decisions. With that in mind tackling will have to be crisp and fair especially in the last third of the pitch as free kicks in that area can be costly. Hopefully Davey won't ask any more of our players to continue with head injuries, as he did when we played Glenavon, though a similar result will do very nicely. Sammy Patterson has been 'raving' about the conditions at Crystal Park in his latest edition of 'Away View' and no doubt we'll see a major contrast at the Oval tomorrow night. No matter what conditions are though, we'll still be there, so come on Sky Blues, let's shag those EastEnders!

Crystal Gazing!

As we gaze into our crystal (hang on a minute), we just realised we were going to commit the biggest 'gaffe' of all time by uttering the immortal word, 'balls'! This is the unforgivable, this word despite being the name for the receptacle we love to see being booted around a football pitch, is really taboo in general parlance. Many phrases using the word ball or balls 'are' acceptable, but we men refuse to admit to gazing into or at any balls, at any time. Enough on the subject of balls, let's get down to the specifics of football as we know it. Tomorrow United make their first ever competitive journey to Crystal Park, Banbridge, to play the locals in the C.I.S. cup. This will not be an easy task and we need to field our strongest team in this knock-out competition, if we are to progress to the next stage.

This game will not be about style, it'll not be about skill, it'll be about whoever has the 'balls' (there's that word again), to go out and take the game by the 'scuff' of the neck and win it, a classic it will not be. That's not to say good football won't be possible, it just won't be the most important part of the programme. Tomorrow, from our point of view, is about winning, if we can achieve that early on, then there's no reason why we can't turn on the style, but the victory is of paramount importance. With that in mind we expect Roy to field his strongest starting eleven, which we think means no place for Gavin Taggart. His replacement last Saturday, Rory Carson, must surely get the nod tomorrow.

The rest of the team, barring injuries, almost picks itself, although there may be a case for bringing back Lee Colligan if fit, as Archie continues to struggle on the left flank. Mackers will hopefully at last get his place on the bench, which would give us more options if needed and also hopefully we've sorted out who's going to take any future penalties after last week's feeble efforts, but don't bank on it. Speaking of 'bank', we fervently hope that the good news about our season ticket sales bringing in much needed revenue of £20,000 (roughly a guaranteed £1,000 for every home league game), the board won't go overboard on the wage issue and keep within the proposed structure already in place. So come on Sky Blues, let's shag those Crystal gazers!

Home Comforts!

Surely it must be time for United to be enjoying some home comforts, instead of dreading playing at home, but really looking forward to playing in front of their home crowd. Admittedly the home fans are a little quiet at the moment, but we believe it's because they've had so many disappointments, they are afraid to be too vociferous, just in case they put the boys under too much pressure. On chances alone on Tuesday past we should've won the game, but we failed miserably in front of goal, while at the other end we 'messed' up allowing them to score a soft goal. With that in mind maybe it's time we began playing at home as if it was an away cup-tie, you know what we mean, make sure we don't concede and try to hit on the break.

We realise this won't be very entertaining, but needs must, we just cannot go on leaking goals at home against teams we are capable of beating. Our record against tomorrow's opponents Newry City, is none too hot, though we did manage to avoid defeat against them back in February and a similar result tomorrow though not ideal, would be better than a defeat. Tomorrow is our fourth home game this season and already we've lost two and drawn one, another defeat is unthinkable, but not inevitable. Maybe a 5,4,1 formation tomorrow would be a good way to go about things, a strong defence and a quick breaking attack, this could be our recipe for success at home. Roy of course may have other ideas, but then so had Marty Tabb and look what happened to him!

On our day we are capable of beating anybody, but our defence is suspect and late collapses have been all too prevalent and need to be stopped. Our attack without Gibbo was pretty punchless on Tuesday night, so why wasn't Mackers (James McLaughlin), at least on the bench? How long is Roy going to keep him under wraps? We needed him on Tuesday, but he didn't even make the panel. If he's not getting his chance he'll soon become disillusioned, drop back into junior football and maybe come back to haunt us in a couple of seasons when somebody can manage him and make the best use of his unquestioned ability in front of goals. By heck it's hard to enthusiastic, but we must try, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those Marshies!

Shield Yield!

Tomorrow night sees the quest for a trophy begin in earnest when United entertain the hatchet men (Crusaders), in the first round/Quarter-final, of the County Antrim Shield. This is probably our best hope of stopping the trophy famine which is entering it's 21st year. Admittedly it won't be easy as the Shore Road men are the holders of the trophy and in any case matches between us are usually pretty much, nip and tuck. Maybe after our last gasp defeat to them at Seaview last Tuesday, we will get the breaks this time. But don't count on it, football by it's very nature, is an unpredictable sport and tomorrow night's game definitely falls into that category.

United manager Roy Walker has promised to field his strongest eleven and as this is our best hope of winning a trophy, we expect nothing less. This means that Cutch will journey over from Scotland tomorrow afternoon and can hopefully add to his impressive goal tally (4 goals already),in tomorrow night's game, which will be played to a finish. We expect the rest of the team to line-up as on Saturday, barring any injuries, sustained against the Reds, which in such a brutal game could only be expected. Referee Burns gave us practically no protection last Saturday, but hopefully we'll have a good strong official in charge tomorrow night.

The Sky Blues have a chance to gain some revenge for our last minute 'mugging' on the plastic pitch at Seaview last Tuesday, when a mishit shot by Coates cancelled out Cutch's early goal, before Jordan Owen, notched an even later winner, which left a bad taste in the mouth. United will need to come out strong and to stay strong, there will be no call for 'namby pamby' football, just good hard graft and oodles of skill. If we apply ourselves to the task, there's no reason why we can't win, if we are found wanting, the quest will go on. As Gazza likes to say in his Blog, 'United we stand, divided we fall', so come on Sky Blues, let's shag those paper tigers!

United Front!

United must try to return to winning ways, when Chickenville come to town, for what may be their only visit this season, depending on the 'split' later at the end of March 2011. Both managers will want their teams to recover after both were defeated on Tuesday night, Chickenville at the Oval and United at Seaview. But United also need to recover after their last cock-eyed performance at home, when Donegal Celtic were the visitors. That was one of the worst results witnessed at the Warden Street venue for many's a day. In fact United were so inept that day, that they bore no resemblance to the team that have played 4 games away from home and collected 7 points. Not people to give in to superstition, it's ironic that our two defeats have occurred when we have been wearing our beloved Sky Blue rig.

What tactics will United manager Roy Walker employ tomorrow, does he stick with his 4,4,2 formation which came so close to delivering the 'goods' last Tuesday night, or revert to his tried and trusted 4,5,1 formation that gave us two wins in a row? Decisions, decisions, decisions, who would ever try to second guess a manager, especially one like Roy Walker, who at times just appears to do the opposite of what is expected of him. Rory Carson and Nathan Handley will most likely make their home debuts and Gibbo could also get the nod, while Mackers must surely be pushing for a start after scoring 7 goals for the reserves so far this season.

Whatever line-up the wily Walker comes up with tomorrow, one thing's for sure, they'll need to come out with all guns blazing, as the visitors will want to dictate the pace of the game and we simply cannot allow that. Anything short of a 2-0 victory tomorrow and questions will inadvertently be asked about Roy's long term future as Sky Blue manager. As he is wont to say, United we stand and it's definitely time for us to stand up and be counted. So come on Sky Blues, let's shag those slum dwelling Ballysillianites!