Distant Memories!

Carrick Rangers pay their first visit to the Showgrounds for many a year and their visit will no doubt revoke old memories of happier times. Sky Blue Sport has been unequivocal in it's condemnation of this league we have now and hanker for the good old sixteen team league of a few years ago, not this repetituous dross. All the 'Sport team miss visiting Larne, Ballyclare and Carrick to watch a match and have a bit of craic with the locals. So we bid the players and supporters of the 'Gers welcome and hope they go back to 'Fergus pointless. What sort of team United's going to have tomorrow night, we really don't know.

We got a victory last Friday night at Suffolk, but the defence looked at sixes and sevens still. Surely the two new signings have to come in to reckoning tommorow night as we have the double header with Linfield next up. So you see there is no time to waste, we need to get our act together sooner rather than later. One of the biggest flops on Friday night was the ploy of playing Jenks and Gavin (Taggart), in centre-midfield, they never gelled. It might be an idea to move Ross Black into centre to partner Jenks, with Dick Vauls coming in to leftback. We would also like to see Liam Watson getting a run out tomorrow night, if not a starting role, at least coming on as a sub.

If fit, we envisage no change in the other positions, Eamon and Ally on the wide positions and Cutch and Baker up front. But who's going start as goalie, is Kerr to be recalled or will Dwayne get another game to prove himself. Its a hard decision to make, but a crucial one, we must have the right man doing the job. There's three points up for grabs, its not going be easy, but we must surely have too much power the 'Gers. So come on Sky Blues, lets shag those homeless bums!

Missed It!

Yes Bruce Balmer had to admit he failed to mention that 'miss', with a free header by Gary McCutcheon, in last Saturday's match with Crusaders. Stephen Alexander 'missed' it also in his match report (well we say match report, but it really is a vehicle that lets Roy Walker have his say). Needless to say Roy is blaming 'all in sundry' for 'his failure' to spot that this United defence have been leaking goals like nobody's business for nigh on three years. We've no doubt the situation has been exacerbated by the loss of Albert Watson to Linfield and the disgraceful 'sacking' of team Captain, Gary Haveron, but for petes sake Roy, get your head out of the sand.

We at Sky Blue Sport warned you that you needed a 'general' to marshal your defence, we haven't got a general and we haven't had one for a number of years. We had hoped that Jenks was to be our general, but we haven't seen any evidence of that. We heard on the grapevine that we're looking at yet another keeper, could it be that 'best keeper' in the first division last season's is not good enough, well that would be ironic. Although not confirmed yet (The Ballymena United F C website hasn't been updated), the 'great' Aaron Black experiment has gone down the plughole and the player has retired (reports he has joined Larne Tech O B, haven't been confirmed as yet).

As for the two defenders that signed for us, Dick Vouls and Liam Watson, we cannot honestly see them making much of an impact, at least not for a few matches. I'm sure D.C. will not want Watson playing tomorrow night at any rate, or is he so underrated they just don't care. If Vouls plays, do we want to have a good game, or just to show promise, how many times have we seen a player have a good debut and turn to be a flop (and no we weren't thinking of Danny Crainie here). As for the make-up of tomorrows team we don't have a clue, the only man in the back four who was anything like the thing, Tony Kane, has to serve a two match ban and is not available for selection.

With the news that Eamon Murray is available, get him on, push Jordan Baker upfront, he's not as good in the air as were led to believe, but he's the best we got. Tell Cutch if he misses another a 'free header' or tries another lob, he'll be stuck on a rowing boat and have to paddle his way back to Scotland. Elvis you'll have to leave on the bench, to see whether he's any use coming on as a sub and get Rory Carson on the right-wing where he can do some good, because he's lost inside. You maybe could try Ally Teggart inside, after the promise he showed the first two matches, he's kinda went off the boil, but then who hasn't. It's not the end of the world, we can get out of this mess, as long we're United, so come Sky Blues, lets shag those Suffolk sheep!

Defensive Errors!

We at 'Sport had been emphasising the point in the last few seasons, but it's fallen on deaf ears. We reiterated the point in the close season when Roy was finalising his squad, but on the evidence on the first two games it hasn't been heeded. We are hopeless at defending set-pieces. We've conceding four goals on our first two matches and three come about at our inability to defend set-pieces. In the last two games they've been 2 corner kicks and 1 free-kick, but we still haven't mastered the marking of throw-ins and seem content to let the other team have a free hand. But there's one thing we are more guilty of, we allow crosses to come in. No wonder we can't find a reliable keeper, he must have his head turned seeing crosses flash by wily nilly. We don't know what the answer is, our management don't seemingly even know what to do about, but something got to be done and done quickly, the situations going to get worse.

Manger Roy Walker has intimated that they'll changing in his defence because of events last Saturday which saw us ship 3 goals after going 3 goals up. But the long and the short of it is, we were being outplayed and Roy could have done something about it, but he didn't. Elvis Costello was having a 'stinker' and every time the ball went up to him he just gifted Glenavon possession. In fact he was so bad we were practically a man down before Aaron Black's sending-off, but Roy dug in his heels and kept him on. Admittedly we got a raw deal by the histrionics of Glenavon player Niall Henderson, who conned the referee as to extent of his injuries, by rolling and yelling like a stuck pig, but Aaron did commit the foul, there's no doubt about that.

Tomorrow our opponents are Crusaders, if you think it was tough last week, it's going be tougher when Crues players like Timmy Adamson and Coates will no doubt seek to exploit us at set-pieces. Reading between the lines we expect Roy to drop, Kerr, Ross Black and Cookie Munster while bringing in Dwayne, Kane, and Denver. We think he'll let Elvis keep his place, putting his crap performance down to playing against his former club, but reading in the programme an article by Michael Scott about Glenavon, he states Elvis to be 'hot and cold', not something we want to hear. Rory Carson might get a rare start in Sparky's position, but he's really better on the wing, but we have nothing else. Well we must hope for the best, so come on Sky Blues, let's shag those toothless tigers!

Returning Hero(es)!

Tomorrow afternoon at the Showgrounds the Sky Blue fans will witness the appearance of a former hero, in Glenavon striker Kevin Kelbie. But on the plus side, we'll also get a chance to see the 'heroes' that took us to summit of the Premier league and maybe if we can get a win, will keep us there for at least another week. Its really early days, but there were signs last Saturday that this team means business and we're are not going to be depending on one man getting the goals and there's plenty more to come. Kevin will no doubt get a rousing reception from the United fans, it's only to be expected, but our own team deserves a good reception too and hopefully they'll deliver on the field.

We're only guessing as to what team Roy's going to pick tomorrow but it looks that he'll definitely have to make two changes to the team that started last Saturday. New rightback Tony Kane must serve a one game ban for his harsh sending-off at New Grosvenor and Conor Downey was unable to train last night with an ankle injury. The 'Sport team is somewhat reluctant to make predictions, but feel a good option is to move Sparky to rightback, Archie to centre half and bring in Ross Black at leftback. Of course we tipped Ross Black to get a starting role last week and we were completely off the mark, but feel that is the only logical solution, but realise Roy may have other ideas.

Who will fill Downey's position if he's indeed ruled out and the manager wants to continue with his tactics of playing three strikers? One option would to move Ally Teggart inside and restore Eamon Murray to the line-up. Or he could bring in Rory Carson to play alongside Jenks or Aaron Black, who scored a goal in the reserves 4-2 win on Tuesday night. He may be reluctant to play Elvis Costello against his former team and give the nod to Aaron Boyd instead. But the considered opinion is he will not want to drop a man that was instrumental in our victory, despite missing a penalty. Elvis is our leader and hopefully we'll send Glenavon home pointless and Kevin goalless, so come Sky Blues, let's shag them (Lurgan) spades!

Twenty-five Minutes!

There's an old Johnny Cash song that goes, 'They're building a gallows outside my cell and I got twenty-five minutes to go, and the whole Towns waiting for to hear me yell, with twenty-five minutes to go.' Now United manager Roy Walker has got 25 players in his squad and the whole town is waiting to see him deliver or to fall flat on his face. But will he pay ultimate penalty this time, losing his job, or are we getting complacent and thinking that bottom half in the league table is as much we can expect anyway. Roy has publicly stated that he hopes we can pick up a trophy like the League cup, or the County Antrim Shield this season, but if we don't, will he tender his resignation, we at 'Sport don't think so. But away with the negative thought process, let's get positive and see we can get away to a winning start for a change.

What the formation going is to be we don't have a clue, but wonder if Roy gave us a heads-up to what he was thinking in the last two friendlies, away to Larne and home to Ballymoney United, with an attacking 4,2,4. The Sky Blue Sports team can't remember the times when 4,2,4 was a regular ploy and can only remember one United 4,2,4 line-up in the last twenty years. That happened under manager Alan Frazer when we turned on the style away to the scum in a knock-out cup match, with Deckers McGreevy and Paul Muir in midfield and we won with plenty to spare. Somehow we can't see our present manager Roy Walker having the nerve to try that formation away to the Whites tomorrow, anyway Alan Jenkins and Conor Downey haven't the young legs of Deckers and Muir. But what is the line-up going be we wonder, but here's what we think, for what's it's worth.

We are undecided if it's new signing Aaron Kerr, or the reliable Dwayne Nelson in goals. Kerr looked decidedly jittery in the match against Larne and didn't start against Ballymoney, which makes us doubt whether he'll start against the Whites, going on body language alone, we'll go for Dwayne. We stick our necks for the fullbacks, Tony Kane and Ross Black, definite starters, but our central defensive pairing is going be harder to anticipate. Walker has been impressed by Chris Rodgers, but he also picked Archie for vice-captain and we can't see him pairing the two of them for this match, too much inexperience. Far more likely to go with Davey Munster and Archie, with Rodgers and Denver on the bench. Three certain starters in midfield, if fit, should surely be Ally Taggart, Alan Jenkins and Conor Downey.

The other midfield berth is up for grabs and we see as a straight tussle between Rory Carson, Sparky and Eamon Murray. The manager might decide to select Jordan Baker in that position, but we feel the side would have a better balance if the final midfield role was between Rory, Sparky and Eamon. The strike force should pick itself, Cutch and Elvis. We will be surprised if these two don't deliver the goods as long as they get the service. Jordan Baker may have to settle for a place on bench, but somebody has to miss out. So for the first time this season we will give the rallying call, 'Come on Sky Blues let's shag those lily Whites'!