Tight Noose!

The noose is tightening on Roy Walker's neck and only a win will save from from the chop, when United take on the hatchet men in the Irn Bru semi-final at the Showgrounds tomorrow night, kick-off 19-45. The match which will be played to a finish is not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that, it's die dog or shite the licence time. In a match like this it's crucial to get a fair referee, but our luck is right out, Raymond Crangle is the man appointed to officiate, a man born close to the environs of Seaview itself and another who makes up the rules as he goes along. The news is not good about our injury list, with Baker and Boyd still doubtful and Denver hoping for a place on the panel.

Surely Sparky has to be recalled, its obvious Roy doesn't like him, but for the good of the club he has to come into the reckoning. We cannot continue with Kane and Archie, they are fish out of water, we got have a solid back-four that we can rely on. Vauls put on a good show on Saturday, but he was strangely substituted at halftime, replaced by Elvis. It was obvious that we needed to make changes, but surely Archie should have been the one to make way for Elvis, you don't withdraw the best defender you have, in order to keep one on whose form has dipped disastrously. If Baker or Boyd don't make it, we have no choice but to send on Elvis, if just for nuisance value. Just a glimpse of the form he showed us in his first match, would be heaven.

Neil McCaffery, who was on-loan from Portadown last season, is badly missed in the United engine room, where Alan Jenks has singularly failed to live up to his billing. Our plight is, we have nobody to step up to the mark, for Roy in his infinite wisdom, farmed them out to junior clubs, when we are crying out for them. If by some miracle the Crues don't destroy us tomorrow night, it'll be left to our two match winners, Cutch and Ally, to try and steer us through. It will be a mammoth task, we'll need a lot of luck, but we're due some, we think, so come Sky Blues. let's shag those tame tigers!