Strike Force!

United go into this County Antrim Shield semi-final full of confidence in their ability to deliver the goods, true we had a bit of a stutter on Saturday, not being able to prevail against the 10 men of the Lards, but we've been very consistent in cup games and haven't lost any since Spike has taken over the reins. We were denied a semi-final appearance in the Irish cup last year due to a bureaucratic error, but we are here on merit this time and we mean business. Fans have been crying out for us to sign a striker for nearly a year now but Spike has resisted the temptation to sign somebody just to calm the fears of the doubters. There's no getting away with it, Gary McCuthcheon had scored 15 goals at this stage last year, but we were conceding goals at an average of two goals a game and we've stopped that thankfully. But the pleasing thing is all the forwards have contributed to scoring goals this term and the midfielders as well.

In short we are a better balanced team this season and Big Wes deserves some credit for the way he has turned Dwayne Nelson into a fine keeper. Dwayne was always a good keeper, but he tended to make at least one mistake every game and if he got away with that, he couldn't be blamed for the shortcomings of his defence. But this year he has made three mistakes in 15 appearances and if he continues on in that vein, we have the makings a very solid defensive unit. Johnny Taylor who had to come off injured on Saturday, looks doubtful for tomorrow night's match, but Cookie should be available to take over have served his one game suspension on Saturday. There's a lot debate on at the minute among United supporters of who should replace Sparky, who's serving a one game ban due to his sending-off on Saturday. There's support for Alan D and Michael Ruddy, but in the opinion of the 'Sport team, Neil Lowry gets our vote.

If Spike selects Alan D, it means Gavin will have to do double the work covering Thommo and Alan and if he selects Michael Ruddy, we will be a tad negative. Lowry meanwhile gives you a presence going forward and a tackler when there's defending to be done. With his height he can take some of the pressure off Cush and Jamie when the ball's in the air and can add his pace to our attack when the opportunity presents itself. One man who needs to have a good game is our leading scorer Ally, in too many games this season he has been a virtual spectator and he needs to get more involved in the play if we are to prevail. We have the players to be a force, but we need to harness them and be a 'strike force'. A twenty goal striker would be a bonus, but we can't afford one and they're as scarce as hens teeth, so we must get on with it. It's not going to be an easy game, semi-finals never are, but we must believe in our strength and skill to carry us through, come on United, let's shag those Suffolk ewes, the final beckons!

The Lards!

United entertain the 'Lards' tomorrow at the Showgrounds for their first visit as a senior club. They've got off to a sensational start in the Dankse Premier league it has to be said and chalked up some memorable victories in the process. They will represent the biggest challenge we have faced at home this season and will show us how far we've come under Spike and the boys. Barring injuries, of which we haven't heard, United only need to make one change from their starting line-up of last week. Cookie will miss this game because of suspension and we expect Johnny Taylor to come in for him. Jimmy Mac, who scored two goals coming on as sub last week, looks to deserving of a start, but if Spike is true to form, Jamie will get the nod.

Spike seems to be of the opinion, 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' and that policy has served us well up to now. If on the other hand he notices something in the make-up of the opposition which he thinks we could take advantage of, he'll have no qualms about changing his selection or tactics. His opposite number, Whitey Anderson, is a crafty old fox and tends to play down his teams exploits, but he is an astute tactician and Spike and the boys won't be fooled with Whitey's flannel. This match starts a 'big' four matches in ten days for our club, the 'Sports team would be ecstatic with 3 wins and a draw from those four games, starting with a win tomorrow against the Lards. Our midfield (minus Captain Jenks), of Sparky, Gavin and Thommo, has been doing well of late and we'll be looking for a good performance from them starting tomorrow.

Jamie, Cush and Ally, have proved a handful for most defences and they'll hope to examine the Lards more closely than they did the last time the clubs met in August. We think it was a fact finding mission we undertook that day, we didn't know what to expect and were just finding our feet also. Hopefully we'll be able to set out our stall tomorrow and dictate the pace of the game that suits our style of play. Our defence will be tested to the limit with the Lards nippy forwards, but with our rock, Johnny Taylor, back in our starting panel, we should be able to withstand and thwart their attacks and we've got Dwayne between the sticks and he's in the form of his life. So it all points to a humdinger of a match, hope the stay away Ballymena fans make an appearance, so come on United, let's shag those Lards!

Keep Going!

United manager Spike has to encourage his troops to keep going and doing the things they are good at, like defending 'tooth and nail' and hitting the opposition on the break. It's a tried and trusted method, in truth it has brought us a lot of draws, but that's because we are not as clinical in front of goals as we need to be. Statistics show we have only conceded 14 goals against and we share that distinction with Dung, Scum and the, Reds so you see we are getting better at defending. But this is no time to be complacent, we have just completed the first phase of fixtures and it would be nice to start the second phase with a win tomorrow at Ballyskeagh. It'll be tough to arrest the Whites mini-revival, but this is a match we need to win if we are to progress up the Dankse Premiership table.

Johnny Taylor has been pronounced fit and it'll be interesting to see if Spike starts him or continues with Cookie and Archie. If Johnny starts who will have make way is an interesting topic of conversation and one we would not like to second guess. We don't know if Ross Black has recovered from his injury picked up at home to Glenavon, but if not, Spike could move Archie to leftback, but we think he'll want a specialist in that position and Vaulsey gets our vote, Ruddy is good, but Vaulsey is more versatile. At 'Sport we think Thommo and Alan D are too alike and it's unlikely Spike will start the two of them in midfield. Better to pick the midfield trio of last week for it gives the side a bit of balance and keep Alan D on the bench. The same forwards if fit, should surely start, but knowing Spike he could rest Jamie and start Lowry to lead the line.

He and his backroom staff will have a report on the Whites,on their strengths and their weakness and this info will govern who he picks to start. If they feel Lowry is the best man to start, they'll have no hesitation of throwing him in at the deep end and keeping young Jamie on the bench. We haven't heard a 'dickie bird' about our two enigmas, Elvis and Baker and assume they're getting their fitness levels up in order to be available for our Shield semi against DC and the Irn Bru against Linfield, for victories in these two matches could really kick-start our season. But first there is the small matter of the Whites away tomorrow and the league leaders next Saturday at home. We can win this game, but it will take everybody playing for the team and that includes our fickle fans, no excuses 'shepherds', come out and support the Sky Blues, you need to be there in person, we need everybody committed to the cause. Come on Sky Blues, let's shag those Lambeg Lily Whites!

Crunch Time!

We reach a milestone tomorrow as we play our 11th match in this league campaign and now we will have played each team once. Tomorrow's opponents, Glenavon, are in the same boat as ourselves, inconsistent and they also have a young untried manager guiding them, as we do. Ironically it brings together two of the best strikers to grace our league in the last ten years or so and only one them is still playing, Gary Hamilton, the Glenavon player/manager. Our own Glen 'Spike' Ferguson, has hung up his boots and he is faced with the hard task of trying to stop his great adversary Hamilton and nullify his influence. That Spike has a plan for that we don't doubt, but if it's not working he maybe can change it, Hamilton on the other hand needs to rely on his assistants in the dug-out and hopefully this will give us the edge. We haven't been scoring goals and we've been letting in too many at the other end.

We are a team that's hard to beat, but we don't as yet have that killer instinct to go on and get the three points, we seem content to settle for a share of the spoils. It's fair to say in the last three league games at home, a point is all we deserved, but the matches were there for the winning but we couldn't take that final step and that's all that's missing for our game. If Johnny Taylor is fit, we expect him to play, but just who will partner him is anybody's guess, it could be perm any one from three of Cookie, Vaulsey and Archie, if fit. In midfield in the absence of Jenks its crucial to get the selection right, Gavin, Sparky and Thommo, seems to be about the best option and Cush if fit. Up front we need to choose 2 from Jamie D, Jimmy Mac, Alan D and Ally and the 'Sport team favour Jamie D and Ally but we won't be surprised if Spike picks the other two, he is the man after all.

After his unimpressive outing on Tues night, Elvis needs to get fit and get a few reserve games under his belt for he will be needed in the coming weeks. The same applies to the prodigal son, Jordan Baker, too early to 'kill the fatteth calf' yet, we'll just keep it in the freezer in the meantime. We are to have a Welsh referee for tomorrow afternoon's game and we all know what happened the last time we had a Welsh official, so maybe we should rest Tony Kane, we don't want a repeat of that incident last March, which resulted in a six game ban for the foolhardy Kane. We want everybody to be on the best behaviour, no talking back to the referee, if he makes a stupid mistake, just remain silent and get on with it, the supporters in Blocks A & B, will do enough shouting for you, so come on Sky Blues, let's shag these Mourneviewers!

Returning Heroes?

With the news that Jordan Baker has not been released and that it was a bit of argy bargy with Spike, we wonder if our other long-term absentee, Elvis, might make an appearance tomorrow night. Not knowing the first thing about injuries and how better to recover from them, we have to be guided by the men that know best, Spike and the 3 baldies and our Sport therapist, Gordon McCartney. But if there ever was a match to introduce him to the rigours of first team football, tomorrow night's fixture against the Welders would be surely the one. He may not start but it be a great confidence boost to see him on the bench, for both players and fans alike. We need a presence up front, someone that won't be bossed by the likes of former Sky Blue Paul Muir, Jamie D and Jimmy Mac, try but they aren't forceful enough, we need somebody like Elvis.

Make no mistake this will be a hard task for United, they'll up against at least three former players in Muir, King and McConnell, who would like nothing more than to turn over their former team. We suspect Spike will afford them every courtesy and pick his strongest team and that means if Johnny Taylor is fit, we expect him to play. Not only is this fixture a chance for United to stay in this competition, but we have a unbeaten home record to protect and more importantly, we need to get back to winning ways, after two draws. The 1-0 success against Chickenville in the County Antrim Shield would do, but it would be hard on the nerves, but hopefully we will have too much class for the Welders. Manager Spike and his assistants have a lot of decisions to make deciding the make-up of the starting X1.

Tony Kane, according to reports, did well when he came on as a sub on Saturday and could keep his place and Ally Teggart, won and converted the penalty which gave United a share of the spoils, but otherwise, according to reports, had a poor game. No doubt Spike will take these things into to consideration when he makes his selections. Does he continue with young Jimmy Mac up front on his own or does he throw Elvis (if fit) on from the start, or Jamie D. This match tomorrow night would be a great game to test Alan D fitness levels in playing from the start and leave Sparky or Thompson on the bench or throw caution to the wind and start with Alan D and Thompson. This would be a bold approach, but there's a old saying 'that fortune follows the brave', but it'd be a risky ploy to use against seasoned campaigners like the Welders. But it would be great to see us come out with all 'guns blazing' and we hope we do, so come on United, let's shag those returning heroes!

For Noel!

It is a with a heavy heart that we start to write this blog, on Wednesday we heard the terrible news about our good friend Noel Millar´s sad demise. We had just arrived in Spain for a short break to recharge the batteries, but the news has taken the wind out of our sails we can tell you. Noel had been ill for quite a time and although we don´t know the details surrounding his untimely demise, we offer our heartfelt sympathies to his family, his mother, his brothers Bertie and Raymond and his good friend, Mina and we are sorry we´re will be unable to attend his funeral on Saturday. Omar, who knew him best, says Noel Millar was a caring person, who always would make time for you and he likened him to a good shepherd, who looked after his sheep. We sincerely hope Noel has found peace, we´re going to miss him terribly, but he´s gone to a better place, the Lord is my shepherd!

Now for the match tomorrow, we don´t know about the injured list but hopefully Elvis nears fitness, as we haven´t been able to glean anything from the absent press reports. If he came through the reserve match unscathed last Friday, he´s bound to worth a place on the bench, but we wouldn´t try to second guess Spike. We were crying for Baker last week and Spike released him from his contract, we don´t want to jinx Elvis, let him be. Ally had a good game when he came on as sub, but the last time he started a match at the scum he was pathetic in the extreme and Spike will maybe be reluctant to take a chance on him tomorrow. Johnny Taylor remains a big doubt but we should have plenty of cover, though we will miss him if he´s not fit.

Cush, who´s starting to run in to good form, needs to continue the good work he has been doing and take some of the weight of Jamie D shoulders. In the continued absence of Captain Jenks, out for 3 months it has been confirmed. the midfielders will have to step up to the plate. We been managing quite well in the two matches since he got injured, but that was in the short term, now we know how long he´s going to be out for it sheds a different light on the subject. It no longer needs a short-term solution, we need to establish who´s the best to take over Jenks anchor role in the club. If we could get Elvis back to fitness and starting maybe we could change the formation to a more sound 4,4,2 but Spike seems to favour the more attacking 4,3,3 and he is the manager. So come on Sky Blues, let´s do for Noel, let´s shag those Portadowners!