This Time!

United go into this Irish cup replay against the Welders minus at least three first-teamers, as JT, Tony and Gavin are all suspended. Tony has reached the dreaded 10 booking mark and will be due another spell on the sidelines, maybe it will be the following two matches which could mean missing our derby with the Coleraine scum or a match with Linfield in the Irish cup as long we see off tomorrow night's opponents first as well as the match at Portadown. That isn't going to be an easy task, but hopefully the players fully realise the gravity of the situation ahead of them, lose this match and we can say goodbye to any hope of silverware this season, win it and its all to play for.

As usual we haven't clue when it comes to team selection, but we only hope Cookie was taken off with 18 mins to go on Saturday to save his legs for the game tomorrow night, rather than him being injured. In the absence of  JT, Marky seems to be the ready-made replacement, but Spike may want to jig things up a bit and play Ruddy at leftback and start Archie alongside Cookie. Sparky, who was rested for the games against Dungannon and Linfield, should come in to replace the suspended Tony, like for like. Are Spike and three baldies willing to change tactics and push Jenks up alongside Darboy and go for the kill or must we wait for them to dictate the pace, it didn't work last time.

Frenchy Lacroix, ineligible for this game, will have to be replaced in goal by Shan and it'll be interesting to see how he performs on his home debut, but hopefully he'll be mainly unemployed. Or maybe it will be big Wes who takes over from Frenchy, 'we done know nothing' (please forgive the grammar). We'll just have to leave it to Darboy and Cush, ably backed by Ally and Captain Jenks to get us of this mess we find ourselves in. There's two men we haven't mentioned yet, they are Thommo, due a big game and new recruit Jimer, who has had a sensational start to his United career. If Jimer can play at the same level as he has done so far and Thommo can raise his game, we think we'll  have too much talent for big Gary and his Welders.

Not that it'll be easy, we feel sure that big Gary will have his team well up for the replay, but they are missing big defender Simpson and it will be interesting to see who plays in his place. Spike has said the players have been warned to play to their strengths, in other words no 'pussy footing' around and for fecks sake cut out them short free-kicks, they are killing us. They wouldn't be so bad if the recipient knew he was going to get a short one, but it seems he's the most surprised man in the field when he gets the ball, thankfully we got that off our collective chests. So come on Sky Blues, let's break these Welds (not literally), COSB!

Lets Rumble!

When the League leaders come to the old Showgrounds it's time to rumble, if you can't raise your game when the league champions-elect are at your ground, you don't deserve to be on the same pitch. But we think United will have no bother getting up for this one, we have 'suffered' at the hands of Linfield and their henchmen (referees), twice already this season and Fergie and the boys will no doubt be reminding the players of those two occasions, when we didn't get a fair rub of the green. The man in the middle tomorrow is another Belfast official, Richard Crangle and although his loyalties lie elsewhere, geographically, he'll no doubt favour his employers and we have have to be aware of that.

Will Spike tamper with his team selection, bearing in mind that we have an Irish cup replay against the Welders next Tuesday and JT will miss that match because of suspension and Cookie Munster maybe needs to be rested with that tie in mind. Luckily Marky is fit again, as he proved when coming on in the closing stages at Dungannon on Tuesday. He is an obvious replacement for big Cookie, or Spike could move Captain Jenks to partner JT at the back, with the proviso of moving him up front when if he feels he needs a change of tactics. With the signing of Darboy, Jenks will be reverting to midfield and we at 'Sport are of the opinion, that you can't play Thommo and Captain Jenks in a midfield three, even with Tony Kane for ball-winning duties.

That's all assuming that we haven't picked up any injuries since, there was a rumour about Cush, having a sore knee, but Cush shrugs off injury easily and has been known to play when not 100% fit and still play his heart out. Darboy has scored in the two games (one and a half if you want to be precise), he has played so far in a Sky Blue jersey and we're sure he would welcome some help from his fellow forwards and Cush is just the man to do that, given half a chance. Another player who has only played his second game in a Sky Blue jersey, Jimer, will be raring to go and in the process hope to embarrass his former boss, the big 'fat' controller, that is David Jeffrey, or as Sky Blue fans know him, the' bigoted big mouth'.

The Sky Blue Sport crew were amazed to hear the big fat lump of lard, actually apologising to big two rivals Glentoran ,when he was caught on a video, maligning them and one of their players a few weeks ago. Contrast this with a few years ago in a match at Windsor Park, when he falsely accused United fans of sectarian abuse of his players and when it was proved to be a  groundless accusation, we were met by a wall of silence, that sums up the man in our book, he is just a gormless individual, no wonder his wife left him (but that's another story). The only way to silence him would be if United can produce a victory tomorrow and if we can win our cup replay against the Welders on next Tuesday, we'll have another skelp at him and his team on February 8.  Come on Sky Blues, let's shag those townies, in short, lets rumble!

Fixture Madness!

So the powers that be in the IFA gave us the Saturday after Christmas off to scratch our balls and decreed that we play this midweek fixture instead, the mind boggles, there's actually saner people locked up. Has the penny not dropped with them, Irish league fans couldn't care less about midweek matches and we'll be surprised if we get much over 250 fans at Stangmore tomorrow night. There, we have said our piece, so on to the match preview. As usual when it comes to team selection, we haven't a clue, but realise Gavin is looking doubtful for he had to come off at Tillysburn last Saturday, with bruised ribs. Whoever is responsible for that injury in the Welders team, we would strongly advise them to own up, take your punishment and put it down to experience, Gavin may look small, but they don't call him Westy for nothing, he's a holy terror.

Does Spike change his team plan now that Darboy and Jimer has had their baptism in a Sky Blue jersey, or does he carry on with Jenks up front and keep Darboy in reserve on the bench. So few players in the United team rose above the depths on Saturday, that he would have to make wholesale changes, but in all honesty we haven't shown any form, from when we beat the Crues on Xmas Saturday. We just claimed 7 points without really raising our game, but we had to be found out sooner or later and if we're not careful tomorrow night, we could get a rude awakening at hands of Darren Murphy and his Swifts. At least one of the Swifts players will feel that he's got a score to settle with us, ex-player Gary Liggett. Liggie only made his debut on Saturday and notched two goals for his new team, so he needs to be watched.

Luckily we have the men to do just that, in JT and Cookie, ably backed by Tony and Archie (or Jimer) and our new keeper, Shan (or Lacroix), who knows who Spike will select. We also have a new weapon in our arsenal, new signing Darboy and the Dungannon boys and their manager know he needs to be watched carefully too. So it all promises to be a bit of cat and mouse, but if we want to consolidate our place in the top six in the Dankse Premier league , we have got to wake from our slumbers and play as we know how. Our talisman Cush, has not been playing to his usual standard, but he plays his heart out and that's all you can ask of any player. If his mates take a leaf out of his book and play as if their very life depended on it, we will triumph, but we got to fight for that right, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those chicken farmers!

Make Merry!

Tomorrow at half-past one, United start the long road to the Irish cup final when they play championship side, H & W Welders, at their Tillysburn ground in East Belfast. No doubt the United faithful, will be singing one of their favourite songs, about the 'merry month of May' and how Mary, our pin-up girl is rooting for United, we hope to make merry come twenty-past three, but we don't expect an easy ride in the process. No doubt Welders manager, Gary Smyth, a former Sky Blue player, will have his team prepared and they will give us a fight. Our manager, Glenn Ferguson, must surely have learned from his earlier indiscretion against Ballymoney United in the league cup at the start of the season and must give the Welders the respect they deserve and pick his strongest team.

If he sticks with his policy of league games, then he will no doubt make one change from his line-up of last Saturday, Aaron Shan in goals in place of the ineligible Frenchy Lacroix. But he has signed two high profile players since last week, Jim Ervin and Darren Boyce and he may be tempted to include at least one of them in his side to start our quest for the 'holy grail' of Irish football, the Irish cup. We've given up trying to gauge Spike's mind, but we think he'll resist change for change sake and give his tried and tested players a chance to strike the first blow. Then maybe he could introduce his two new signings in the second half, as long as he feels they have something to contribute, namely tackles from Jimer and goals from Darboy.

With JT facing an imminent suspension maybe next week and Tony on the brink of one, no doubt Jimer will  come into to the reckoning sooner rather than later. So who moves to accommodate Darboy, will it be our Captain moving back to midfield or will it be Ally dropping down to the bench and Darboy moving on to the left-wing. The latter would seem like the move that makes the most sense in our opinion, but what do we know. Ex-Glens player Matty Burrows is in the Welders line-up, but Cookie and JT have dealt with him in the past and will hopefully keep him quiet tomorrow. Our débutante goalkeeper  is our no1 worry, as this is his first competitive game in a Sky Blue jersey, but we'll have to rely on big Wes having him versed on our defence and what he can expect from them. So come on Sky Blues, lets unweld them Welders!

Darren Who!

United go into their first home game of 2014, with two new keepers on their books, Frenchy Lacroix on loan from the Crues and Aaron Shanahan (shortened to Shan), signed until the end of this season. It's not known if Shan's international clearance has come through yet, but knowing how these 'wheels' move very slowly, he may to wait until next Saturday's Irish cup game against the Welders, to make his United debut. With Liggie no longer with the club, signed for Dungannon Swifts and Mario Dolan rumoured to be saying goodbye tomorrow, does that clear the decks for a fairly controversial signing, whose got the 'forumites' up in arms tonight.

We're talking, if you didn't know, about Coleraine's Darren Boyce, who rumour has it will be joining the Sky Blues shortly and a fee has been already been agreed for him. We cannot confirm or deny these rumours but would like to say, when Darren was playing for Coleraine, Glentoran or Dungannon, we 'hated' him, but if he signs for United, we will give him every chance to endear himself to our hearts. Just like we gave Dolan and Liggie every chance and if he ends up scoring a goal that is vital in our quest for a top six or the Irish cup, we'll even try to love him. Omar says he wasn't delighted when we signed Rory Hammil, but reluctantly he had to accept him, the only alternative was to give up his beloved Sky Blues.

For tomorrows game against the Mallards, the only change we envisage is a keeper change, if Shan's registration has come through, or if by chance some of our lads have picked up an injury at Clandeboye Park, on Wednesday in the scoreless draw with Ards. But maybe Spike will feel he has to shake the side up a bit,  as in our last two games we haven't performed, although in all fairness 4 points is a good return from them. The Coleraine Scum were never going to make our life easy and Ards on that 3G surface weren't going to be easy as well. That said, we had chances to wrap up the three points at Ards, but our old failing as of the beginning of the season reared its ugly head again, the failure to convert chances into goals.

Its goals that win games and goals make points, you can have all the silky football skills in the world, but if you don't score goals, then you fail. We're feel sure the pitch must has suffered from the stock cars, they believe the pitch is an escape route for them, to avoid crashing we assume and the weather will have some bearing on it, but it is natural and we look forward to a good game of football and the right result. The Mallards are a good well organised side, but we have a good record over them at the Showgrounds, but they need the points as well and they'll be up for the game. We have Mark 'ham shank' Courtney officiating tomorrow, let's steal his thunder by winning fair and square, come on Sky Blue lets sink those Ducks!