Black'n Blue!

United go into this game against the Irish cup holders, brimming with confidence, as they sit proudly at the head of the Dankse Bank Premier table with 10 points from their four matches. Having played two teams from the bottom six of last season, Point and the Swifts and two teams from the top six last season, they now come up against another top six team in Glenavon. Games between these two are hard to predict, excepting the first game of the season in the last campaign, where Glenavon had the upper hand, they're are usually decided by the odd goal. Not always, if memory serves us correctly,  we seem to remember, back in the days before floodlighting, a 5 all draw.

But we think that will not be the scenario tomorrow night, its far likely to be a 2-1, or 3-2 scoreline and we will stick our neck out and say United will be victorious at the end of 90 minutes. With the news that Tippers is fit and the further news that Kyley has trained all week, we will be further boosted by the return of Tony Kane and new signing, Mack (McCaul). We at 'Sport haven't been worrying over Tippers fitness, sure we have another ready replacement in Darboy, if Tippers feels the slightest twinge. Will Spike forego his usual strategy and start Kyley, even though he hasn't at least had one reserve game under his belt. or has he, we don't honestly know and that's a fact.

It will be a tough game and we have a fairly good referee in charge in Raymond Hetherington, who likes to let the game flow, but he's not afraid to take action when needs be. A United win should leave them with at least a four point cushion, depending on the result of Coleraine/Ports game. also on Friday night, until the bulk of the teams play on Saturday. We aren't contemplating a draw or a defeat, we are only focused on the win, but maybe we will have to settle for a point, if so, then we have to live with that. Glenavon have plenty of firepower, in Bates, Bradley, Braniff and player-manager, Hamilton, but we have the players to nullify that, they will have stop our attack and no-ones been able to do that just  yet. We look forward to an interesting encounter, come on Sky Blues, lets shag those Mourneviwers!

Another Skin!

When United met QUB in the Irish cup semi-final last season, it looked like a 'banana skin' waiting to trip then up and United gave them the respect of fielding a full strength side and triumphed with enough to do. The same could be said for tomorrow night's opponents, Newington Y C, who United meet in the Wasp Solutions league cup, kick-off 19-45. A lot of people expect Spike to make wholesale changes, but we at 'Sport would caution him and remind of what happened last season, in this very round of the league cup, when Ballymoney United almost left him with a red face.

Tony Kane and Thommo, haven't kicked a ball in earnest this season before an outing with the reserves on Saturday, courtesy of a 3 match suspension for getting sent-off in the Irish cup final. So we at Sky Blue Sport, would expect them to play some part in the match, as well as Archie and Alan D. The game we suspect will come too soon for Kyley, but Sparky and possibly new signing Brian McCaul, hereafter known as Mack, could make the bench. This match is about winning, we don't care what system we use, just about the result, so come sky Blues, lets shag those paper tiger cubs!

Dun Again!

United travel to Dungannon tomorrow, to take on the Swifts and we think we might be right in saying it's the first time in the history of that fixture, that both teams are unbeaten and are in the top five places in the league table, first and fifth, respectfully. It's early days we know, but a win for the Sky Blues and the other results go their way, we could open a 2 or 3 points gap. but lets not get ahead of ourselves, there's a dangerous banana skin in the shape Darren Murphy and our former player Liggie, to negotiate round. Murphy and his team will no doubt be buoyed by that result last week, when they went to Mourneview Park and skelped Irish Cup winners, Glenavon, by 2-0.

We imagine Darren saying to his team, same again, much as his counterpart, Spike's, saying to his United side,' carry on where you left off last Saturday against Portadown'. In the end we only beat the Ports by the slimmest of margins, 3-2, but in truth it wasn't that close, as we frittered chance after easy chance and nearly paid the penalty. New signing. Brian McCaul, is not expected to start, but what do we know, he could start if he proves to Spike and the boys, he's fit. In the absence of Stephen Alexander, away on holiday to an exotic location, sports news has been fairly non-existent, so we don't have a clue whether Brian has a chance of playing or indeed making the bench.

As usual we are in the dark about team news. Is Kyley fit, or is Cookie or Archie going to partner JT  at the centre of defence? Or Spike, might move Marky to centre half and bring back Tony Kane, now that his suspension is complete. Will Spike be tempted to start Darboy up front at the expense of Tippers, or will he persevere with the former Linfield player, who has yet to score a competitive goal for United, as he was scoring them for fun in friendlies.  Darboy broke his duck last Saturday, despite never having started a match this term and in his second game off the subs bench, he didn't even get a run out at Seaview. The barber seems certain to play, as does Ally, in fact we will be surprised if there's any changes, other than that in defence, if big Kyley does not make it.

We at 'Sport  expect a hard game, it always is at Stangmore. Darren Murphy believes in putting it to the opposition, but we got to expect that, there's no easy games in this league. Results between these teams last season went in United's favour (4-1) and except for the Irish cup game, were won by the odd goal.  If United find their shooting boots, they could repeat that Irish cup score, but we think its likely to be 2-1 or 3-2. We had Tim 'nice but dim' Marshall, as ref last week and we have another weak one in Ross Dunlop, officiating tomorrow, so we can't expect any help from that quarter. Games between our selves and the Swifts don't tend to meaty encounters, but there's always a bit needle in them, which makes for an interesting game. So come on Sky Blues, let's shag those chicken farmers!

Ports Downers!

It may seem an unlikely headline, but that's what we need to do tomorrow, we need to take the Ports down. They seemed to be worried, why else would they start a foolish rumour about them making a bid for United's talisman, David Cushley. It has been proved to be unfounded, but these rumours have a chance of unsettling the opposition, as people are notorious for saying things like, 'no smoke without fire', but this time it's only smoke. We at 'Sport will make a prediction, if Cush 'ever' wants to move, we expect Portadown to be the last place he ends up at.

Not that has any hatred for Ports, it's just not on his wavelength, we would say the only club that might prise away from the high country is, Linfield, but he's already turned down a move there, for he's Sky Blue through and through and we love him. Instead of unsettlingly Cush, he's liable to have 'a man of the match' display, like he did last Saturday, for he is magic. We haven't heard anything about injuries, but Alan D was substituted 4 mins into the 2nd half on Wednesday night, but maybe this was a tactical ploy and it certainly turned out to be when the man who replaced Alan, the much maligned Gavin Taggart, scored a peach of goal to draw United level with the hatchet men at one apiece.

If Alan D is not fit, will Fergie start Gavin or maybe he's inclined to go 'head to head' with old Ronnie and select Darboy and Tippers for their first outing this campaign. We know it seems like a foolhardy tactic, but we need to put doubt in the old fox's head and not let him dictate the tactics. Ports reportedly have four players available for their first game of the season, but we wouldn't think old Ronnie will bring in all four to his starting line-up. He's far likelier to start two of them and bring the other two on later if need be, but we need to be up for that and most of our panel have two games under their belt and are match fit, unlike the returning Ports four, who haven't kicked a ball in earnest and believe us, that does make a difference.

The four goals scored at Seaview, all came from set-pieces and I wouldn't be surprised to see one or two tomorrow from set-pieces, so we will have to be on our toes. We have an early lead in the Dankse Bank Premiership (alphabetical) and it would be nice to consolidate that position tomorrow, but at this early juncture, results are what matter and we might have to settle for another draw tomorrow, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. Sky Blues new boy, Tippers, could be our 'ace in the hole' as he comes up against one of his former clubs and he would dearly like to lower their colours, we echo that. It's going to tough, we have a weak referee in Tim Marshall, so we must be focused, come on Sky Blues, lets shag those apple pickers!

Same Again!

Reading between the lines, if such a thing were possible, United manager Glenn Ferguson was hinting that if Neal Gawley was passed fit and all the other players showed no ill effects after Saturday's victory against the Point, he would consider starting the same team again. It seems Tony and Thommo will miss another two matches and both will no be in line for starting until the tie away to Dungannon on 23 August. We don't know any details of what the two extra days suspension are for, violent conduct or for reaching a penalty points aggregate, but our informant, Red, confirmed that they are not available for selection until the Dungannon tie.

There's been a lot of concern among the Sky Blue Sport's team about the make-up of our central midfield pairing,  the two Alans. They are vulnerable to the counter-attack and the Crues under Mister Ugly are the team to exploit this soft heart in our team. But Spike likes their attacking play and he's prepared to let them carry on, at least until Tony and Thommo are free of suspension and available for selection once again. The Crues will no doubt try to unsettle our defence with long balls played to Owens and Adamson, with the poisoned dwarf, looking for any crumbs that come his way. For that reason we need to on our game from the start, no pussyfooting around.

If Gawley doesn't make it, will Spike promote Darboy or change his formation to include Mike Ruddy or Gavin or Sparky? We have given up trying to second guess our Spike, when we just figure we have him down to a pat, he surprises us by making a wholly unexpected selection, liking playing a reserve team player we never have heard tell of. We got his selection correct at the cup final, but boy do we regret that and we'll not tempt fate by saying what his line-up is going to be tomorrow night. With Andrew Davy, refereeing the game, we hope he's not as lenient as we heard he was in the Charity Shield final, at the least sign of leniency the hatchets will get stuck in. We hope for a point at least, so come Sky Blues, lets shag those paper tigers! 

Hard Points!

Ballymena United start the Dankse Bank Premier league campaign tomorrow, with a hard game against Warrenpoint Town, hereafter known as the Point. We played the Point four times last season and the record shows that we had two victories apiece, but what the record doesn't show, is that our two victories came about as result of them playing at least half of 90 mins with ten men, having a player red carded in both games. When we had both 11 apiece, the Point won by 1-0 victories, so you see its going to be a tight game tomorrow.

To make matters worse for the home team, the referee appointed is none other than our old friend Colin Burns, who never gives us anything but his cold shoulder and seems to let the opposing team away with murder. Added to that, our longest serving player, Archie, is struggling to shake off an injury and has to be in the doubtful category. Does Fergie introduce latest recruit, Kyle McVey, to play alongside JT, or does he call on old reliable Cookie Munster? Mark McCullagh, will be needed to fill in at rightback for the suspended Tony Kane and Mike Ruddy, will be needed as back-up for Steeky McBride.

Spike was hinting at a change of tactics, this season, instead of 4,3,3, he wanted to play a 4,4,2 formation and two men up front, Darboy and Tipton. But for that to happen we at 'Sport think he would need to introduce at least one, 'out and out', wide man and we will need to play a tackler alongside Captain Jenks. With Thommo serving a one game ban as well as the afore mentioned Tony, we wont be surprised if Spike, nominates a midfield of Gawley (or Ally), Alan D, Jenks and Cush. This, in our opinion, would hand the initiative to the Point and could result in an embarrassing defeat in the first game of the season.

Better he pick Sparky or the even much maligned Gavin, they don't offer much going forward, but they aren't afraid to get stuck in where necessary, Gavin, maybe a wee bit too much. But this is an improvement to either Alan D or Captain Jenks, who couldn't tackle a fish supper. They're great at going forward, making forceful runs and backing up the two strikers, but they leave our midfield wide open for the opposition. Leave the midfield open tomorrow and we will pay a heavy price, keep it tight and maybe, just maybe, we can sneak a result, but its going to be close, so come Sky Blues, lets shag those Warrenpointers!