Reunited Again

Well we are back after an enforced lay-off due to matters beyond our control. Omar, was taken suddenly ill last Friday, which meant we had no preview and no match report against the Coleraine scum. We foolishly thought seeing he was in the RVH, the premier hospital in these parts, he would be out by Monday at the latest. But alas and alack (whatever that means), he had to stay in until Thursday and we have come to the sad conclusion, if you're going to take ill, don't take ill at the weekend, when all the technical people are off, or you will have to be prepared to lie in a bed for a forgotten weekend.

United, on the other hand, United did very well without us, beating the scum last Saturday and eventually taking DC on Tuesday night, after extra time. As a result of that game, we have do without Sparky, who was sent-off and if rumours are to be believed, JT, but we don't know that for sure. The only one  sure of his place, seems to be hat-trick hero Cush or will Spike stick his tried and trusted method, of not changing a winning team and name his starting eleven against Coleraine. We think it would be a big gamble to take, but Spike has never been afraid to make the big decisions and we expect him to make the right choice tomorrow.

United fans will get their first look at their former player, Johnny Flynn, in a competitive game and he can expect some friendly banter we're sure, especially from Omar and the rest of the Sky Blue Sports team. It will be a hard game, made even harder by the choice of referee, Colin Burns, who needs no introduction to Sky Blue fans. We can expect no help from him and we had best be careful with the histrionics of Gormely and McDaid, two intrepid divers, which we know from old. If we have a clean bill of health and name the same team as that which started at the scum, then we have every chance, but its going to be tough. Come on Sky Blues, lets pluck those chickens, of Chickenville!

Young Glens!

The famous Glens come to Ballymena tomorrow, with a relatively young team, but United will do well to treat them with respect, or we could end up with egg on our collective faces, for the second weekend running. There's rumours abounding about our talisman Cush struggling to be fit and Cookie Munster is considered doubtful, but if these players are fit, we won't be surprised to see our manager, Spike, name an unchanged team.

He seems reluctant to make changes, even with a diabolic display like last week at Fermanagh. Were he to start and single out those players that didn't give their all, we think he'd be left with only four players, we played that bad. But he's at the  game long enough to realise the players didn't go out to have a bad game, but they forgot one of fundamentals, 'when you work hard, you get your just awards' and we didn't work hard as we could have.

The Sky Blue Sports team only hope that our heroes have learned a salutary lesson and one which they have filed away to be reminded of before the start of every game, the hard working ethic. Its a well known fact, that if you don't put your heart and soul into everything you do, the chances are that you'll get nothing out of it. Captain Jenks let us down last week (he wasn't the only one), but we expect more of him, he's played at a higher level, but his leadership was lacking.

Hopefully Fergie and the three baldies will have our boys up for the game tomorrow, they're playing for places in the team to face the scum next week, in the first derby game of this season and that should be incentive enough we think. We face another tough game tomorrow against a wily manager in, Eddie Patterson, who's seen it all and he will have his young team geared up for this, but we've got to be better. There will be no hiding place at the Showgrounds tomorrow, 'come on Sky Blues, lets shag those East Belfast sheep'!

Bad Ducks!

A wee man we know has a bad opinion of ducks, he says they're all bad and the only good duck is a dead duck. We're inclined to agree with him, being partial to a bit of duck pate and unfortunately you can't get pate off live ducks, at least as far as we know. United need to treat the ducks tomorrow as bad ducks and do them down (unintended pun) and claim the three points , for there's harder times coming with games against the big two, Blues, Glens, Chickenville and a trip to that stinkville ground, Coleraine, to play the scum.

We mean no disrespect to the Mallards, they're ten places below us in the league table, but any team, can beat any other team, on any given day in this league, but its a game we need to win. No doubt about it, its going to be hard, we expect nothing else from  the boys of Lakeland, but its a game we've got to take full points from, if this early season form is going to count for anything. As luck would have it, we have drawn a real short straw and Raymond 'dick-head' Crangle, has been appointed to referee the game.

United fans will need no reminding of what Dick is capable of, he can take a perfectly balanced game and turn it on its head with one or two daft decisions. There's no point in appealing to his better nature, he's hasn't  got one, he's just a plain awkward critter, in other words, a genuine dick-head. But United can do nothing about  that and we'll just have to work with his awkwardness and for the second away game in a row, we hope its not the referee that makes all the headlines.

We fervently hope that Cush and his lack of shots on Tuesday night, was just a blip on the horizon, for we need our talisman to be firing shots in willy nilly and unsettling the opposition in the process. With a near fully fit squad to choose from ( no news about Thommo and Alan D yet ), will Fergie be tempted to make any changes.? It might be a chance to rest Cookie and promote the fit again Kyley but we wouldn't try to second guess Spike. Its going to be a tough ask, but we can do it, come on Sky Blues, lets slay those bad ducks

Fergies Dilemma!

The sending of team Captain Alan Jenkins last Friday night, has left our manager, Fergie, with a bit of a selection problem. If Thommo has shaken his injury, sustained in league cup win last Monday against Newington, does he start him or new signing Brian McCaul (Mack), who doesn't have the benefit of a pre-season  fitness programme behind him. It would be fair to say that Mack looked a bit rusty last week against Newington, but as far as we know, he played for the reserves on Saturday.

Spike has another interesting selection to make, does he restore Kaner to rightback, or persevere with Marky, who made way for Kaner on Friday night. As avowed fans of Kaner's all-round action, the 'Sport crew would have Kaner starting every time he's available. Institute are reportedly playing well and they usually give a good account of themselves at the Showgrounds, so it will be a tough game. But we have to bounce back and Fergie could start virtually the same  team, with the exception of Captain Jenks.

Our talisman, Cush, missed numerous clear-cut chances on Friday night at Mourneview Park, we don't think he'll be so benevolent in front of goal tomorrow night. The referee, Keith Kennedy, is a new one to us, but we were so disappointed in Heth's performance on Friday, he really would  have to be blind, to have as biased a game as we witnessed at Lurgan. There's an old saying that goes: "when the going gets tough, the tough get going", we need to get going tomorrow night, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those Derrymen!