Sky Blue Sport News

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Fourth Force!

If United want to be a a force in 2015 and beyond, then must take a giant step at the  'Point's ground, Milltown, tomorrow. If the weather forecast is half right, then its going to be pissing down with rain, not ideal conditions for a football game, but needs must. With the good news that Jimer (Jim Ervin), played 60 minutes for the reserves on Boxing Day, as well as the news of Cutch signing (not a loan, as confirmed by a reliable source) and the imminent signing of a Linfield youth striker, competiton for places in the team is starting to look up.

Added to that Thommo, is supposed to be fit and Cush is training again, so our reserve strength won't be tested to their limits in the near future. But we hope our manager doesn't forget them and brings them in to his panel periodically. Will he, or won't he change the habits of his management so far and restore JT to his starting line-up at the expense of Cookie or the unlucky Marky. Marky proved to be our defensive king-pin in the second-half and was denied a goal at the other end of the pitch by a blind Lino. It would be hard on him if he was rested, after such a sterling performance, but our manager has never shirked from making the hard decisions when they are called for.

The rest of the team almost picks itself and barring injuries, we can't see much change in the personal. Our strike force of Darboy and Tippers have shown form in our last three matches and there's no reason to think that can't continue in that vein tomorrow. Much will depend in our ability to break up the Point's play, for they are a footballing side and referee Ross Dunlop, we hope makes allowances for the the conditions underfoot, for we need our midfielders to get stuck in. Stand off the Points attackers and they will take advantage of it and how.

We would go so far as to say that Captain Jenks and Sparky, will have a huge bearing on the game. ably backed up with the Barber and Ally, if they don't let the point dictate the game. Outside forces we can't do anything about and fervently hope that the Milltown flood-lights, don't go out as they have done in the past. Then the only thing we have to worry about is that big Wes and our keeper, Addis, have worked out if he's going to come for balls that appear to be his or not. The indecision that was evident on Boxing day, we can do without. So come on Sky Blues, let's shag those Pointers!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Big Task!

After two wins on the road and it was a long road, away to Ballinmallard on Tuesday of last week and then away to Institute on Saturday past, United are to have some home comfort on Boxing Day, when they entertain the Coleraine scum. Normally this fixture is looked forward to with glee by United supporters, but this year they have to do without their defensive stalwart, JT, who misses the game due to suspension.

Due to catalogue of injuries, too numerous to mention, United have one central defender in their panel, Marky McCullagh, who's been struggling to hold down a regular place on the bench, never mind the starting X1. Fergie, has other options at his disposal, he could deploy Captain Jenks, as a stop-gap central defender, or he could move Sparky from central-midfield, to central-defender, where he has filled in before.

But we at 'Sport think that he'll be reluctant to split up his central-midfield pairing of Sparky and Captain Jenks, which is only starting to bear fruit. He tried the versatile Mike Ruddy, in at central-defence, but its fair to say it wasn't a success. So we at 'Sport think he will select Marky and hope he rises to the occasion of a derby against the scum. In general derbies tend to be blood and thunder games and with a few points separating the two clubs, we expect this one to be no different.

The United panel, barring injuries, we expect to be on the same lines as that which got us two wins on the trot. But no offence to the Ducks and the Stute, this game against the Coleraine scum will be a tenser affair, with no quarter asked or given. These encounters generally call for a strong referee, but we lucked out on this score, when we got old 'see no evil' Colin Burns. We could wax long and hard about the shortcomings of old 'burns night', but suffice to say he doesn't fill us with any confidence.

Stuarty Addis, will do well to remember him, for he (Burns), let 'one cap' get away with a horrid tackle on Stuarty last Boxing Day at Coleraine and it was thought at one stage that Stuarty's football career was over, thankful he made a recovery. Not a full recovery, we might add, he has to bind two of his fingers together with tape, in order to be able to play, a brave man or a foolish one, we'll let our fans be the judge of that, but we at 'Sport think, he's brave.

Darboy and Tippers are only starting to fulfil their potential as striking partners and it will be interesting to see how they blend together on Friday, with the no nonsense scum defence, led by Howard Beverland. Surely if Beverland has any weakness, it is his arrogance, so its up to Darboy and Tippers to try exploit that feeling of superiority and get in among the goals. We know its going to tough, but its past time to be weak, we have to be tough and sent the scum home pointless.

There's rumours of a near sell-off crowd, but we believe it will be a good crowd, not a sell-out crowd. Coleraine fans are famous for coming in at halftime, when its free, in short they're miserable gets. So there could be 1200 in the away stand, but that's way below capacity. We'll have a good crowd too, say 1400 and it'll make for a ding dong atmosphere, so come on United, let's shag this Coleraine scum and send them down the A 26, in tears!

Friday, December 19, 2014

Drumo Derry!

This loose reference to a Camel with one hump, spelt Dromedary, is entirely meant, but as its Christmas season, we thought we would like a humorous headline, therefore Drumo Derry. United need to take a hint from the ship of the desert and prove that they have the endurance to gather points when playing three teams situated in the lower reaches of our league, in our next 3 games. Unfortunately, two of these games will include long journeys, starting with tomorrows trip to Drumahoe, to play 'Stute.

Then on Boxing Day we will face the Coleraine scum at Warden Street before 6 days later making another long trip to face Warrenpoint Town at Milltown and hope they have paid their electricity bill this month. There was some talk on Tuesday night at Ferney, about the 'Point game being played with an evening kick-off, but so far we can't confirm it, we just have to hope that common sense prevails and its a 3 o'clock kick-off, as its stated on our fixture list.

What is our manager's plans tomorrow for this difficult fixture against the 'Stute, we hear you ask and as always, we haven't the foggiest. Does he go with the team that won the league cup semi-final at Ferney or does he have someone else in mind to expose any weaknesses in the 'Stute make-up. We think he'll stick with his starting line-up, unless some of them are injured, we have got to get a settled team, at least for our next three games anyway.

With the news of Cutch signing a short contract to the end of the season, it'll be interesting to see how our manager approaches the transfer window, which starts on January 1. We still need, in our opinion anyway, a no-nonsense stopper, an all-round midfielder, as well as a back-up striker. Some people are calling for a new keeper, but great keepers are as scarce as hens teeth, so in our opinion we could let that wait until the seasons over and then go for one, or two, as the case may be.

We should have a few players coming back off injury, Cush and Jimer fall in to that mode and with a couple of new signings under our belt, 2015 will maybe not be a bad year and we have the league cup final against Chickenville at Windsor Park to look forward to. But as usual we are getting ahead of ourselves, that's all in the future, we have to deal with the present and we have to delve into our reserve strength for a few games more, So come Sky Blues, lets shag those Drumo Derry men!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Break'r Duck!

Strange headline you might think, but in our opinion it sums up what United have got to do at Ferney Park tomorrow night, kick-off  08-00pm. We have got to break our scoring duck at the Mallards ground if we are going to triumph and get to the Wasps league cup final for the first time in our history. At the other end will be the Mallards, with a vociferous home crowd behind them, trying to make sure we don't break our duck.

We have met the Mallards two times this season and the scoreline has been the same both times, a 3-0 win for the home team, so no form pointers there, except the home team seem to have the advantage. So we are up against it tomorrow night and we will have to do it the hard way, with virtually the same team as surrendered on Saturday when the Crues chalked an easy 2-0 victory against us. We say surrendered, but our manager thinks we got a raw deal and could have got something from the game.

Well football manager look at things differently, they discount the easy chances the other team miss and focus on their teams misses. It's true to say we had chances, but we couldn't put the ball in the back of net and that's what counts. If we have a plan and hold the home team to 0-0 after an hour, we just might nick one late on in the game. With this in mind will Fergie have young Matty Shevlin on the bench, coming on in last third of the game, the youngster could swing it for us.

But if we know Fergie, it will just the same old panel of players and he'll be  hoping for a miracle, but we are afraid he's going to be disappointed. He always says the players train well, but when they get out on the field, they seldom perform well, hopefully tonight they didn't train well and maybe they'll up their game tomorrow night. We'll be there to record it for posterity, hoping for a United victory to take us the Wasps league cup final, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those Ducks!

Friday, December 12, 2014

Jack Frost!

The weather may play a big part in deciding if United go to Fermanagh, on Tuesday next on the back of a win against the 'hatchet men of Crusaders. The weather forecasters tell us that it will freeze tonight but should be dry tomorrow. But will the notorious Showgrounds pitch thaw out in time for the visit of the Crues, only time will tell. Cookie should be available for selection tomorrow having served his one match ban and maybe Fergie will come up with a plan to stop our leaking of goals.

Make no mistake about it, we are the underdogs tomorrow, the Crues have stuttered a bit after trouncing north Belfast rivals, Chickenville, but they are still in 4th place. But as has been proved no later than tonight, anybody can beat anybody in this league, when bottom club Warrenpoint Town, beat league leaders Portadown to toss the cat among the pigeons, so to speak. Will Fergie try to play defensive tactics against the the men of Tigers Bay? In short we don't know, but we are short on personnel anyway and really short on defenders and midfield tacklers.

Will he add our new sensation , striker Matty Shevlin, to his panel or is he keeping him for Tuesday night's game against the Ducks. We totally agree that Matty shouldn't be exposed to the rigours of Premier league football, week in  and week out, but neither should he be wrapped in cotton wool. There's an old saying, 'if you're good enough, you're old enough' and that young man has the physique and know how to look after himself against the hatchet men. We don't think he should start, heaven forbid, but he should be among the subs, if we need to call upon him.

There's to be a new turnstile in operation for fans using the car park behind the home stand, it's to be situated at the Fisherwick end of the home stand, adjacent to Block A. Disabled fans can still use the reception area and the lift to the home stand, but all other able-bodied fans must use the new turnstile, health & safety gone mad, we think. Don't forget to read Omar's column about the season so far, entitled Topsy Turvy, it sums our season so far. We only hope the forecasters have got it correct and tomorrow will break nice and sunny and thawing, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those paper tigers!

Friday, December 05, 2014

Shore Up!

What can we say, we leave for our winter break to the sun and United collapse and undo all the work they previously done, in one fell swoop. We gather it wasn't a pleasant watch last Saturday and for the second time this year, we were undone by a corner, given by the referee, that wasn't a corner and then the smelly stuff hit the fan. Rusty Ray informed us that Tippers should have had a hat-trick in the first-half and we had several other chances.

But its goals that count, on the plus side we only lost 3 points and we think we managed not to pick up any other injuries, which always will be a plus for a team decimated with injuries. Still we haven't a clue who Spike will opt to stand in for the suspended Cookie. Will it be Marky, or does he drop Captain Jenks back or try Mike Ruddy again, as he has done before. The one thing's for sure, he can't afford to let Linfield pick holes in our defence like Chickenville did last week.

The IFA team are not firing on all cylinders, but they're still grinding out results and they are firmly entrenched in the top six, so they'll not be a pushover by any means. But United have to bounce back after last Saturday's collapse and they'll never be a better time to do it. Linfield are not the invincible team they were, but they still manage to ground out wins against us and they'll no doubt be looking for the same result tomorrow.

But we must put our last mishap behind us and the players owe us a favour and we at 'Sport hope to see every player trying his eye-strings out. Then and then, could we hope to gain anything from this difficult game. Its two and half years since we beat Linfield in the league, in the first game of the 2012 season, with two Jamie Davidson goals, it would be nice to repeat the dose. But Jamie is no longer available, so somebody else will have to step up to the plate.

Who will it be we wonder, we cannot see Spike starting Matty Shevlin, who was an unused sub last week, but what other secret weapon have we got in our panel. With the all the will in the world we cannot see Tippers or Darboy rise to the occasion, but who knows? We don't know and we don't care who it is, but we need him/them really badly. Maybe it will be our manager's boy, now wouldn't that be a turn up for the books, so come on Sky Blues, let's shag those Belfast sheep!