Paddy Mac!

We have all been crying out for our manager, Spike, to recruit an all-round midfielder, a commanding centre-back and some fans (not us), have been saying we need a commanding keeper. What does Spike do, he signs our former striker, Cutch and an ex-Crues winger, Eamon McAllister. We all thought that was him finished, but then at the 'eleventh hour', Wednesday past actually, he signs 20 year-old Paddy McNally, a central defender, whom we admit, we never even heard of, until he was mentioned on teletext signing for Warrenpoint Town.

Had our management team been watching this situation closely or not, we don't honestly know, but a few hours after he was reportedly to be signing for the Point, twitter informed us that he was indeed signing for the Sky Blues. His career has been well documented in the last few days, he spent some time on Glasgow Celtic's books. He then returned home and signed for Chickenville and this season he was at Glenavon and played against us at the Showgrounds. Is he the answer to our defensive problems or is he a panic buy, only time will tell.

We don't expect him to start tomorrow at Windsor Park against the IFA, reading between the lines, Fergie, stated in an interview with the Ballymena Times, the only change he envisaged, was possibly, Jimer as JT's partner at the centre of defence and Tony reverting to rightback. Fergie, still believes in his policy and he believes his players will adapt to that policy, even though teams continue to show us up and continue to drive a bus through our toothless midfield. The IFA, tomorrow's opponents, are not firing in all cylinders, but we fear they'll run riot over our midfield.

Spike, could take a leaf of Alex McCrae's  book and go with a defensive team tomorrow and try to get a result and give our Irish cup opponents, Chickenville, something to think about, when we meet in eight days time, but we will be shocked if he does that. The very thought of that that is alien to Spike's personality, its not in his nature, he's an all or nothing type of guy. We have got to live with that, when it comes off, we are a treat to watch, but when it doesn't, we are a labour of love. Lets hope it comes off tomorrow, so Come On Sky Blues, lets shag those Windsor Park sheep!

Chicken Supper!

Omar says in the late Sixties, he used to have a Breast of Chicken supper on a Saturday night about half-five. By a strange coincidence that is the time United's game against Chickenville in the league cup final, will be kicking off and Omar and all the Sky Blue Sports team, will be tucking in a Chicken(ville) supper tomorrow night. United are going into this match, fresh from their remarkable  draw last Saturday to Portadown, but this week, we supporters will have a decent view, for we are housed in Windsor Park's  North stand.

Not so our opponents, the Chickenville Reds, they are in the Alex Russell stand , or Spion Kop as its more familiarly known. But they don't seem to mind this, in fact if you listen to them, they prefer to be behind the goals as opposed to a side view, we, at 'Sport, take this statement with a pinch of salt. When we reached this final by beating the Ducks in mid-December, we were all lamenting about the team we would play in the final, Chickenville.

Not only had they won the Premier league, in the last two seasons, they had also won the League cup in the last two seasons too. If that's not enough to contend with, they were involved in a tussle for the leadership of this years championship. But since then they have faltered slightly, they won the County Antrim Shield ten days ago beating Champion side Bangor at Chickenville's own ground, 1-0, but their league form has suffered somewhat and they were  held to a draw last Saturday at home to Warrenpoint, which just gives us a wee glimmer of hope.

Will the real Sky Blues turn up tomorrow or not, that's the $64 dollar question? They definitely didn't turn up in last  season Irish cup defeat at the hands of Glenavon, where we played like a team with no conviction. But we were hampered by the injury to Jimer and by the ref, Raymond 'Richard Head' Crangle, who proved to be red card happy. But our manager Spike, didn't have ample cover on our bench and when Jimer was injured, Tony had to move to rightback and therefore we surrendered midfield to our opponents Glenavon.

We hope Spike has learned his lesson from that disappointment and picks five men that will give us real cover should we need it. It promises to be a huge crowd and we hope to get our money's worth and bring the cup back to Ballymena for the first time in its short history. Our team showed their fighting spirit last week when they came back from 5-3 down in last six minutes to get an incredible draw, 5-5. We will need that fighting spirit tomorrow, but we hope not to concede so many goals, so come on Sky Blues, lets devour those Chickens!

Twigg Magic!

Gary Twigg needs to work his magic on the playing surface of Shamrock Park, if United's game tomorrow is going to take place according to reports of snow and ice in  the weather forecast. Lets hope that's the only magic he works as he is standing-in for the suspended Mark McAllister. Will United manager Spike, give a debut to new signing Eamon McAlister (I hope we spelt his first name correctly), we wouldn't want to get admonished yet again?

We at 'Sport won't be surprised if Glenn makes a few changes, bearing in mind the league cup final against Chickenville next Saturday evening. He says he is going to play his strongest team, whether that means what he considers his beast team, or not, is open to conjecture. Will he give Tony a rest and pick Jimer or pick both of them and leave out someone in his midfield. We can't honestly see him rest any of his three strikers, they all found the net last week and will want to keep them ticking over.

Points are important to us, but the Ports need them even more and a dour scoreless draw would do us no end of good, as long as nobody picks up a serious knock.  The referee for tomorrow's game is Ian McNabb (Omar take note, it is Ian and not your mate, Andy). The last time we were at Portadown the ref was fooled by Murray, taking a dive and United's JT was sent off as a result of this, so we hope 'Ian' is up for the task ahead and will not be swayed by the histrionics of Ronnie McFall.

McFall is an old master of the art of winding referees up and he usually can manipulate them to his own teams advantage. But our manager Fergie, is learning and he needs to show a cool head tomorrow, as Ronnie will want to get the upper hand early on. Ports seldom play good football, but they are a points gathering team. They may not be pretty to watch, but they are successful in what they do, score goals from half-chances.

We, on the other hand need six chances to score one goal, but we are getting better and with Tippers and Cutch, two ex-Ports on our team, the home defence will be asked questions tomorrow. That's not forgetting Darboy and the returning Cush and we will match the home team for firepower we think. It's going to be a tough game, played on a bog of a pitch, but points will be up for grabs and the only the fittest will take them, so come on Sky Blues let's shag those Portadowners!

Cup Magic!

Tomorrow sees the start of the Irish cup for Premier league teams and as far as most Irish league fans are concerned, its the first round proper, the other rounds, were just preliminary rounds. The Sky Blues got a home draw, that's all you can hope for in knock-out competitions and they have been pitted against Amateur league side ,Crumlin Star, in a game that for the first time, will be played to a finish, with extra-time and penalties to decide the winner should they be needed.

Will that scenario influence our manager, Spike's, selection, making sure he has something left in reserve if the match should go to the dreaded penalty shoot-out. We think not and fully expect Spike, to start nearly the same X1, as he started last Saturday against Glenavon. We would caution him to play Sparky at least as his holding midfielder, but the man believes in his tactics and we fully expect him to start with what he sees as his strongest team.

Having come through a 90 minute work-out with the reserves last week, Cush and Jimer should be added to our bench and the release of Owen Kane, to Ballyclare Comrades, bears evidence to that fact, in our opinion. We don't know the first thing about Crumlin Star, but our Youth academy supremo, Joe McCall, has seen them in action and that's enough to fill us with trepidation on its own. We won't go into to Joe's shortcomings, we have done in the past, but people seem to forgive and forget, but not us.

There's a case for bringing Dwayne, back  at the expense of Addis, but we at 'Sport, think Glenn ,will stick with the ex-Linfield man in this instance. The weather forecast is for snow and followed by the heavy rain that's fallen today, the pitch should be heavy and Cookie, will probably partner JT at the heart of our defence. If Jimer is fully fit, there could be a case made for starting him at right-back or right-midfield, but we expect Spike will resist that temptation.

We expect a tough game, we never get an easy passage in these fixtures, but as long as we keep it  tight at the back, we should have too much fire-power in our front three, of Cutch, Darboy and our leading goalscorer, Tippers, to see off the Star. But they'll be some anxious moments you can bet but they'll stand us in good stead for the next round, or rounds, as the case may be. But if we want to be a force in the Premier league in this country, its time we started to act like one, so come Sky Blues, lets shag those Crumliners!

Normal Service!

After three wins on the trot, normal service was resumed when United didn't turn up at Milltown, Warrenpoint's ground yesterday. It only took the home side 4 mins to penetrate through our defences and it was more by chance that they missed so many openings, aided and abetted by our players giving the ball away too frequently. The Sky Blue crew were sorry they made the trip and they turned air blue with their comments of United's lack-lustre performance. Bruce Balmer, was so disgusted, that he didn't write his match report, but it would have been very brief anyway.

So on to tomorrows game against Glenavon at the Showgrounds. It is the opinion of the 'Sports crew that Cutch will start. Whether that's at the expense of Darboy or Tippers, is open to speculation, but Darboy was subbed at the Point and that may be an indication of Spike's thinking along those lines. It would be harsh on the Bushmills man if he had to make way for Cutch, for he has been playing well of late and he definitely was one of our better players yesterday. But needs must and we need to play our strongest starting X1 tomorrow.

Marky, who has two good games under his belt, maybe be sacrificed to make way for Cookie and that be in turn harsh on the Randalstown man, who was the pick of our defenders at Milltown yesterday. JT, had a nightmare in the first half hour and like Captain Jenks had a game he'd like to forget. But they are men for the big occasion and when Gary Hamilton's men come calling, we expect them to stand up and be counted or we really are in trouble. Stuarty Addis redeemed himself somewhat yesterday and should be given another chance in goals.

The rest of team, barring injuries, should be on the usual lines and although Sparky wasn't good yesterday, he is our only midfield tackler and needs to be picked ahead of Thommo. If Cutch plays and we expect him to do so, he will maybe give the Glenavon defenders something to think about and keep them in their own half, instead of marauding into ours. The ref, Stephen Wallace is a new one on us, but he can't be any worse than the ones we have had already this season or can he? Only time will tell if Wallace is good or bad, our only hope is that the 'real' United turn up tomorrow, COSB!