Tall Tim!

Our manager Spike, completed his transfer dealings on Saturday with the capture of a six foot plus keeper, named Tim Allen, hereafter called Tall. Tim was born in Australia, played College football in USA or soccer as its known across there. It would be fair to say he is a raw talent, never having played league football, or at any rate, the rough tumble that is the Irish Premier league. He comes highly recommended by our former keeper, Dermot O'Neill, who alerted us last season to Aaron Shanahan and what a signing he turned out to be.

It's not known whether our manager will risk playing Tall, it would be a terrible gamble, but Spike's not afraid to take a risk and he proved it when he promoted first choice keeper Dwayne, for the league cup final against Chickenville, ignoring the fact that he hadn't played first team football for the previous seven weeks. Opinions vary on whether Spike made a mistake, with his selection of Dwayne that day, or whether Dwayne was just let down by his defenders, Spike, seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The IFA has given written confirmation of Tall's clearance to play against Chickenville in the Irish cup this Saturday, but whether the club would take a chance on that being rescinded at a later date remains to be seen. If there's any doubt, best not to take a chance, we have been stung a few times before, with the IFA backtracking, on what they said previously. What team will Fergie pick we hear you ask and the answer is, your guess is as good as ours.

We got our lines crossed last Saturday, when he completely fooled us and reverted back to a 4,4,2, formation, not a 4,3,3, as we had thought reading between the lines of his comments to the Ballymena Times. His plans were hampered somewhat with the illness of Thommo, but with the former Distillery player fit again, he may well revert back to a 4,3,3, or completely fool us again and play a 4,5,1, formation, we are clutching at straws here.

Whatever players Spike picks and whatever formation he goes for, we know history is against us. Winning games at Solitude has proved difficult for us in the last number of seasons. We ran them close in the Charity Shield and the County Antrim Shield this season, but we imploded in our last league game at their ground in December, in a game best forgotten. In the league cup final at Windsor Park, we ran them close also, only losing by the odd goal, but they give us a football lesson at times it has to be said.

But we were punished by letting crosses come in, in the final, leading to two goals from them and its is a simple thing to eliminate, don't let crosses come in, better a corner than a goal or a better a foul and you have time to organise, crosses hurt you. Its hard with a footballing side like the Reds, but we must have a no-nonsense attitude if we are to succeed. It'll be tough, but if we want to progress we must dig in, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those Chickenvillers!