Born Again!

The last time United and Chickenville met in a league game, it ended with a 6-1 thrashing for the previous mighty Reds. The upshot of that defeat was the surprise resignation of Chickenville manager,the legendary Tommy Breslin. What possessed almost the quietest manager in our league to resign after that defeat, we'll probably never know, but in so doing, his assistant, Gerard Lyttle, took over and the Reds are looking to be back to their best. The Sky Blues away form is not too good and the statisticians will say it points to a home win for the North Belfast Reds.

But United are getting more attuned to playing on the artificial turf, as Champions Crues know only too well, when United dumped them out of the Toals County Antrim Shield at Seaview and then ran them close last week in the league, before losing by the odd goal in five, so we will be no pushovers. The question remains however that we don't know how many fit men our manager has at his disposal? With a pulsating semi-final at Larne last Tuesday, that lasted over 104 mins, we can't honestly see veteran Tippers, recovering in time to be able to start.

Darhen, who made such an impact when he came on against the Championship 1 side, could replace Tippers, but we think Jenks could lose out and then we'd be into our fringe players, although the manager's son, Matthew, looked okay when he came on as a sub on Tuesday night. Then there is the goalkeepers jersey to be filled. If indeed Spike, dropped Dwayne (harshly we may add), for his one lapse against the Crues and then promoted Blaney, who made a hash with Larne's second goal, what does he do now. Does he recall Dwayne or does he persevere with Blaney, its a toss up.

Willie Faulkner, who we don't rate at all, came up with the 'goods' on Tuesday night and is almost certain to keep his place as is Cush. But we think Thommo, is not pacey enough for the slick Solitude surface and the same applies to Maggers, so that may open the door for Owen Kane, with Tony in a wide right midfield role. Spike, will probably stick with Rodger, in partnership with JT, as Kyley, looks like a disaster waiting to happen. We'll not be too surprised to see Ruddy, getting a recall at leftback as Steeky, looked shattered on Tuesday night and Captain Jimer should be at rightback. So come on Sky Blues, lets shag these Chickens, in Chickenville!