Chicken Licking!

United manager Tommy Wright will make several changes to his starting line-up for tomorrow’s visit of Chickenville. Boydie and Melly still missing through injury, but now Johnny Steele is doubtful after being involved in a car accident, while Stuart King faces a late fitness test on his ankle injury. Rumours are circulating that Steele wants to return to the ‘States’, while fellow strike partner Kelbie is unhappy at being substituted in United’s last two games. United look set to drop Vinny Sweeney who has failed to live up to his early promise, one of several players who have flattered to deceive. Gordon Simms and Kieran Donaghy are also under pressure with Albert Watson and Stephen Collier waiting in the wings. So ‘all in all’, it could be a much altered starting eleven which takes the field tomorrow. But whoever gets the nod for tomorrow’s game, it’s imperative that United get back to winning ways. We know only too well that losing can just as easily become a habit, as winning can. So come on Sky Blues, let’s banish those negative thoughts, let’s go into this enforced two week lay-off with a win under our belts, that will set us up nicely for our two away fixtures on the trot and then the ‘big’ home game with Linfield. So it’s three points tomorrow and send the Chickens back to roost, you know you can do it!

Missing Bruce!

Apologies to any avid Sky Blue Sport fans, we have as yet no match report for Saturday’s disaster at the ‘Marshes’. Our intrepid reporter, Bruce Balmer, has gone missing, or to put it in proper language, he just hasn’t surfaced since Saturday. But he tells us his report is in transit, or in other words he knows what he’s going to say, but he just hasn’t got round to saying it yet. But as soon as it becomes available, hopefully before next Saturday, we will endeavour to publish it. United manager Tommy Wright is purported to have said that he’ll be making quite a few changes for the home game against Cliftonville. As someone noted on Saturday except for the defence, all the starters on Saturday were recruited by the manager, does that mean he’s made poor signings? Let’s hope not because the future will be bit bleak if big Tam’s plans are in disarray already. We at ‘Sport know the problem, as do most United fans, we’re badly missing a reliable goalscorer, but where we’re going to get one is anybody’s guess. Late signing Kevin Kelbie doesn’t seem to fit the bill and he still ‘reeks’ of a panic buy. But he’s the best we’ve got, at least until the transfer window opens and we’ll just have to manage until then as best we can!

Action Stations!

We wouldn’t like to say that three points are vital for United when they make the long trip to Newry, but it would go a long way to defining our season. Let’s face it, we haven’t really been turning it on so far this season and where better to start than at Newry tomorrow. United manager Tommy Wright would probably settle for a draw, but ‘we’ think this is a game we must win, as this is the sort of team we need to be beating. Big Tommy may have a selection problem tomorrow, as Captain Gary Smyth appears to have recovered from his ankle injury, but it would surely be a gamble to play him tomorrow. With Rory Hamill still injured it looks as if Kelbie and Steele will get the nod up front, but there may be a place on the bench for the fit again Dominic Melly. The United defence which has had a habit of leaking late goals, succumbed once more last Tuesday night and this must be giving our coaching staff a wee bit of concern. So here’s hoping for a clean sheet tomorrow and maybe somehow we can ‘sneak’ one at the other end!

Porta Downing!

It’s do or die for United tomorrow night against Portadown in the final C.I.S. cup group game. There cause was, in our opinion, helped today by the resignation of Newry City manager, Roy ‘Motormouth’ McCreadie. The spirit in the Newry camp must be very low after their heavy defeat at the hands of the Ports on Saturday and then the news today about their manager parting company with the club, must leave some players in doubt about their future at the club. But we digress, first we must beat Portadown and then and only then, worry about the result of the Glenavon / Newry game. Stuart King and Dominic Melly are expected to be passed fit for this game, but Rory Hamill has been virtually ruled out. This means United may well go with the front two of Steele and Kelbie, although United manager Tommy Wright informed Bruce Balmer on Saturday that Kelbie was substituted because in his opinion, he was not doing enough. Surely Portadown, who are already assured of being group winners, will have little interest in the tie, which again should play into United’s hands. The ball as they say is at United’s feet, the match is there for them to win and with it possible qualification for the knock-out stages of the competition. Once there who knows what can happen, if the luck’s on your side, you just never know!  

Rigid Resolve!

Ballymena begin their league campaign tomorrow with a game against their closest geographical neighbours, Larne. Even though there’s only twenty miles separating the mid-Antrim men and the ‘harbour rats’, this game is still not viewed by United fans as a ‘derby game’, no that honour is reserved for the annual ‘grudge’ games against our dear friends, the Coleraine scum. Tomorrow’s game, although not a derby, does have a wee bit of added spice to it as United fans have fresh in their memory their semi-final defeat to Larne in last seasons Irish cup. Although not involved in that game, United’s new manager Tommy Wright has instilled in his players the need to be ‘up’ for this game from the outset. United will still be missing their ‘talisman’ Rory Hamill, while Stuart King’s chances of playing are fairly slim. The United manager will probably start with virtually the same line-up as last Saturday, although Gareth Scates could get the nod ahead of Aiden Watson in centre midfield. That would only leave him having to decide who replaces the doubtful, Stuart King. Our gut feeling is that he will give on-loan signing Johnny Steele the start, especially if he has accepted the extended contract, which the manager is reported to have offered him. So let’s get the season off to a winning start tomorrow, three points in convincing fashion and that’ll set us up for our big C.I.S. cup match at home to the Ports on Tuesday night. Let’s send those ‘rats’ back to the seaside with their tails between their legs, anything else is unthinkable!

What about our wee country?

A Ballymena win on Saturday will hardly be of the stature of OWC's great victory of Wednesday night, but a decent performance can put us on good footing for the league kick-off in just a week. It seems like less than one year ago that we were preparing for a season full of optimism with a few big signings and the Odense performance behind us, but perhaps the season was disappointing. This season we've got to hope we have the 'Wright' man at the helm though and a good finish to the CIS group stage might lift our optimism.

Glenavon of course aren't exactly England. Having lost four games out of four, they should be easy pickings for a side with aspirations of a top five finish. United's CIS hopes could, however, be equated to Northern Ireland's hopes of qualifying. While Our Wee Country was totally out of the running, the Sky Blues merely need a miracle to get through. Wins for United in our next two games against the Mid-Ulster teams would give us only a slight chance, but Woy can't be relied on for much, never mind the performance we need from his Newry side to beat Portadown on Saturday or lose to Glenavon next week.

Skybluesport don't normally espouse such pessimism but it's down to the Sky Blues to get two wins in our next games. We've shown we can potentially beat both the Mid Ulster "big two" so far this season and we fancy the Sky Blues to get a good run going into the more important league campaign. Glenavon should be easy pickings and any team which feels Jamie Marks is a useful addition has the potential to be turned over. So Skybluesport predict 6 points for the Sky Blues to lead us in to a successulf league campaign. Regardless of Newry's results, two wins are vital to get us on track.

With the Sky Blues likely to be missing our playmaker in the form of Rory Hamill, perhaps it will be a chance for Tommy to show the potential of new signings such as McDowell and Kelbie. Gary Smyth should be back though and our ever optimistic captain has predicted a 8-1 victory by the Sky Blues in a private interview he gave to Skybluesport. We're backing Gary's prediction. Gary also expressed his pleasure at OWC's great performance last night, stating "Carlsberg don't do football but if they did every night would be like Wednesday night, Ballymena will win 8-1 and Newry will turnover Portadown, leaving our group wide open for the sheepshagging sky blues!"

We're not Brazil, we're Northern Ireland. 1-0!

Shannon Shenanigans!

Just a little more info on the Greg Shannon ‘incident’, it seems he’s been kicked out because of some indiscipline. The United management are being unusually tight lipped about the reason, so I guess we’ll have to draw our own conclusions. A suggestion from one of our number is that he was on the town two days before a game, which would be seen as a breach of club procedure. If he were a good player and vital team member, he might get away with that, but seeing as he did not inspire any confidence in the United defence, he would have been shown the door. Yet another suggestion forthcoming is that he was ‘messing’ where he shouldn’t have been messing and he was warned off, but didn’t play a blind bit of notice and was then told his contract had been terminated. But whatever the reason is, one thing is for sure, he’s definitely gone and we at ‘Sport are not sorry to see him gone. On another point, wasn’t that good news about our dear rivals, Coleraine, being given a reprieve, at least now we’ll have a game on Boxing Day.

Window Closes!

Linfield Swift’s goalkeeper, Greg Shannon has left United to rejoin the Linfield second string. This of course was the man brought in to replace the out of favour Robert ‘Goosey’ Robinson, who has since joined Newry (City), we have placed the ‘City’ in brackets because we’re not 100% sure that is the name of the team from the ‘marshes’. Why else would the name in their social club, still proclaim them as Newry Town social club?  Maybe they’re not too sure themselves. But we digress, when approached about the departure of Shannon, a United official’s only comment, was that he, Shannon, was only a tube. We at ‘Sport could not in all fairness elaborate on that statement and hope for a more detailed report sometime in the future. Suffice to say that Shannon has returned to Linfield and Gareth Mullan has gone back to the North west to join Institute, hopefully that will complete the comings and goings at the Showgrounds for the foreseeable future!