Newry City 1 Linfield 1 (3-4 on penalties)

CIS Cup Semi-final, Mourneview Park, Wednesday 7th November 2007.

Team: Linfield Team : Mannus, Douglas, McShane (Curran 60), Gault, Murphy, Mouncey (Dickson 70), Ferguson, Bailie (Lindsay 95), McAreavey, O’Kane, Thompson Subs not used : McCann, Stewart (surprise surprise)

Goals: Thompson

Attendance: est 1200 (approx 400 (noisy) Newry fans)

On reflection, I actually think it was a pretty good game. I didn't really at the time; again, our football was long, high and the predictable everything-towards-spike's-head dirge, while Newry showed us how it is done with simple yet effective passing football, yet we still availed. We must have had about 25 corners, most of which I filmed but deleted due to our ineffectiveness at them, and we missed many many chances, had at least 3 cleared off the line, plus their keeper played well. But take nothing away from Newry, they played well and with a wee bit of luck could have sneaked it, Feeney missing a great chance late on.

Here were my various other thoughts:

Opinions were divided on Dougie, for me, he really does oscillate very quickly from the surprisingly good to the shockingly bad. Jim is equally as bad, but still my preference.

Curran won't make it at the Blues. Yes he was one of the few looking for the ball last night and yes he tried, but his passing's poor, his shooting's poor, his tackling's poor, he's slow, and his touch is poor, what does he offer us? Having said that, he seems to be a confidence player, and some of the abuse dished out at him from the stand every time, before he even received the ball, was nothing sort of a disgrace. After the game, by all means.

DJ playing Spike and Maccers for 120 minutes was madness. I thought both played rightly last night, I was especially pleased by Maccers, not all his passes came off, but he was back to beating men with skill and is still the only one who'll put the foot on the ball, dictate the pace and pick out passes.

Both Thompson and Spike worked their socks off and did well, Mouncey showed flashes but I still feel he's a wee bit too weak. Pat and Noel had shockers, both need changed for Saturday.

Was impressed with Newry's crowd, was pleasantly surprised by our turnout, and Mourneview is a cracking wee ground.

Can't get all the penalties onto Windows Movie Maker, so Doog's winner will have to do.