Linfield Exile: Donegal Celtic 1 Linfield 1

No foul, apparently

IPL, Suffolk Road, Saturday 23rd February 2008

Team: Mannus, Ervin, Murphy, Bailie, O'Kane, Mulgrew (Stewart 84), Gault, McAreavey, Curran, Ferguson, Thompson
Subs not used : Mouncey, McShane, Douglas, Dickson

Scorer: Ferguson

Attendance: 800 Linfield fans

Pish. Apparently we missed a hatful of chances, our manager was reactive as opposed to proactive with substitutions, and Cliftonville won, closing the gap to a point. Quite simply, We, with our 7 full-timers, should not be drawing with a glorified social club team.

Match summaries:

EBB:

Mannus- Didn't have much to do. Unlucky for the goal, as the initial save was a good'un.

Ervin- Done his job by keeping the DC left quiet.

Murphy- Dodgy. Won a lot in the air, but looked unsettled.

Bailie- Decent enough performance, didn't do a lot wrong.

O'Kane- See Ervin.

Mulgrew- Despite the level of abuse he was getting at times, he IMO, was one our better players. He worked his balls off, tried to make things happen and his usual busy self. He tired late on, but the amount of criticism he received was pathetic.

Maccers- Did he do anything at all, all day Laziest performance i've seen in a while, although, he wasn't helped by Spike being in his face all afternoon. Not good enough today.

Gault- Our MOM, again. Nothing gets past him. Not his best performance, but he's not a miracle worker. Needed help from Maccers, and didn't get it.

Curran- Same as Maccers. He may as well not have been on ffs. He's been playing well lately, but today was terrible. Put in a few wind decent corners, with the aid of the wind, but he was totally ineffective.

Spike- Constantly taking up Maccers' position in midfield, and getting in the road. When upfront, both him and Peter were feeding on scraps, as the service to them was rubbish. Typical Spike goal, though.

Thompson- Worked his balls off, but missed one or two decent chances He put in the running, but with s***e service, not a lot more he could have done.

Stewart- Wasn't on long enough, although, he should have had a penalty. His shirt was halfway off, ffs. Like Mulgrew, took dogs abuse, yet he was only on for what? 8 mins?

DJ- Initial team selection was fine, but why the f**k does he persist in playing players that are totally nakard? It doesn't take a genius to realise that both Spike, and Maccers were wrecked.

Mouncey should have been on after 60 mins as should Stewart. Time and time again he continues to f**k things up, by not making changes at the right time.

Bluenose:

Mannus - Had fuck all to do.

Ervin - Played ok
Murphy - Ok
Bailie - Ok
O'Kane- played well - motm

Mulgrew - Tough enough for him. Nothing seemed to go for him today. Worked hard though.
Maccers - Awful - Should have been subbed
Gaulty - Decent
Curran - Rubbish - Should have been subbed.

Spike - Ok
Thompson - Needs shooting practice.

The Midfield Failed today as did fathead Jeffrey.

Oh and the clowns in our support who give Stewart abuse before he even came on... Fuck up assholes

And summing things up nicely, old man BAT with a few choice words:

I thought we were strolling it yesterday until they scored! However we all know a team is always vulnerable when only one goal up. I am wondering why DJ made a reactive change rather than a proactive one! It was clear to everyone that Mulgrew & Curran were doing nothing on either flank and something new should have been tried. To put Tommy Stewart on with only minutes left appears to have been a panic substitution.

I say to the manager, "You have the biggest and best squad of players in the League at your disposal, they should be used to meet the best needs of Linfield Football Club. Yesterday we played a 38 year old striker in his third game in 8 days. In my opinion this was totally inappropriate. Many of our players looked tired on the heavy pitch and we used no substitutions".

Sort it out NOW. If we don't win the League with seven full-timers (and being 1 point clear) then heads should roll!!!