Untitled Document

The Opinionator Boxing Day Special

Hope everyone has recovered from our Boxing Day Party. We scored three goals but in truth double that would have been a fairer reflection of how the game went. However, if offered 3-1 at the start of the day I would have jumped at it.

Our performances all over the pitch on Boxing Day were top drawer. Every last player played their part from goalkeeper to centre forward although in truth Alan Mannus had very little to do such was our domination. I really thought we would miss the creativity of Mark Picking but didn’t Stuart King prove me wrong there. He took both his goals excellently and was a constant thorn in the side of the Glentoran defence. When he was going through on goal for our third and his second, I for one couldn’t help thinking back to an incident at the same end of The Oval in the semi final of the Irish Cup against Killyleagh when he done everything right, beat the ‘keeper and proceeded to run the ball into the post but thankfully this time Stuarty done the business and didn’t he enjoy it. Phil Charnock yet again showed that he is sheer class. I think we should offer him a new contract now. I hope I am wrong but I think we will find it extremely difficult to hold on to a player of this ability. In all honesty he should be playing at a much higher level than the Irish League but I for one am not complaining. The performance of Stuart King certainly creates a dilemma for David Jeffrey when selecting the team to play Coleraine but this is one problem I am sure he won’t mind having. David has always said that if the man in possession of the shirt is doing the business then he will keep it so I fully expect him to start with Stuart and have Mark on the bench although he may come up with a formation to accommodate both.

It has been said before and no doubt will be again but the conditions we have to endure when visiting The Oval are disgraceful. To go to the toilet is an obstacle course and how Health & Safety allow this situation to continue is beyond me. Remember this is the body that for a while closed the Kop Stand at Windsor Park. How can they justify allowing The Oval to open after doing that? Another thing that needs addressed, not just at The Oval but at numerous other grounds are the turnstiles. With some of them, unless you are wafer thin, you are going to have difficulty getting through them and The Oval certainly falls into this category. I even noticed on Saturday some supporters remonstrating with security staff to get through the gate and for some reason he would not allow them through the gate. In the Irish league we need to start looking at ways to get people into grounds rather than trying to keep them out, in this case literally so the league should look at this issue at every one of its grounds.

Linfield are now entering an absolutely crucial period in the league. At the minute we are sitting in an excellent position and one that a few weeks ago I did not expect us to be in as Portadown losing the two games that they did was a big surprise to me. We now need to capitalise on our position and winning our next three league games would certainly go a long way to ensuring that the Gibson Cup comes home. Next up is Coleraine on New Years Day at Windsor Park. Coleraine are one of our main challengers and this will be a very difficult game but we have a very good record against them at Windsor and hopefully this will continue and we can get revenge for our only league defeat this season so far. Two days later we travel to County Tyrone to take on Dungannon Swifts. Earlier in the season when we played them at Windsor we got a vital three points by scoring two late goals and this was the catalyst for the unbeaten run that we are currently enjoying. It will be far from easy at Stangmore Park, they always give us a very good game down there and it would be an excellent result if we can get the three points from that fixture. The last game of the three I mentioned is home to the team that I see as our biggest rivals for the title, Portadown. In my opinion they are the best team that we have played this season even though we were robbed of the three points against them when the referee refused to give a blatant penalty in the last minute. The one thing about Portadown is that they perhaps lack strength in depth and injuries or suspensions to certain key players could see them struggle. However there is little doubt that their first choice eleven are formidable and they will provide us with a stern test on 10th January. However if we do continue playing the way that we have been then I see no reason why we cannot pick up another precious three points in this game. I think if we are still sitting on top of the league after these three fixtures we will be very hard to stop winning it as our most difficult fixtures will be over us.

In closing I would like to wish everyone a very prosperous and happy new year and lets hope we see Noel Bailie lift the Gibson Cup again at the end of April.

Until next time.

BBC online match report

Sunday Life Article

	:::26/12/03::: They came, they saw, the conquered! Linfield ran out 3-1 winners in todays traditional 'Big Two' boxing day match at the Oval, Glentoran rarely looked like threatening the Blues and our unbeaten run in Boxing Day matches now extends to an amazing 14 years.Winkie Murphy headed home the opening goal of the game and a Stuart King double made sure of the points, Tommy McCallion scored a late consolation goal for the Glens.For more reports and interviews please visit the official Linfield website. The Official Linfield site

	The Opinionator Boxing Day Special Hope everyone has recovered from our Boxing Day Party. We scored three goals but in truth double that would have been a fairer reflection of how the game went. However, if offered 3-1 at the start of the day I would have jumped at it. Our performances all over the pitch on Boxing Day were top drawer. Every last player played their part from goalkeeper to centre forward although in truth Alan Mannus had very little to do such was our domination. I really thought we would miss the creativity of Mark Picking but didn’t Stuart King prove me wrong there. He took both his goals excellently and was a constant thorn in the side of the Glentoran defence. When he was going through on goal for our third and his second, I for one couldn’t help thinking back to an incident at the same end of The Oval in the semi final of the Irish Cup against Killyleagh when he done everything right, beat the ‘keeper and proceeded to run the ball into the post but thankfully this time Stuarty done the business and didn’t he enjoy it. Phil Charnock yet again showed that he is sheer class. I think we should offer him a new contract now. I hope I am wrong but I think we will find it extremely difficult to hold on to a player of this ability. In all honesty he should be playing at a much higher level than the Irish League but I for one am not complaining. The performance of Stuart King certainly creates a dilemma for David Jeffrey when selecting the team to play Coleraine but this is one problem I am sure he won’t mind having. David has always said that if the man in possession of the shirt is doing the business then he will keep it so I fully expect him to start with Stuart and have Mark on the bench although he may come up with a formation to accommodate both. It has been said before and no doubt will be again but the conditions we have to endure when visiting The Oval are disgraceful. To go to the toilet is an obstacle course and how Health & Safety allow this situation to continue is beyond me. Remember this is the body that for a while closed the Kop Stand at Windsor Park. How can they justify allowing The Oval to open after doing that? Another thing that needs addressed, not just at The Oval but at numerous other grounds are the turnstiles. With some of them, unless you are wafer thin, you are going to have difficulty getting through them and The Oval certainly falls into this category. I even noticed on Saturday some supporters remonstrating with security staff to get through the gate and for some reason he would not allow them through the gate. In the Irish league we need to start looking at ways to get people into grounds rather than trying to keep them out, in this case literally so the league should look at this issue at every one of its grounds. Linfield are now entering an absolutely crucial period in the league. At the minute we are sitting in an excellent position and one that a few weeks ago I did not expect us to be in as Portadown losing the two games that they did was a big surprise to me. We now need to capitalise on our position and winning our next three league games would certainly go a long way to ensuring that the Gibson Cup comes home. Next up is Coleraine on New Years Day at Windsor Park. Coleraine are one of our main challengers and this will be a very difficult game but we have a very good record against them at Windsor and hopefully this will continue and we can get revenge for our only league defeat this season so far. Two days later we travel to County Tyrone to take on Dungannon Swifts. Earlier in the season when we played them at Windsor we got a vital three points by scoring two late goals and this was the catalyst for the unbeaten run that we are currently enjoying. It will be far from easy at Stangmore Park, they always give us a very good game down there and it would be an excellent result if we can get the three points from that fixture. The last game of the three I mentioned is home to the team that I see as our biggest rivals for the title, Portadown. In my opinion they are the best team that we have played this season even though we were robbed of the three points against them when the referee refused to give a blatant penalty in the last minute. The one thing about Portadown is that they perhaps lack strength in depth and injuries or suspensions to certain key players could see them struggle. However there is little doubt that their first choice eleven are formidable and they will provide us with a stern test on 10th January. However if we do continue playing the way that we have been then I see no reason why we cannot pick up another precious three points in this game. I think if we are still sitting on top of the league after these three fixtures we will be very hard to stop winning it as our most difficult fixtures will be over us. In closing I would like to wish everyone a very prosperous and happy new year and lets hope we see Noel Bailie lift the Gibson Cup again at the end of April. Until next time. BBC online match report Sunday Life Article		::: 14 Years Unbeaten on Boxing Day ::: 1989 - Glentoran 3-2 Linfield 1990 - Linfield 1-1 Glentoran 1991 - Glentoran 3-3 Linfield 1992 - Linfield 2-0 Glentoran 1993 - Glentoran 0-2 Linfield 1994 - Linfield 1-1 Glentoran 1995 - Glentoran 0-3 Linfield 1996 - Linfield 0-0 Glentoran 1997 - Glentoran 0-0 Linfield 1998 - Linfield 1-1 Glentoran 1999 - Glentoran 1-1 Linfield 2000 - Linfield 2-0 Glentoran 2001 - Glentoran 3-3 Linfield 2002 - Linfield 1-1 Glentoran 2003 - Glentoran 1-3 Linfield
			"The manager told me to stay wide and take on Colin Nixon as often as I could. I think it's the first time I've ever scored twice in a senior game for Linfield so it was a nice way to break my duck for the season." - Stuart King "The atmosphere was absolutely brilliant. It was physical with tackles flying in although I must say nothing untoward.It was my first Big Two game and I'm already looking forward to the next one." - Phil Charnock Official Linfield site match report