Originally Posted by
Cresswell
As Jack Nicholson said in the film A Few Good Men, "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth". Linfield are a team of part-timers who wouldn't look out of place in the SPFL Division 1 or even Division 2 and who never remotely looked like winning this game. Queen of the South are the current leaders of the SPFL championship but it wasn't until Linfield had run out of legs, were on their knees, that we were able to prevail. It is not often that I watch a cup-tie inwardly pleading that it wouldn't go to extra time; that someone would score, anyone would score, just to bring the game to an end. That was as entertaining and exciting as watching paint dry. Take out the two veterans, Dobbie and Carroll, and what was left? Not a lot. Dobbie had a relatively quiet game but had one assist and one goal: Roy Carroll was quite outstanding and, in my opinion, was the Man of the Match by the proverbial mile. Nothing illustrated the lack of quality more than the pathetic attempts by Dykes when through one on one with Carroll. Not once, not twice but three times he made a hash of it before scoring at his fourth attempt. Yes, we won and are through to the next round but it was as unimpressive a win as the national team's draw last night. Ach! Moan over. Back in my box and wait for the abuse.