Out of all the players in the world that I didn't think I'd ever see pull on the red and white stripes of Sheffield United, Leon Clarke was up there at the top of that list. An ex Wednesday player and a man that had a certain reputation about being pretty languid both on and off the pitch (just take a look at the incident he shared on the pitch with Paulo Di Canio during his stint at Swindon) so when Clarke signed for United in the summer of 2016 it came as a bit of a shock to many that Chris Wilder would be interested in taking on a then 31 year old striker on a three year contract who had had problems at previous clubs. How wrong we would be though as for the next two seasons at least and most definitely during the first season in the Championship, Clarke would go on to be one of the most important players in the initial rise of The Blades under Wilder.
Clarke scored his first goal for United in the EFL Cup clash at home against Crewe back in August. Unfortunately for Clarke, much of his first season in a Blades was hampered by a foot injury and, aside from a goal against Chesterfield in November, Clarke didn't get a chance at a proper run in the team until the end of the season but when he did, bloody hell Clarke went on an absolute tear. Starting from the 5th of April against Coventry, Clarke went on to score 6 goals in 5 games including the equaliser against Northampton that set us on our way to promotion and a double against Bradford in our first home game since being declared champions. Throw that in with a stunning goal away at Port Vale and you do begin to see the seeds being sown for the form that would eventually follow during the next season in the Championship. After getting a brilliant assist against Brentford on the opening day of the season, Clarke went on to have a pretty poor start to the league season after getting sent off after an altercation with Barnsley's Angus MacDonald however, he was back for the first Steel City derby of the season and with an injury crisis hitting United's frontline it would be Leon Clarke and David Brooks who would be leading the line that day for the Blades and it would go on to be a very fruitful day for both men. After being mocked for not being Championship standard by the standard bearers of the division in Wednesday fans (ha) Clarke went on to shove all of that criticism back into the faces of Wednesday fans and went on to score a double against our dear neighbours in a result that still resonates to this day with it perhaps being the beginning of the end for the short period where Wednesday were play off contenders. The destruction of that ideal is down in a small part to Leon Clarke. After taming the Owls, Clarke would begin to go on a tear again. Three days after conquering one former club, Clarke was up against other former employers in the shape of Wolverhampton Wanderers and he did the exact same to Wolves as what he did to Wednesday. Clarke got another brace against a team that would go on to comfortably win the division. After another quiet patch towards the end of September and not scoring during the whole of October, November was upon us and this was the month when Leon Clarke went on another absolute tear and became one of the most dangerous strikers in England even if it was just for a month. November started with the visit of Hull City to The Lane and after going into the break 1-0 down thanks to a Kamil Grosicki wonderstrike. United and Clarke turned on the style and in a 35 minute spell starting on the 53rd minute, Clarke went out and decimated Hull. Scoring a hat trick in 23 minutes was mad enough but then having the skill to go out and get a fourth? Incredible. It was brilliant. Clarke showed that not only did he belong in this division with this decimation of The Tigers but that he could thrive and he followed that up with another goal in the following match against Burton Albion. Another home game, another hat trick and Clarke was really beginning to hit his stride. Clarke would end the month with the equaliser in home game against Birmingham and thus ended perhaps the most fruitful month that a United striker has ever had and perhaps ever will have. 4 Games. 9 Goals. They are unreal numbers that only players like Ronaldo and Messi could conjure up but for one month in 2017, Leon Clarke was up there with players of that calibre. Although the goals wouldn't come as fruitfully as they did during that month, Clarke would end the season with a very respectable 19 goals in 39 games and a spot in the PFA Team Of The Year. It was an incredible season for a player who's previous highest total for goals in the Championship was 8 during the 2008-09 season. It proved to the doubters that Clarke could in fact cut it in the second tier of English football. The goals did dry up the next season but despite only scoring three goals for United, they were all pretty crucial with his goals against Stoke, Brentford and Derby all going a long way in deciding the outcome of those fixtures. Clarke made 24 appearances for United last season before going out on loan to Wigan during January. Despite not being a United player during that 4 month period, Clarke still had a helping hand in getting us promoted getting an assist as Wigan went to Leeds and won 2-1 despite being down to 10 men for much of the match. Watching Leon celebrate his teammates goal against Leeds makes you think that he wasn't just celebrating for his teammate but also for his parent club. Despite being put on the transfer list in the summer and constant rumours of him leaving the club Leon is still here. He actually came on against Liverpool to make his Premier League debut back in September at the age of 34 and almost scored. His sliding effort going miles over the bar when it looked harder to miss than score. There wasn't much anger at that missed opportunity though because even though I don't think many people were too happy about Leon being at the club originally, Clarke has busted all the myths that surrounded him when he came to the club and gone on to be a cult hero for the club during a period of success that the club perhaps hasn't seen since the late 60's - early 70's. He actually has scored for United this season, a lovely finish against AFC Fylde in the FA Cup third round in front of an empty Kop and around 11,000 fans. If that is in fact Clarke's last contribution to the Blades then I suppose it's good that he got to score a goal in what could be his final appearance for the club but imagine if it was in front of a full Kop. The roar would have been incredible, rather than just a small 'get in'. After being divisive in his early Blades career, I'd like to think that that isn't the case anymore. Leon Clarke is a modern day Sheffield United legend and no matter whatever else happens during his career, he'll always have 2017-18 and November when, even though it was just for a month, Leon Clarke became one of the best strikers in the world.
0 Comments
After 40 games, after 7 months of nonstop league football, here we are. One month left and 6 games to go. After initially looking like we'd be running away with the league at the start of the season our form took a bit of a hit and Reading went and ran away with league themselves. This left United vying for second place with Watford, Leeds United and, perhaps dark horses in the race for second place (ha), Crystal Palace. After a pretty dismal March where United only won one game, The Blades still were in second place but their grip seemed to be loosening on that second automatic promotion spot with a lead of 8 points on third at the beginning of March being cut down to 6 points at the end of the month. So before we get on to how United got on, let's take a look at the run in for our automatic promotion contenders.
The Run In Watford Luton Town (H) Wolves (A) Ipswich Town (H) QPR (A) Hull City (H) Leeds United Hull City (A) Plymouth Argyle (H) Reading (H) Sheffield United (A) Crewe Alexandra (H) Preston North End (A) Crystal Palace Leicester City (A) Crewe Alexandra (H) Burnley (A) Southampton (H) Sheffield United (A) United began the month with a visit to the Britannia Stadium and the prospect of tough opposition in Stoke City. United opened the scoring with Danny Webber being played in with a lovely ball over the top of the Stoke defence and, ignoring the attentions of the Stoke defender, Webber slots home to put the Blades one up. Stoke did eventually equalise however and United came away from Stoke with a point. Our nearest opponents Watford mirrored our result that game week with a home draw against Luton with future Blade Marlon King (ew) getting their goal. Leeds lost 1-0 to Hull City and Palace lost away 2-0 to Leicester. The visit of Hull City is up next and United got up and running pretty quickly with Neil Shipperley tapping home a Michael Tonge cross to give The Blades an early lead. United would eventually double their lead in the second with another cross into the box resulting in another goal with Paul Ifill nodding home a Danny Webber cross at the Kop end. Hull did manage to pull a goal back after this however with a deflected cross leaving Elliot all on his own just outside the six yard box. The Hull man duly buries his opportunity and Hull are back in the game. Hull continued to press and arguably should have had a penalty. A ball over the top allowed a Hull player a clean break on goal. Kenny rushed off his goal line and did manage to prevent the Hull player from getting a shot off but he didn't manage to claim the ball and another Hull player was on the scene moments after the first save with Kenny scrambling to get the ball and tripping up the onrushing Hull player. The referee however deemed it to be a fair challenge and play continued however, Kenny looked like he picked up an injury but manages to carry on. Hull's pressure does eventually pay off and they get their equaliser with a low ball into the box being turned home by Duffy (not that one) with Hull coming back from 2-0 down to get it back to 2-2. It looked like the pressure of the promotion battle was getting to United and to make matters worse, Kenny was once again down with an injury, it looked like Duffy's knee had made contact with Kenny's head during Duffy's follow through with his shot and it did look like Kenny had been KO'D. He did continue however and minutes later he was clattered again with a miscommunication with Chris Morgan seeing the two collide with Hull fortunately dragging their shot at an open goal wide. Despite possibly suffering from concussion, Kenny carried on and United got a third goal that would prove to be the winner. After Steve Kabba squandered a pretty good chance, the resulting corner saw a goalmouth scramble that eventually lead to David Unsworth slamming home to give United a 3rd goal and would prove to be crucial in the race for promotion. United held on for a big three points which took them onto 85 points for the season. Watford on the other hand only managed another draw away at Wolves with Leeds also getting the same result at home against Plymouth. 11 points now separated 2nd and 3rd in the Championship with United now on the cusp of promotion to the Premier League. A win in their next fixture and if Leeds were unable to beat Reading The Blades would be promoted. United could seal promotion (or go a long way to sealing it) with a win against Cardiff City at Ninan Park. Danny Webber had the opportunity to open the scoring early doors with a Steve Kabba pass finding an unmarked Webber inside the box who's first time shot sailed over the bar. Webber did eventually open the scoring however with some careless passing from Cardiff eventually leading to Webber collecting the ball just outside the Cardiff box. Jinking into the penalty area, Webber manged to slot home down to the keepers left with United now on the cusp of Premier League football. United held on for the win. A day later Leeds were playing Reading at home and despite taking the lead through Rob Hulse Reading eventually equalised and with three games left to go, Sheffield United were promoted to the Premier League. With promotion secured, the first of United's last games in the Championship would be a home game against former promotion contenders Leeds United. United took the lead after a David Unsworth corner was turned home into the goal by Leeds midfielder Eirik Bakke. Leeds did eventually equalise via a very good finish from David Healy. The game ended 1-1 and United celebrated promotion properly in front of the Bramall Lane faithful. The last away day of the season was a visit to Kenilworth Road with Luton Town the opposition, another 1-1 draw for The Blades with Michael Tonge scoring a great free kick from around 25 yards out to earn United a point. It's the final game of the season and after a turbulent season United finished off a memorable campaign at home, in front of 27,120 fans, against Crystal Palace. United eventually run out 1-0 winners with Chris Morgan powering home a Keith Gillespie cross from a well worked corner routine. Other notable events on the day include the final games in the careers of both Chris Short and Brian Deane with it being fitting that the careers of two great servants of the game ends in promotion to the top flight of English football. United finished the season on 90 points, 16 points behind champions Reading and 9 in front of third placed Watford. In a season where not much was expected of United, Warnock's Blades shocked many by gaining promotion to the Premier League but whilst watching this season review back, 14 years after it happened and after being of an age to fully appreciate our last promotion to the Premier League, I think that the current Blades squad would beat this iteration of United quite comfortably if that match was to ever happen. But despite their limitations, Warnock's promotion side did have some very good technical players within the team. Players like Phil Jagielka (who would win the Championship player of the season award for 2005/06), Danny Webber, Michael Tonge and Chris Armstrong all looked like they'd be able to make the step up to the top tier. I guess one out of four isn't too bad? Anyway, thank you for reading this series on our 2005/06 season. Until next time, UTB. The start of Spring usually means a rejuvenation of lifestyle for some people. Spring cleaning begins and it's generally all about out with the old and in with the new. After a month where United only managed to win two of the six matches they played, The Blades needed a tune up and a return to the form that saw them run out to an early lead at the top of the table back at the start of the season. That rejuvenation didn't get off to the best of starts with a 0-0 draw against Crewe Alexandra at home not exactly instilling confidence in the hearts of many Blades fans especially with Watford and Leeds now breathing down their necks in the race for automatic promotion. It would continue to get worse for United with consecutive away losses against Coventry and Norwich with the Blades going down 2-0 to The Sky Blues at the Rioch and then a 2-1 loss to Norwich with Chris Armstrong getting United's consolation. Without a win in over a month, United needed to get their promotion push back on track and with the visit of Southampton to The Lane, United had the perfect opportunity to do just that.
A convincing 3-0 against The Saints got United a much needed three points in their race for promotion. Phil Jagielka opened the scoring for The Blades with some lovely build up play seeing Michael Tonge play a brilliant side rule pass that allowed Chris Armstrong to break free of the Southampton backline with Armstrong playing a low cross into the onrushing Jagielka who slotted the ball home with a great first time finish. The lead was doubled not long after with a long throw from Leigh Bromby being knocked down by a Southampton defender into Paul Ifill with the Barbados international controlling the knock down and getting his 8th goal of the season. United finished off the scoring in the second half with more good play from United seeing Jagielka putting in a teasing ball that Keith Gillespie met and headed across the face of goal to Danny Webber who somehow managed to squirm his chance along the goal line with the Southampton defender smashing the ball into a fellow defender with the ball rebounding onto the post and then rolling out to Neil Shipperley with the ex Crystal Palace man slamming home to get his first goal since the reverse fixture of this match back in December. So in a month where United only managed to pick up one win from four games and a total of four points from a possible twelve, United had clung onto second place but with Reading now fourteen points ahead of us with six games left it didn't look like we'd be winning the League and with Watford, Leeds and Crystal Palace now all within eight points of United it looked like it would be a stressful run in for Blades fans with the last month of the season upon us, would United be able to hang on to the last promotion place? After a relatively quiet January game-wise, United's February was chock-a-block with fixtures with 6 games in 28 days including the visit of league leaders Reading to Bramall Lane and a trip to Hillsborough with Sheffield Wednesday looking to avenge the derby loss earlier in the season. United started off the month on a very positive note for both The Blades and new signing Ade Akinbyi who opened his Blades account on his debut with the only goal in a 1-0 away win against Derby County. Akinbyi wasn't the only hero against Derby however with Paddy Kenny stepping up to the plate and saving a penalty in the first half with Akinbyi glancing home a Paul Ifill cross to give United the three points.
Five days later however, United were brought crashing back down to earth with Watford visiting The Lane and eviscerating The Blades 4-1 with a Paul Ifill chip proving to be the only positive in a game where David Unsworth was also sent off to further add to a game where United simply didn't turn up. A trip to Plymouth was up next and a chance to gain some momentum going into the home clash against top of the league Reading. United went on to draw 0-0 and now it looked like the Reading game could be very decisive in where both teams would finish the season. United started the brighter of the two sides and opened the scoring after Bruce Dyer smashed home after a lay off from Nick Montgomery. The lead would not last long however and Reading were back on equal terms after future Blade Dave Kitson turned home a low driven cross to undo the good work United had done up to that point in the game. United could (and probably should) have taken the lead in the second half with a Michael Tonge corner being knocked down into the six yard box for Steve Kabba who's shot rebounds into the Reading defender on the goal line, the ball bounces back to Jagielka with the goal at his mercy. Somehow Jagielka can't convert from about three yards out and Reading escape from the situation with their point still intact. United again have a golden opportunity to get a second with a free kick deceiving everyone apart from Steve Kabba who had the freedom of The Kop, all he had to do was place the ball past the Reading keeper and United would be back in front. Kabba somehow misses and it almost proves costly with a Reading counter attack leading to a one-on-one with Kenny being judged to have hauled down the Reading forward and the ref pointing to the penalty spot. Dave Kitson steps up and... misses! Kenny saves it with his second penalty save in his last four games. An exciting game for the neutrals but a game that didn't do United any favours in regards to catching Reading. It wouldn't get any easier for United with their next game the return Steel City Derby with Sheffield Wednesday looking to avenge the earlier loss two months earlier. The scoring was opened by The Blades in spectacular fashion by Michael Tonge with an unbelievable free kick which he bent into the top left hand corner of the Wednesday net from just outside the top of the right hand side of the penalty box. It would get even better for United not long after with Ade Akinbyi writing his name into United folklore with a brilliant volley to double The Blades lead and also doubling his own personal Blades goalscoring record. It's a great goal with Akinbyi managing to control a lovely cross from Chris Armstrong and then thwacking the ball home. Akinbyi arguably should have had a second in the second half with good work from Dyer on the left seeing a cross lofted in to the onrushing Akinbyi who headed over from point blank range with the goal at his mercy. Wednesday did manage to equalise from the penalty spot to ensure a nervy finish to the game and they very nearly equalised with a looping cross into the box seeing Kenny going walkies and his punched clearance only went as far as a Wednesday player on the edge of the box with his chip being cleared on the goal line by Rob Kozluk. The resulting corner lead to nothing and United secured the win and the double with bragging rights in the Steel City going unequivocally to the red and white half of the city. After the highs of the derby win, United were once again pulled back down to earth with a bang with QPR completing the double over United with a 3-2 win. Rangers opened the scoring with a long mazy run being rewarded with the goal at the strikers mercy. He duly obliged and United were 1-0 down. United hit back not long after with Michael Tonge chipping in a ball to Akinbyi with the former Nigerian international getting his third goal in six games after looping a header beyond the QPR keeper into the bottom right hand corner of the Bramall Lane end net. United would take the lead after this with a corner being headed home not by a United player but by Marc Bircham. United could have added a third from the penalty spot early in the second half but Paul Ifill's effort was saved by the QPR keeper. Another own goal lead to QPR getting an equaliser with Chris Morgan converting a great cross into his own net to get QPR back in the game. The Hoops completed the comeback with a lovely finish from the QPR striker giving Rangers a third and condemning United to a second defeat of the month. Two wins in the month of February ensured that United still hung onto second place but a 12 point gap had now opened to table topping Reading with the gap to third placed Watford shrinking to just 7 points with 10 games of the season left. It was beginning to look a little bit shaky for The Blades, would we be able to hang on to the automatic places? Despite spending the square root of naff all in the summer in regards to transfers coming in, out of nowhere, Sheffield United went all out in the January transfer window and spent the big bucks (or at least big bucks in regards to what we usually spend) mixed in with free signings like a returning Brian Deane and Bruce Dyer United spent a whopping (at the time) £1.75 million pounds on long term transfer target Ade Akinbyi. It was a statement of intent signing from Warnock with Akinbyi scoring 14 goals in 33 appearances up to that point in the season. Before we get to see Akinbyi in action however, United have 4 games in January to get through starting off with a visit to the KCOM (or whatever it was called then) and the opposition of Hull City.
United got the New Year off to a flying start with a resounding 3-1 against The Tigers. Hull actually opened the scoring and it was brilliant goal with a lay off being met and curled home from just outside the left hand side of the 18 yard box which left Kenny grasping at thin air. United did manage to find an equaliser with a deflected effort from Paul Ifill wrongfooting the Hull keeper and looping into the bottom left hand corner of net. Danny Webber put the Blades ahead after picking up the ball inside the Hull half, after darting into the penalty area Webber managed to wrong foot two Hull defenders and slammed the ball home. Chris Armstrong finished off the victory in the second half with good hold up play from Webber eventually allowing Armstrong a free run into the box with Webber laying off the ball and Armstrong duly despatching into the left hand corner to get United up and running in the New Year. FA Cup action up next and there's not a lot to say about this other than United are eliminated by lower league opposition with Colchester United coming to The Lane and getting a 2-1 win with Steven Kabba ending his goal drought with the only goal for The Blades. Back to league action and a visit to Portman Road, the home of Ipswich Town, with United only managing to come away with a point. Another Danny Webber goal cancelled out Juan's incredible free kick to ensure United came away from the South East with something. United ended the month at home with the visit of Brighton and ended the month like they started it with United coming away with 3 points and a 3-1 win. This time it would be Jagielka, Ifill and Tonge getting the goals for The Blades with Jagielka probably scoring the best of the goals with a lovely first time finish from inside the box, converting an Alan Quinn cross. After a pretty positive start to the year, United finished the month still in second with a seven point gap to overturn on top of the table Reading and a pretty resounding looking 12 point gap on third placed Leeds. February was looking like another crucial month for The Blades promotion push with games against Reading and the return Steel City Derby game looking like they'd be highlights with these 5 games perhaps going a long way in deciding where United would finish the season. December kicked off with the visit of city rivals Sheffield Wednesday. With the next derby not happening until the middle of February this derby would go a long way in deciding whether the red and white side of the city or the blue and white side would have bragging rights. United lined up with two ex Wednesday players in the starting XI with Leigh Bromby and Alan Quinn having recently crossed the city divide. United should have opened the scoring early doors with a long throw in from Bromby being half cleared by the Wednesday defence, the ball was reworked into the box with Danny Webber beating the offside trap. Webber was left on his own just outside the left hand side of the six yard box, Webber spots the run of the onrushing Steve Kabba, Webber duly lays the ball into Kabba with Kabba only having to slot the ball past a Wednesday defender from about 4 yards out to give United a lead. Kabba somehow misses instead of slotting it home, he hits it into the floor allowing the Wednesday defender to clear. Kabba was at it again shortly after, a Wednesday free kick was claimed by Kenny who's quick distribution allowed Kabba a clean break on goal. All Kabba had to do was lift it over the onrushing Wednesday keeper and finally give United the lead. Kabba does lift it over the keeper but the ball bobbles wide of the left hand post and Kabba is left to rue another very good opportunity to put the Blades ahead. United do eventually take the lead and it's the ex Wednesday man Quinn who opens the scoring for The Blades (Quinn is still the only person to have scored for both Wednesday and United in the Steel City Derby) after volleying home a deflected Kabba cross into the bum of Neil Shipperley who nearly blocked the ball from going into the net itself. Thankfully Shipperley didn't inadvertently cost us the lead and The Blades were up and running in the derby. Wednesday almost get an equaliser shortly after with a shot from just inside the 18 yard box narrowly glancing past the right post of Paddy Kenny's net.
Second half and United arguably should have had a penalty after Nick Montgomery laid a ball off to Rob Kozluk who chopped inside and was brought down by a Wednesday defender, there was nothing doing in the eyes of the ref and Wednesday clear their lines. Kozluk is involved again shortly after with a lovely ball into Shipperley who lays it off to Quinn who lobs the ball back into the box for Kabba who heads the ball into the air with Kozluk heading the ball back towards Shipperley with the forward narrowly heading the ball up and over the crossbar. Wednesday again went close again with a low drive from outside the box from O'Brien flashing wide of the left hand side of the net. Despite the late pressure, United hold on and claim bragging rights in Sheffield with Alan Quinn forever writing himself into Sheffield United folklore. Could you imagine what would have happened had Neil Shipperley's backside stopped us from winning that game? I don't even want to consider a reality where that man's back end stops us from winning a Steel City Derby. Anyway, let's get on to the rest of the month. A resounding win against Burnley was up next with Shipperley opening the scoring after getting the ball from Danny Webber. Ignoring the attentions of the Burnley defender, Shipperley turned and ploughed the ball home with a lovely goal. Danny Webber added a second after tapping in a Shipperley knock down to double the advantage. Shipperley had his second and United's third to top off a commanding win for The Blades after trapping a brilliant cross from Chris Armstrong and then slamming the ball home to give United back to back wins. Momentum was slowed a little bit in the next match with a 0-0 away draw against Preston. A home loss on Boxing Day against Norwich City took a little bit more momentum away from The Blades with Phil Jagielka getting United's consolation in a 3-1 loss. A visit to Southampton two days later gave United the chance to bounce back from the loss against Norwich and bounce back they did with Shipperley grabbing his 9th goal of the season to give United a 1-0 win. New Year's Eve saw the visit of Stoke City to The Lane with United looking to finish 2005 off on a high. Nick Montgomery opened the scoring with his first of the season (Montgomery would score 9 goals in his whole career and I seem to think that all of Montgomery's goals for United were from outside the box) with a great finish down to the Stoke keeper right hand side. Stoke did equalise in the second half with a deflected effort rolling through to the striker who rolled it home to put Stoke on equal terms. A good save from Kenny kept United on equal terms and United did mange to get a winning goal with a cross from Jagielka being nodded home by Morgan to ensure that United end the year with consecutive wins. A topsy turvy month saw United hold on to second place with 59 points with an 11 point lead on 3rd place Leeds but with a 7 point deficit to top placed Reading. After three games without a win, United got back to winning ways with a bang with a 4-0 drubbing against fellow promotion hopefuls Luton Town at Bramall Lane. Phil Jagielka got the game off to a flying start for United with another contender for the worst goal I've ever seen United score. Alan Quinn puts the ball into the box from a free kick that the Luton keeper punched clear only as far as what I'm assuming is a United player (the camera is boxed in on the pitch so you can't see who recycles the ball back into the box) the ball falls to Chris Morgan who seems confused that the ball has come to him. The ball deflects off of Morgan's feet and comes to Jagielka who duly smashes it home to give United a lead. Another set piece leads to United's second with an advancing Paul Ifill pulled back that resulted in Alan Quinn delivering in a lovely ball straight onto the unmarked head of Chris Morgan who powered home in front of The Kop to double The Blades advantage. A third goal was added not long after with good link up play involving Ifill, Kabba and Derek Geary eventually seeing the ball put into the box for substitute Pericard to slide home to put United's result beyond doubt. United had a fourth and Jagielka had his second after he raced through on goal after linking up with Danny Webber to slot home and give The Blades a commanding win against the third placed team in the division.
A visit to Selhurst Park the home of Crystal Palace was up next with The Blades opening the scoring. Good footwork from Kabba eventually allowed him space on the left hand side of the six yard box where he played a ball across to a waiting Phil Jagielka to get his third goal in two games. Palace equalised shortly after with a thumping header getting them back on level terms, the scores weren't equal for too long though and the lead was retaken after a brilliant outside of the boot pass from Jagielka led to a lovely curling effort from Ifill. United had a third with another set piece proving fruitful, this time it was Shipperley finishing off an Alan Quinn cross with the ball barely (if at all) crossing the line. Palace had a consolation late on but United held on for their 14th win of the season. Bottom of the league Millwall visited the Lane next with United almost taking the lead after a rasping drive was spilled by the Millwall keeper straight into the path of an onrushing Pericard who's poked effort rolled onto the post and was duly cleared. The Blades had the lead shortly after however and what a goal it was. Quinn played a short corner to Kabba who let it roll to Unsworth with the defender lashing the ball into the top left hand corner of the Bramall Lane end net to put United one up. Millwall managed to equalise with a corner routine of their own with the ball floated in, cleared, recycled back into play and then a deft chip left Kenny grasping at thin air and it's 1-1. Millwall would take the lead in the second half with some good play eventually seeing Millwall get a shot away that was parried into the air by Kenny but unfortunately, the ball landed on the head of a Millwall player who nodded home to give The Lions an unlikely 2-1 lead. United did eventually manage to spare their blushes thanks to a Danny Webber tap in. An away trip to Wolves lead to another draw with both teams failing to breach either defence. United ended the month with the return visit to Leicester and one team did manage to score four goals again but it wasn't United who did it this time. 4-2 was the final scoreline with Kabba getting his first goal since the draw against Leeds and Danny Webber getting the other. United's grasp on the top of the table was broken at the end of the month with an inability to pick up a win in the last three games of the month proving crucial. Reading managed to open up a 4 point gap on United who dropped to second place. Nine points separated second and third so there was still breathing room on the play off places. A tough December was on the cards with United beginning the month with arguably the most important fixture of the season. The visit of city rivals Sheffield Wednesday was on the cards. Will United be able to get through a tough festive period? Well, you'll find out on Wednesday. Or you could watch the season review on YouTube, it's up to you, anyway, until next time, UTB. Lee Evans was a pretty average player during his 7 month spell with United. After during at the end of January from Wolves for around £750,000 Evans went on to make 21 appearances for United and eventually left initially on loan to Wigan Athletic in August then that transfer was made permanent in January. However, on a relatively cold April night (funnily enough, two years ago today) Lee Evans showed United fans a glimpse that he could be a player that wouldn't just be bang average.
Let's set the scene. At this point in the season United's early season blistering form had gone somewhat cold. Ever since the injury of Paul Coutts in a match against Burton Albion in early November United had played 25 league matches and during that period only manged to win 6 games compared to our first 25 where we won 13 games. So it's fair to say our hopes of automatic promotion had taken a pretty big hit but there was still one slimmer of hope to get us out of the division and that was the playoff's. Coming into this game United had lost their previous game 3-2 against Barnsley with a certain Oli McBurnie bagging a brace to help Barnsley to a crucial victory in their fight for the drop. Middlesbrough on the other hand were doing what they usually do and were in and around the top six with a little bit of a sniff at automatic promotion. So this match was pretty crucial for both teams. A couple of minutes in the goal happened. The ball was played in by Enda Stevens and was eventually hacked into the night sky by a Middlesbrough player. As the ball started dropping, Evans was moving onto the ball from around 25 yards out, instead of the stopping the ball dead and taking a shot or distributing the ball elsewhere (which is basically what Evans did before this point and continued to do after this goal so this bit of individual class came as somewhat of a shock) Evans side footed the ball first time straight into the top right hand corner of the net which left Darren Randolph wondering what the hell had just happened, which was a feeling that was probably shared by around 24,000 Blades. That wasn't all though because just before the end of the half he was at it again. Brooks laid on a lovely cross and Evans finished off the move with a lovely volley. This night was probably the peak of Lee Evans career at United and although he never hit the highs of this night again in his short stay at United, he'll always have Middlesbrough. The sad thing is that on the same night Evans scored his screamer, Ruben Neves scored his thunderbolt against Derby and Jack Grealish also scored a great goal so Evans goal was somewhat forgotten. It's unfortunate because the goal itself is a thing of beauty and I'd like to think that Evans may never score a goal as good as this ever again in his career. So despite no one else remembering his goal, 24,000 Blades fans certainly will. After 8 matches and 720 minutes of league football, Sheffield United lost a game of football and out of all the people to lose a game of football to, the team placed directly below you probably isn't the best team to concede points to. But on the 1st of October 2005 United visited Reading and lost 2-1 with Steven Kabba getting another goal to take his tally up to 7 for the season. United got back to winning after the international break with Wolves visiting Bramall Lane Neil Shipperley got United's only goal of the game getting a slight touch on a Chris Morgan header to secure United the win. A visit to Millwall is always a tough trip but United managed to overcome that stereotype and blasted Millwall away with a 4-0 drubbing. Danny Webber opened the scoring with good work from The Blades leading to Tonge laying the ball off to Webber who's laser guided effort from around 30 yards found the bottom left hand corner of the goal. Debutant Vincent Pericard bagged the second with a David Unsworth corner being flicked on which Pericard duly headed home. United's third came via another cracking set piece from Alan Quinn with the ex Wednesday man curling home from the left hand side of the 18 yard box to kill off the game but the scoring wasn't quite done yet with Danny Webber grabbing a second to put the icing on the cake and putting United in good stead going into the Yorkshire grudge match against Leeds at Elland Road.
United fired the first warning shot with Phil Jagielka fancying his chances from around 35 yards out with his shot narrowly flashing wide of the top left hand corner that kept the Leeds keeper honest. Steven Kabba was the next person to test the Leeds keeper with good movement from United getting Kabba in at the right hand side of the box. Kabba could only fire straight at the keeper and Leeds managed to clear their lines. Despite early pressure, Leeds almost opened the scoring after a cross into the box was flicked on to an onrushing Rob Hulse who, somehow, slammed his header wide when it looked easier to score rather than miss. Leeds did eventually open the scoring with Richardson collecting the ball on the left hand side of the box and lashing it home to put the home sided one up, the lead didn't last for long however and United levelled through Steven Kabba who collected his 8th goal in 15 games to earn United a point. Despite his early goalscoring spree, Kabba would only go on to score one more goal for the whole season and would never really go onto recapture the form that he found in the early part of this season throughout the rest of his career. United were back in cup action during the week and were duly eliminated from the League Cup with a comprehensive 2-0 away loss to Reading ending any hopes of a cup run until the start of the FA Cup in the new year. United ended the month winless in three with a 0-0 home draw against Cardiff. United were still top of the table come the end of the month but that commanding lead they had at the start of the month had been cut down to just three points with Reading beginning to gain ground on the early pacesetters. After a pretty good start to the season, United started September with a home game against Ipswich Town. United picked up another victory with Steven Kabba who, after 7 games, netted his 5th and 6th goals of the campaign with his first one coming after a deflection off of an Ipswich defender allowed Kabba to drill home with a low rasping drive. Kabba also almost allowed Ipswich back into it after tripping an Ipswich player in the box that gave Ipswich the chance to equalise from the spot, Ipswich missed with Paddy Kenny guessing right and diving to his left to save. United and Kabba got their second after Kabba was set free just outside the halfway line with Kabba showing a clean pair of heels to get away from the defenders and after setting himself he coolly slotted home to give United a 6th win of the season.
A visit to the now defunct Goldsands stadium now with Brighton the next up to try and fail to beat United, this time it was a rare Phil Jagielka goal that gave The Blades a slim 1-0 win over The Seagulls. Another away trip this time to Vicarage Road, the home of Watford and the match didn't start too well for Warnock's charges with Watford quickly getting into a 2-0 lead with a brace from future Blade Darius Henderson. It looked like United would be heading for a first loss in just over a month but you should never count out a Warnock Championship side and the fightback began with Phil Jagielka getting his 2nd goal of the season and his second of the week with a thumping header that pulled one back. United levelled the game with Paul Ifill managing to wriggle free of the attention's of the Watford defence and rifled home from about 20 yards. The Blades completed the comeback after forcing Clarke Carlisle to turn into his own net. The comeback was complete and United had an 8th win of the season. Back in cup action, a visit to Shrewsbury Town saw the lower league club hold United to a 0-0 draw and the prospect of penalties with United eventually putting away The Shrews thanks to a 4-3 penalty win, David Unsworth scored the winner slotting home to the right of one Joe Hart (whatever happened to that guy?) booking United's place in the third round of the League Cup. League action returned to The Lane 4 days later with Derby County paying a visit to the centre of Sheffield. United opened the scoring in spectacular fashion after David Unsworth bent a corner straight into the Kop net to put United 1-0 up. Another corner saw United grab a second goal with a short scramble in the box eventually being lashed home by Paul Ifill, Derby did pull one back but they didn't get the chance to get an equaliser and United's winning streak continued on. The month ended with Plymouth Argyle visiting Bramall Lane and The Blades would end the month with a perfect 5 wins from 5 games with Neil Shipperley opening the scoring after heading the ball into the Plymouth keeper who couldn't clear the ball properly with Shipperley eventually tapping the ball home at the second time of asking. Alan Quinn got a cracking second for United after winning a free kick on the edge of the Plymouth area, Quinn dusted himself off and lashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the Kop net to give United a 2-0 win and kept them top of the league with 30 points and a 7 point lead on second placed Reading. It's a good start to season but with a tough month up ahead, including visits to Reading and Yorkshire rivals Leeds, could United keep the momentum going? |
AuthorHi my name is John and i will be giving my thoughts on the blades matches and all blades related news in this section Archives
November 2022
Categories |