Our problem a lot of the time is that we're sometimes too nice as a football team. It seems like every season at The Lane, we get at least one match where we lose by the odd goal against a team we dominate but just simply cannot score a goal whilst our opposition get the goal then tap into the dark art of football shithousery. This can be players going down injured, needless timewasting whether at throw ins or goal kicks, it's very frustrating and I've probably complained about teams doing this to us countless times in the 5(!) years that I've written these articles. It's a tactic I never thought I'd see United employ because we're. Just. Too. Nice. Then last night happened and my God, it was beautiful. We went to the quintessential Southern city of Bristol in the pouring rain and shithoused our way to a second away win in 3 days. Dear reader, are you prepared to revel in the sweet, sweet nectar of our dirty, filthy victory that we got last night? know you are, so let's get cracking with the review.
Four changes were made from the weekend's win over West Brom with Wes returning from suspension, Robinson coming in for Anel due to his suspension and Sharp and Khadra coming in so Doyle and McBurnie could have a rest which is nice isn't it? Ciaran Clark also made a welcome return to the matchday 18. Our hosts started quickly and had a couple of efforts that didn't really threaten Wes in our goal. United would be the team to have something resembling a solid attempt on goal when quick work from a throw set Illi free down the wing with his whipped cross finding Sharp whose weak header was easy pickings for O'Leary. The match became a war of attrition after this with the weather turning worse. Nahki Wells (he's still playing?) sent an effort wide after a corner and sent a header over the bar but it would take until minutes before the half time break for either team to have a proper attempt on goal that looked dangerous. Bristol City would be the ones to go close with some good interplay seeing our serial tormenter Andreas Weimann striking the bar with a whipped effort from just outside the box kissing the top of the bar. There were a couple more half chances for the hosts as the half ended but a pretty ugly half of football ended all square as both teams went back to the changing rooms to try and dry themselves off a bit and try and change something to unlock a game that was offering very little. The game would be unlocked five minutes after the restart, and it would be United and that man Iliman Ndiaye who would get the opening goal! Some nice build up play on the left saw James McAtee loft a ball into the box that Billy Sharp forced Vyner to knock onto the back post for our Senegalese star boy to nip in before O'Leary could claim the ball, knock it home and send the away end into raptures as Illi had his eighth goal of the season. It might have been against the run of play but who cares? We were winning and that's all that matters. United perked up a bit after this and more good play from Ndiaye saw him dance around the City box and send a low curling effort that O'Leary got down well to save. After this however, Bristol City were the ones looking more likely for a goal and the aforementioned shithousery started. Alex Scott appeared to have been possessed by prime Jack Grealish in this game as he had a couple of mazy runs that we just didn't look like we wanted to defend with the City man sending an effort curling wide of Wes's net and another forcing Wes into a smart save at his near post. The Robins continued to press for an equaliser but just couldn't get a clear shot on goal with some decent rear-guard effort from United restricting our hosts to pot shots from distance. The closest City went in this period was a shot from Semenyo that the Ghanaian international sent narrowly wide of the post with Wes well beat. The pressure continued and Tanner was the next to sting the post with a cracking first time effort from distance. It just wasn't coming for our hosts however, and everything was coming up Bladesmen. Frustrations boiled over for City as we neared endgame when Tanner poleaxed McAtee which saw the defender given his immediate marching orders and seeing McBurnie restrained by Norwood like Scooby-Doo handling Scrappy-Doo. Baldock also looked like he was going to body slam O'Leary or steal his lunch money one of the two. Anyway, United held on for the final whistle and secured the three points for our second away win of the week! Was it pretty? Absolutely not. Did we play well? It wasn't our most fluent performance that's for sure but who cares, we won and that's all that matters. Winning ugly has been a real problem that this group of players has had going back to the Wilder years. We seem to have gotten better and getting points from our bad games this season with this and the win against Swansea games where we weren't great but got the three points. It's that killer edge that teams who are gunning for promotion manage to get through and secure those maximum points. We're doing it more often now which can only be a good thing! Let's just remember that we can also win when we play well. So, two wins from two and we're back in the race for automatics again. A top of the table clash with Burnley beckons this weekend. It should be a cracker. Until next time, UTB. Just before I go, I'm not one to plug stuff that I do outside of this on here, but I hope you'll forgive me for doing it just this once. I've been lucky enough to be a part of the Young Programmer's programme currently running at The Showroom Cinema near Bramall Lane and as a part of that, we put on screenings of films once every month or so. Our next screening is coming up this Sunday at 6PM and I'll be presenting a screening of South Yorkshire classic Kes. There's been a lot of hard work gone on to getting this screening on and it'd mean a lot if some of you lovely lot who read my ramblings buy a ticket and turn up to watch the film! Please don't feel obliged to buy it or come but I'll just leave a link to buy tickets here if you're interested! Anyway, that's that! I'll see you in the aftermath of Saturday for the next review! Young Programmers Takeover: Kes - Showroom Workstation - Sheffield
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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
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