Deja Vu was in the air as United kicked off their home campaign for the Barclays Championship. A year on from a dominating win against yesterday's opposition where we eventually won 3-0, United and Durham met again in United's home fixture the difference this year being the venue. United have swapped Chesterfield and The Technique Stadium for what it should have been all along in a homecoming to Sheffield and, more importantly, Bramall Lane as opposed to Olympic Legacy Park. It's a move long overdue for United and thanks largely to this move back to the city and also the exploits of our Lionesses this summer, we almost doubled the crowd that watched last season's home opener with just over 850 people venturing to The Lane to see if United could bounce back from a slightly undeserved opening day loss to Blackburn. Durham were looking to build on a draw against Sunderland so who would come away with the three points?
United were unchanged from the opening day fixture at Ewood Park with the only new inclusion in the 18 being Ellie Wilson taking a place on the bench. Durham had ex United player Jess Clarke leading the line and it would be Clarke who would test Davies in goal just shy of the ten minute mark with a curling effort that Davies did very well to tip over the bar. United replied to the effort with a long range shot from Rayner a couple of minutes later that The Blades stalwart saw comfortably saved by Saunders in the Durham net. The game became a little bit of a stalemate after this with some probing on either side of the ball as well as some crunching challenges. Just before the half hour mark, Chene Muir took the game by the scruff of the neck. Firstly, sending an effort scurrying wide of the post then almost getting on the end of of a Courtney Sweetman-Kirk cross that just evaded Muir's boot as it flew across the six yard box. Another CSK cross saw Sophie Haywood meet the ball but despite having time to place a shot in The Kop net, the Villa loanee sent the ball flying over the bar. That was it for the first half with both teams going close to opening the scoring in what was a bit of a come down from last weeks bombastic first half for United with the big positive being we didn't concede deep into time added on. A quick start to the second half was just what the doctor ordered for United as we grabbed our first goal of the season in some style! CSK picked the ball up on the left hand wing and drifted into the box, picking her spot from the corner of the penalty area to lob Saunders and give us a spectacular opener! Durham didn't take this laying down however and forced Davies into another smart stop just before the hour mark. The ex-Huddersfield stopper tipped a long range effort onto the bar and eventually United went up the other end with Haywood being denied by Saunders as the game became stretched. Good passing play from United saw Charley Docherty fire over the bar as we entered the final twenty minutes. With 18 minutes of the 90 left, United would be the ones to get the next goal in the game as some brilliant team play saw Rhema Lord-Mears loft a ball over the Durham backline for the elusive CSK who beat the offside trap and deftly lobbed Saunders to give United breathing room. A third was almost forthcoming as we entered the final exchanges when Wilcock and RLM combined to see Lord-Mears close range effort saved by Saunders. It was the last meaningful action of the game as United saw out the final 10 minutes to secure a first three points of the season! Last week was a very, very good performance that saw us ultimately get nothing despite a flurry of good attacking play. This week wasn't as open and attacking as that but the big difference is that we got the three points and a clean sheet. The first half was a little bit cagey from both sides with Durham perhaps edging the play in the opening exchanges before United slowly but surely played our way into contention. The second half was a lot more open and that seemed to benefit The Blades as we scored two goals of the highest quality. CSK had a couple of chances to open her account last week that she didn't take but that was all change this week as she made her own chances and took them with aplomb. A real captain's performance with two goals and a real desire to get back and help the defensive cause with a real highlight being a hard but fair tackle to deny a Durham chance from coming to fruition with a cracking challenge in our box. All in all though, United did what they failed to do last week and took the chances we created and get the points we deserved! We now look to build on the three points with a visit to Sunderland. I'll be back with another report then so, until next time, UTB.
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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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