Just got back from Villa Park.
Was a decent performance from the young 'uns, against a good, quick side in Villa.
The Blades took a while to get settled and the game started with pressure from Villa, winning one or two early corners. They were pretty much restricted to one or two snatched shots from outside the box.
As the first half continued the Blades calmed and started keeping hold of the ball and building from the back, this resulted in some end to end stuff but with neither side really creating clear cut chances.
The best chance of the opening 35 mins or so came when Harry Maguire showed his usual composure to take on a Villa midfielder just inside our half before slipping a through ball past the Villa defence for Ironside to run on to. The striker seemed to check his run and appear surprised at the lack of an office flag, this allowed the keeper more time to close him down and eventually stop the goalbound effort.
It took until nearly the half time whistle for the deadlock to be broken, with Ironside on hand to put the ball in the back of the net after good work from Slew. The speedy winger made striker used his pace down the right, cut inside beating the Villa defenders before firing into the 6 yard box.
Other than a Villa half chance the Blades saw out the odd minute remaining in the first half with relative ease.
As the second half began, it was Villa again who started on the front foot, having a few early passages of pressure. Again the Blades began to settle down and Villa started to become frustrated and rushed attacks/lacked composure. The Blades defence were again mainly restricting Villa to speculative efforts, with Maguire looking once again on another wavelength as he calmly steps up and takes the ball away without ever looking in any danger of being caught out.
If anyone was going to threaten the Blades goal it would be the impressive Daniel Johnson, who ended up wasting a couple of chances that dropped to him by blazing over under pressure from the closing defenders.
There was also a nailbiting moment as the ball pinged around the Blades box as Villa looked to claw one back. United keeper Long stayed alert however and moved around well before scooping up the ball in the six yard box.
In between the few moments at the other end, we thought the Blades were destined to go 2-0 up as the ball fell to Ironside in the Villa box who spun on the ball but hit the supporting stantion just wide when it looked destined for the back of the net.
There was a short spell where we seemed eager to be too clever on the ball and ended up needlessly giving the ball away and sparking Villa attacks.
Other than that it was more end to end stuff and half chances, with the Blades playing some good stuff and soaking up any pressure.
The other main talking point came late on, when having earlier shared words when a Villa defender threw the ball at Slew's head, Villa defender Daniel Devine and Slew squared up. After a bit of initial pushing it boiled over and punches were thrown, with at least 3 or 4 landed on Slew by Devine. The rest of the players barrelled in and to their credit the majority diffused the situation.
Inevitably, a red card was brandished for the Villa man, then another to Slew who whilst doing far less than Devine had to go if he raised his hands.
A bit of a mad 5 minutes in terms of decisions ensued with the ref becoming picky.
The Blades weren't hugely troubled though and held on to take the advantage into the second leg back at the lane.
In terms of stand out players, I thought Villa's best player was Johnson, who whilst being guilty at times of being a bit greedy/cocky is skillful and takes up some good positions. Villa definitely look to get him in the game as much as they can and their better chances involved him to some extent.
For the Blades, a few continued to impress me.
Maguire defended well, was strong and uses the ball well. He's capable of taking the ball past his opponent but also plays some quality balls. Rather than always going for the Hollywood ball all the time he also passes well with simple balls between his fellow defenders/midfield.
Harriot again made himself available and carries the ball well. He's good at drawing players, holding them off
and still getting his pass away. A number of good fast breaks came through incisive triangles involving him.
). Mainly because I will be able to get to the away game (as well as possibly coming up for the home game). 
