Ollessendro
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What a rollercoaster ride we faced at Bristol on Saturday. Here is my very own Ollessndro’s (alternative) match report. I warn you in advance that I am not Deadbat, but here is my attempt to sum up the Red abd White wizards trip to the West country.
Kevin Blackwell was given further breathing space as Sheffield United continued their mini revival with a last ditch win at Ashton gate. The Blades ended Bristol City’s excellent undefeated home record with a last ditch winner from hat trick hero Darius Henderson in the 5th minute of injury time. Henderson saved Blackwell’s blushes after the Blades had thrown away a 2 goal lead with a cool finish to send the travelling United fans into ecstasy.
Before the game I spoke to a few Blades fans in the pub and they were not optimistic. In fact I didn’t speak you a single Blade who thought we would win. Mind you I spoke to a Bristol City fan who said that they were having a poor season. I would have been less optimistic if I had of know that they had not lost at home in 19 games or so. Still I was in jovial mood attending my first game of the season.
You’ll have to forgive me for any errors I make, as I had 4 pints before the game and about another 10 out on the town in Bristol after. This coupled with the fact that the seats in the away end are shot and the view was less than desirable might mean I didn’t get everything spot on. We were very close to the pitch and I couldn’t see the game that well.
With the impressive Camara injured and Nick Montgommery and Darius Henderson back in contention Blackwell opted for the 4-5-1 formation restoring the two afore mentioned players to the starting line up. I didn’t have any qualms with him playing this formation as it worked well last season and I was keen to see Williamsona nd Harper given a more free role and Monty giving the back 4 some extra cover.
Bristol started the better team and put the early pressure on United, but they rarely threatened. They passed the ball around nicely but United defended solidly with good work from Monty and Kilgallon early on. United had a half chance after about 20 minutes when Quinn centred and Henderson neatlyu layed the ball in the path of jamie Ward. Ward first time left foot shot was a straight forweard save for Gerken, but a yard either side and he would have been in trouble. As far as I can remember the game was fairly unevetful until big Darius netted the fist goal. Kilgallon centred the ball and Gerken flapped, whilst under pressure from Williamson (?). The ball landed at Hendersons feet and with the keeper commited to the punch it was a straight forward finish for the United centre forward.
There was a lot of confusion at this point. The linesman had apparently put his flag up, but the referee eventually over ruled it. I remember jumping up and down celebrating and then suddenyl everyone was like ‘what the fuck’. The (very noisy) Bristoil fabs in the corner to our right thn started singing ‘sit down, shut up’, but United had the last laugh when the referee consulted his assistant and judged it to be a fair goal.
Within 3 minutes the Blades had doubled their lead after a gift from Bristol City. Bristols captain (can’t remember his name) under little pressure miskicked his clearance and it went staright into the path of Jamie Ward. The impressive ward then teed up Henderson who hit a superb first time finish to make it 2-0.
This was a great moment. All the away support turned on Bristols fans and started singing ‘sit down, shut up, sit down, shut up’. Really enjoyed that part.
City had a great chance just before half time when their black striker went clean through. Luckily for United he was shit and took way too long and fucked the chance up. After he’d allowed himself to be caught he passed the ball to his team mate who could only fire into the side netting. The Blades went in 2 up at half time without really playing that well. A combination of Bristols poor finishing, Ikelme making a couple of good saves and individual errors from the home side meant that United cruised in 2 nil at h/t.
Second half we sat back a little and let Bristol come at us. They looked quite impressive with their neat passing but we defended fairly well and they were a little toothless. The Blades could have wrapped things up mid second half but Henderson’s final ball was poor. He broke clear and tried to centre for Ward (who was unmarked) but the pass was a touch heavy and the chance went missing. I said to the bloke at the side of me, I hope we don’t live to regret that.
Close to the hour mark City pulled one back. An inviting cross was headed in by Carey leaving Ikelme with no chance. It was difficult to see who should have been marking him, but Carey is a big guy and he rose above our defenders and finished well.
Williamson (who apparently was ill) was badly fading and Blackwell brough on Jordan Stewart. He switched to the left and (the hopeless) Quinn tucked inside.
In an absolute bizare moment Jamie Ward was booked by the referee in an action that was nothing short of stupiity (on the officials part). Ward went to take a corner in front of the (brilliantly noisy and) raucus Bristol fans (to our right) and had an object thrown at him. Whatever it was (a coin I think) landed a few yards away from Ward and on the pitch. Quite rightly Ward walked over and picked it up. He drew it to the referees attention and subsequently got booked. Ridiculous. The same thing happened in the Arsenal Chelsea game yesterday, but with less ridiculous officiating. Someone threw a (fake) camera at Lampard when he went to take a corner. Lampard wasn’t booked when he showed the ref the object. In fasct the ref went over to his 4th official and asked for more stewarding in that corner!!??
Reid then came on for the heroic Jamie Ward with a few minuted to go. Blackwell also tried to ensure the 3 points by bring on central defender Fortune for the impressive James Haprer.
Just as United seemed to have done enough to win, City popped up with a 94th minute equaliser. Moments before the 4th official had put up the board showing 5 minutes of injury time to bamboozle thye travelling support. Where on earth that pillock got 5 minutes from I do not know. After some indecison by Fortune, United failed to clear their lines and were severly punished. Sabario latched onto the ball and hit a low left foot drive into the corner of the net giving Ikelme no chance. 2-2 and with virtually the last kick of the game.
Let me tell you I was devstated. It really knocked the stuffing right out of me. I couldn’t speak. I just stood there. I couldn’t shout or swear at Blackwell, Fortune or anyone. I just felt completely numb. I could barely hear the incredible noise that the Bristol fans were making and stoood dumb founded whilst the home support sang ‘2 nil and you’ve fucked it up’ at 150 decibells.
Then something happened that will live in my memory forever. Good work from Kyle Reid and superb coolness from Darius Henderson put this game streaight in my top 5 away experience whilst watching United. The ball was passed back from the centra circle by Henderson to Ikelme. He then hoofed the ball way into the oppositions half. Stewart won the header and Reiod picked up the ball. Reid shear determination gave Hnderson the chance. He rand at the Bristol defence and his blocked shot fell into Henderson path. The Blades no 9 then finished cooly to get his first ever professional hat trick.
The celebraton was aboslutely fantastic. The Blades players ran to our support and went mentally. I was up out of my seat and down to the front barrier to join them within seconds. I was hugging any body near ne and generally going crazy. My mate (Blade in Thatcham) was screaming at Kilgallon (who was celebrating passionately) ‘sign a new fucking contract!?’. I was high as a kite afterward and we went into Bristol to celebrate. I got soaked but I couldn’t give a toss. The highlight away from the fgame was myself and Thatcham singing the greasy chip buttie song (over Annie’s song) in a West Country pub at 9.30 pm on karaoke.
United. Far from vintage performance. We took the 3 points and that is what mattered. But we didn’t string more than 6 passes together the whole game. As usual we chose to play our ‘direct’ style of football. I was happy with the result, but the tendency for us to hoof it to Henderson really got to me. We were lucky to get 3 points to be honest. However we did get 3 points and hence the lads desreved credit. They battled really hard and showed some of that United never say die attitude we had under Warnock. I was impressed by several individuals also. Henderson (obviously) and Ward were oustanding. Also Haprer was much imporved and Kilgallon ooozed class.
Bristol. Decent side and they feel unlcuky that they didn’t et something from the game. 2 sloppy individual errors gave us 2 goals in the first half. Johstone has got them playing good football. They completely outclassed us on that front, but were a little toothless. I only wish we played slightly moe like they did. They re always looking for the pass, trying to create space etc. On several occasions they just passed the ball square, inside, backforwards, slightly forwards to keep possession. Every time we ran out of ideas the ball got hoofed up field. Of course I am not saying that they are fantastic. They concede 3 goals at home. However the sats speak for themselves and the fact that they had 14 efforts on target (to our 5) suggest that they deserved something form the game.
Ikelme 7/10 – Looed solid. No chance on either of the goals. Claimed crosses well, commanded his area and looked a good shot stopper.
Walker 6.5/10 – Did nothing electric, but made a couple of really importan interceptions and one tackle that probably saved a goal (in the second half)
Kilgallon 7.5/10 – Played really well today. He really had sured up that left back spot after poor form from taylor and Stewart. He defended solidy, looked good on the ball and gave an attacking option. He was going mental at the end celebrating the winner, which was ice to see. I’ll be sorry to see him go.
Morgan 6/10 – Fairly solid performance. Still he lost possession by hoofing the ball a lot.
Davies 5.5/10 – Thought Davis was a little better today, but still I remain unconvinced. He has a tendency to give away silly free kicks and is a little rash. I’m not convinced he is the answer to partner Morgan at centre back, but he did ok on Sat.
Monty 7/10 – Came straight back in and put in a very good, workman like performance. He protected the back four and broke up many opposition attacks. He also did ok in possession. He didn’t give the ball away and played sensible balls to the likes of Harper and Williamson.
Haprer 6.5/10 – Much better today. Still not back to his best and still under utilised. He couldn’t do much when the ball was being hoofed over his head, however he created space and looked good on the ball.
Williamson 5.5/10 – Apparently he was ill and thios may have effected his performance. I didn’t watch him very closely, but thought he struggled to get into the game.
Quinn 3/10 – Simply awful. The guy adds nothing to the team and it really pisses me off that Blackwell picks him week in week out. He is not good enough. Simple as.
Ward 8/10 – Another fantastic perofmrance bny young Jamie Ward. He is a real asset. He is tricky and dangerous. Not only that but he works really hard for the team. He hassles, harries and makes a nuiscance of himself. Beat to man of the mtach onlky by hat trick hero Henderson.
HENDERSON 8/10 – What can I say. 3 goals, match winner. As one bloke said in thye toilets after the game, ‘if anyone ses dat Hendo is shite,k I’ll fucking abtter em’
Subs
Stewart – pplayed well and gave us some balance when he came on on the lft.
Fortune – Only on for 5 minutes and still fucked it up. He should have cleared his lines on their second goal and almost cost us 2 points. He’s not good enough.
Reid – liked what I saw. Sure he was only on for 5 minutes but he looked lively. His perceverance created the chance for Henderson to win the game.
Blackwell/tactics. I guess he deserves some credit as we won today. We have now gone 3 games unbeaten, but I still remain unconvinced he is the right man for the job. Why on earth did he drop Bunn? I mean Ikelme played well, but Bunn had saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet the wek before. What more does he have to do? Like Bunn, or not, imagine what it has done to his confidence. It just show KB’s inept man mangement skills. Keeping Stephen Quinn on the pitch was criminal, but his other moves weren’t great. In the lst 5 minutes we were playing with 4 centre backs. Fortune, Davies and Morgan were playing there and also Henderson. This had to be Blackwells insturctions. Now I know we wanted to make sure we got the points, but this was over the top. It meant we had no outlet up front. We hoofed the ball up fornt and there was literally no one there. This meant we kept coming back under pressure. Hendeson should have been up there holding the ball up, not playing as a cente back. As I said, we won. Hence I am not goig to say too much about Blackwell’s tactical ineptness, however I came away with the feeling that he’d got lucky, rather than masterminded a victory.
Atmosphere. I was a little disappoined with our support on Saturday. I mean fare enough, witht the tripe that is being served up every week peope are not going to be very happy/in full voice. However, I thought we were a little quiet. Even at 2-0 up we were a little subdued. This is one of the quiter away games that I’ve been to. The Bristoil fans in the corner to our right realy put us to shame. They were fantastic. They had a concentration of a few thousad packed into that corner stand and they really made some noise. There were 2 guys behid me truying to get things going (with Oh when the Blades in slow song) but it never quite took off. Thus said we had some fantastic moments. The chant of ‘sit down, shut up’ after we’d gone 2-0 up was good. Then there was the winner. We all went mental. That was one of the best celebrations I’ve had as an away fan. It’s up there with Katchuro’s winner at Wolves in the mid 90’s and Andy Walkers equaliser at Ipswich in the play off semi final (97).
Officials. The referee was a real plank. I have talked about this in depath already, but the Ward book was farcical. He then booked Henderson for being put in a head lock. Where he got 5 minutes injury time from, in a injury free game, I’ll nenver know. Still, common sense prevailled when he gave the fist goal.
Kevin Blackwell was given further breathing space as Sheffield United continued their mini revival with a last ditch win at Ashton gate. The Blades ended Bristol City’s excellent undefeated home record with a last ditch winner from hat trick hero Darius Henderson in the 5th minute of injury time. Henderson saved Blackwell’s blushes after the Blades had thrown away a 2 goal lead with a cool finish to send the travelling United fans into ecstasy.
Before the game I spoke to a few Blades fans in the pub and they were not optimistic. In fact I didn’t speak you a single Blade who thought we would win. Mind you I spoke to a Bristol City fan who said that they were having a poor season. I would have been less optimistic if I had of know that they had not lost at home in 19 games or so. Still I was in jovial mood attending my first game of the season.
You’ll have to forgive me for any errors I make, as I had 4 pints before the game and about another 10 out on the town in Bristol after. This coupled with the fact that the seats in the away end are shot and the view was less than desirable might mean I didn’t get everything spot on. We were very close to the pitch and I couldn’t see the game that well.
With the impressive Camara injured and Nick Montgommery and Darius Henderson back in contention Blackwell opted for the 4-5-1 formation restoring the two afore mentioned players to the starting line up. I didn’t have any qualms with him playing this formation as it worked well last season and I was keen to see Williamsona nd Harper given a more free role and Monty giving the back 4 some extra cover.
Bristol started the better team and put the early pressure on United, but they rarely threatened. They passed the ball around nicely but United defended solidly with good work from Monty and Kilgallon early on. United had a half chance after about 20 minutes when Quinn centred and Henderson neatlyu layed the ball in the path of jamie Ward. Ward first time left foot shot was a straight forweard save for Gerken, but a yard either side and he would have been in trouble. As far as I can remember the game was fairly unevetful until big Darius netted the fist goal. Kilgallon centred the ball and Gerken flapped, whilst under pressure from Williamson (?). The ball landed at Hendersons feet and with the keeper commited to the punch it was a straight forward finish for the United centre forward.
There was a lot of confusion at this point. The linesman had apparently put his flag up, but the referee eventually over ruled it. I remember jumping up and down celebrating and then suddenyl everyone was like ‘what the fuck’. The (very noisy) Bristoil fabs in the corner to our right thn started singing ‘sit down, shut up’, but United had the last laugh when the referee consulted his assistant and judged it to be a fair goal.
Within 3 minutes the Blades had doubled their lead after a gift from Bristol City. Bristols captain (can’t remember his name) under little pressure miskicked his clearance and it went staright into the path of Jamie Ward. The impressive ward then teed up Henderson who hit a superb first time finish to make it 2-0.
This was a great moment. All the away support turned on Bristols fans and started singing ‘sit down, shut up, sit down, shut up’. Really enjoyed that part.
City had a great chance just before half time when their black striker went clean through. Luckily for United he was shit and took way too long and fucked the chance up. After he’d allowed himself to be caught he passed the ball to his team mate who could only fire into the side netting. The Blades went in 2 up at half time without really playing that well. A combination of Bristols poor finishing, Ikelme making a couple of good saves and individual errors from the home side meant that United cruised in 2 nil at h/t.
Second half we sat back a little and let Bristol come at us. They looked quite impressive with their neat passing but we defended fairly well and they were a little toothless. The Blades could have wrapped things up mid second half but Henderson’s final ball was poor. He broke clear and tried to centre for Ward (who was unmarked) but the pass was a touch heavy and the chance went missing. I said to the bloke at the side of me, I hope we don’t live to regret that.
Close to the hour mark City pulled one back. An inviting cross was headed in by Carey leaving Ikelme with no chance. It was difficult to see who should have been marking him, but Carey is a big guy and he rose above our defenders and finished well.
Williamson (who apparently was ill) was badly fading and Blackwell brough on Jordan Stewart. He switched to the left and (the hopeless) Quinn tucked inside.
In an absolute bizare moment Jamie Ward was booked by the referee in an action that was nothing short of stupiity (on the officials part). Ward went to take a corner in front of the (brilliantly noisy and) raucus Bristol fans (to our right) and had an object thrown at him. Whatever it was (a coin I think) landed a few yards away from Ward and on the pitch. Quite rightly Ward walked over and picked it up. He drew it to the referees attention and subsequently got booked. Ridiculous. The same thing happened in the Arsenal Chelsea game yesterday, but with less ridiculous officiating. Someone threw a (fake) camera at Lampard when he went to take a corner. Lampard wasn’t booked when he showed the ref the object. In fasct the ref went over to his 4th official and asked for more stewarding in that corner!!??
Reid then came on for the heroic Jamie Ward with a few minuted to go. Blackwell also tried to ensure the 3 points by bring on central defender Fortune for the impressive James Haprer.
Just as United seemed to have done enough to win, City popped up with a 94th minute equaliser. Moments before the 4th official had put up the board showing 5 minutes of injury time to bamboozle thye travelling support. Where on earth that pillock got 5 minutes from I do not know. After some indecison by Fortune, United failed to clear their lines and were severly punished. Sabario latched onto the ball and hit a low left foot drive into the corner of the net giving Ikelme no chance. 2-2 and with virtually the last kick of the game.
Let me tell you I was devstated. It really knocked the stuffing right out of me. I couldn’t speak. I just stood there. I couldn’t shout or swear at Blackwell, Fortune or anyone. I just felt completely numb. I could barely hear the incredible noise that the Bristol fans were making and stoood dumb founded whilst the home support sang ‘2 nil and you’ve fucked it up’ at 150 decibells.
Then something happened that will live in my memory forever. Good work from Kyle Reid and superb coolness from Darius Henderson put this game streaight in my top 5 away experience whilst watching United. The ball was passed back from the centra circle by Henderson to Ikelme. He then hoofed the ball way into the oppositions half. Stewart won the header and Reiod picked up the ball. Reid shear determination gave Hnderson the chance. He rand at the Bristol defence and his blocked shot fell into Henderson path. The Blades no 9 then finished cooly to get his first ever professional hat trick.
The celebraton was aboslutely fantastic. The Blades players ran to our support and went mentally. I was up out of my seat and down to the front barrier to join them within seconds. I was hugging any body near ne and generally going crazy. My mate (Blade in Thatcham) was screaming at Kilgallon (who was celebrating passionately) ‘sign a new fucking contract!?’. I was high as a kite afterward and we went into Bristol to celebrate. I got soaked but I couldn’t give a toss. The highlight away from the fgame was myself and Thatcham singing the greasy chip buttie song (over Annie’s song) in a West Country pub at 9.30 pm on karaoke.
United. Far from vintage performance. We took the 3 points and that is what mattered. But we didn’t string more than 6 passes together the whole game. As usual we chose to play our ‘direct’ style of football. I was happy with the result, but the tendency for us to hoof it to Henderson really got to me. We were lucky to get 3 points to be honest. However we did get 3 points and hence the lads desreved credit. They battled really hard and showed some of that United never say die attitude we had under Warnock. I was impressed by several individuals also. Henderson (obviously) and Ward were oustanding. Also Haprer was much imporved and Kilgallon ooozed class.
Bristol. Decent side and they feel unlcuky that they didn’t et something from the game. 2 sloppy individual errors gave us 2 goals in the first half. Johstone has got them playing good football. They completely outclassed us on that front, but were a little toothless. I only wish we played slightly moe like they did. They re always looking for the pass, trying to create space etc. On several occasions they just passed the ball square, inside, backforwards, slightly forwards to keep possession. Every time we ran out of ideas the ball got hoofed up field. Of course I am not saying that they are fantastic. They concede 3 goals at home. However the sats speak for themselves and the fact that they had 14 efforts on target (to our 5) suggest that they deserved something form the game.
Ikelme 7/10 – Looed solid. No chance on either of the goals. Claimed crosses well, commanded his area and looked a good shot stopper.
Walker 6.5/10 – Did nothing electric, but made a couple of really importan interceptions and one tackle that probably saved a goal (in the second half)
Kilgallon 7.5/10 – Played really well today. He really had sured up that left back spot after poor form from taylor and Stewart. He defended solidy, looked good on the ball and gave an attacking option. He was going mental at the end celebrating the winner, which was ice to see. I’ll be sorry to see him go.
Morgan 6/10 – Fairly solid performance. Still he lost possession by hoofing the ball a lot.
Davies 5.5/10 – Thought Davis was a little better today, but still I remain unconvinced. He has a tendency to give away silly free kicks and is a little rash. I’m not convinced he is the answer to partner Morgan at centre back, but he did ok on Sat.
Monty 7/10 – Came straight back in and put in a very good, workman like performance. He protected the back four and broke up many opposition attacks. He also did ok in possession. He didn’t give the ball away and played sensible balls to the likes of Harper and Williamson.
Haprer 6.5/10 – Much better today. Still not back to his best and still under utilised. He couldn’t do much when the ball was being hoofed over his head, however he created space and looked good on the ball.
Williamson 5.5/10 – Apparently he was ill and thios may have effected his performance. I didn’t watch him very closely, but thought he struggled to get into the game.
Quinn 3/10 – Simply awful. The guy adds nothing to the team and it really pisses me off that Blackwell picks him week in week out. He is not good enough. Simple as.
Ward 8/10 – Another fantastic perofmrance bny young Jamie Ward. He is a real asset. He is tricky and dangerous. Not only that but he works really hard for the team. He hassles, harries and makes a nuiscance of himself. Beat to man of the mtach onlky by hat trick hero Henderson.
HENDERSON 8/10 – What can I say. 3 goals, match winner. As one bloke said in thye toilets after the game, ‘if anyone ses dat Hendo is shite,k I’ll fucking abtter em’
Subs
Stewart – pplayed well and gave us some balance when he came on on the lft.
Fortune – Only on for 5 minutes and still fucked it up. He should have cleared his lines on their second goal and almost cost us 2 points. He’s not good enough.
Reid – liked what I saw. Sure he was only on for 5 minutes but he looked lively. His perceverance created the chance for Henderson to win the game.
Blackwell/tactics. I guess he deserves some credit as we won today. We have now gone 3 games unbeaten, but I still remain unconvinced he is the right man for the job. Why on earth did he drop Bunn? I mean Ikelme played well, but Bunn had saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet the wek before. What more does he have to do? Like Bunn, or not, imagine what it has done to his confidence. It just show KB’s inept man mangement skills. Keeping Stephen Quinn on the pitch was criminal, but his other moves weren’t great. In the lst 5 minutes we were playing with 4 centre backs. Fortune, Davies and Morgan were playing there and also Henderson. This had to be Blackwells insturctions. Now I know we wanted to make sure we got the points, but this was over the top. It meant we had no outlet up front. We hoofed the ball up fornt and there was literally no one there. This meant we kept coming back under pressure. Hendeson should have been up there holding the ball up, not playing as a cente back. As I said, we won. Hence I am not goig to say too much about Blackwell’s tactical ineptness, however I came away with the feeling that he’d got lucky, rather than masterminded a victory.
Atmosphere. I was a little disappoined with our support on Saturday. I mean fare enough, witht the tripe that is being served up every week peope are not going to be very happy/in full voice. However, I thought we were a little quiet. Even at 2-0 up we were a little subdued. This is one of the quiter away games that I’ve been to. The Bristoil fans in the corner to our right realy put us to shame. They were fantastic. They had a concentration of a few thousad packed into that corner stand and they really made some noise. There were 2 guys behid me truying to get things going (with Oh when the Blades in slow song) but it never quite took off. Thus said we had some fantastic moments. The chant of ‘sit down, shut up’ after we’d gone 2-0 up was good. Then there was the winner. We all went mental. That was one of the best celebrations I’ve had as an away fan. It’s up there with Katchuro’s winner at Wolves in the mid 90’s and Andy Walkers equaliser at Ipswich in the play off semi final (97).
Officials. The referee was a real plank. I have talked about this in depath already, but the Ward book was farcical. He then booked Henderson for being put in a head lock. Where he got 5 minutes injury time from, in a injury free game, I’ll nenver know. Still, common sense prevailled when he gave the fist goal.
