Ollessendro
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Quick match report whilst our lass in still in bed. As I was on the lash all day, she’ll kill me if she sees me on s24su, so forgive me if the report is on the short side.
My first visit to Huish Park and we took 3 points. It was a very good away result and that is the main thing. 3 points and a clean sheet away from home should never be scoffed at. It was a far from convincing performance though. A bit of a smash and grab from SUFC. Yeovil will really feel that they should have taken something from the game and United rode their luck quite a lot. Still, I would have snatched your hand off at half 2 if you would have said that it would be a repeat of last year’s result.
The match
You’ll have to bear with me if I don’t get the order of things right, as I supped a lot of al yesterday. The game was actually a bit uneventful. A tight game, lacking in any real quality, between 2 averages sides.
The Blades started fairly well and made the early running. Kitson was making a nuisance of himself and McDonald was trying to get on the ball. He showed some good touches and vision early on. The typical K Mac stuff where he always finds that extra yard. We did not create much early on and I do not remember us having any real efforts.
In fact it was Yeovil who almost went in front. Maguire was caught flat footed when Smith went through. Maguire got back, but got made a mug by Smith who skinned him easily. He got to the by line and teed it up for one of their players. Luckily the ball was side footed straight down Howards throat. Yeovil attacked again and almost finished off a good move, though this time Howard saved low to his left. Both saves were fairly routine, but Yeovil should have scored from both occasions.
It was then the Blades that almost took the lead with Gallagher testing their keeper. The move came down the right hand side and I think McMahon’s ball was flicked on by Kitson (though it could have been direct) and Gallgher hit a rasping shot. The ball was tipped wide by the keeper. Moments later Gallagher got forwarded again and hit another right footed strike that was beaten away by the keeper. It was down the other end, so I could not see properly, but they looked decent saves. Gallagher was proving tricky, as he was finding space between the midfielders and the strikers and making some good runs.
I think 0-0 at half time was pretty fair, as both teams had chances. Yeovil’s were slightly better mind and they may have felt a little unfortunate not to be in front. Their misery was compounded early in the 2nd half when the Blades went in front. Pressure from the Blades forced a corner. McMahon’s inswinger from the right hand side was met firmly by COLLINS and the ball flew past Stech. It was right in front of the Blades fans. It was a good header and a good cross. After some reportedly poor corner taking it was nice for us to score from a set piece.
I do not remember that much taking place after that. Howard was still the busier of the keepers, but right down the other end and with the sun in my eyes, I could not see how good the chances were. United seemed to grow in confidence and stature though. The defence got better as the game went on and Collins looked really solid.
Cresswell had a shot at the near post saved (though it would have been a soft goal) and Blackman should have done better with a free header.
The appalling referee somehow found 4 minutes of injury time, but the Blades saw it out pretty comfortably. The game finished 1-0 and the Blades players came down and applauded the fans on the terrace. United and Wilson will be very happy with the result.
United – The positive fans will say that is was 3 points, an away win and a clean sheet. The negative fans will say we were lucky, we did not play well and the performance was similar to Bury/Doncaster. Both are probably true.
I thought we were poor yesterday. Yeovil definitely deserved something out of the game. Had one of their early chances gone in, it would have been a completely different story. However we got the result and that is what matters the most. Some of the recent problems (lack of creativity, lack of penetration and lack of ideas) persisted. We did not really have much cutting edge. Gallagher looked lively and offered something different. K Mac had a bit off an off day and the strikers never really looked like scoring. Cresswell looked like an old, not very good striker playing out of position on the left wing. McAllister did not do much going forward, but he actually broke up play a little and made some key blocks and tackles.
We looked a bit clueless at times. There was not enough movement up top and we were too narrow. We did the usual thing of passing along the back 4 and then hoofing forward (to Kitson).
We were fairly solid defensively. That said, Yeovil could and should have scored, then I might not be saying that. McMahon looked a bit shaky first half and Maguire had a bit of a mare (though they both improved as the game went on). Howard was definitely the busier of the 2 keepers, though once we went in front I felt like Yeovil would not get back into the game. Collins played very well and commanded the defence. We dealt with what they threw at us after the goal fairly easily.
We were a bit lucky, but it makes a change as we deserved the points away at Colchester and Coventry but did not get them. We remain unbeaten and have moved into the play offs. Wilson has to take credit for our start. The squad is severely depleted and he had to put up with Quinn being sold late. He has also had to deal with Doyle and Flynn missing and we’ve come out of those 3 games with 5 points.
Yeovil – they are a pretty poor side. Lower mid table I would say. They are reasonably well organised and Smith looks pretty tricky. He was by far their best player and if they were going to do something it would be through him. He made Harry look daft at one point and was a handful all afternoon. Their big lump of a centre back was pretty good and dealt with most of the high balls. Their keeper, Stech, made a few good saves first half, but looked dodgy on crosses.
They will actually feel they should have got something from the game. They created chances, but they did not stick them away. They had a few shots on target too.
Crimes against football
Difficult to pick anyone out. Whilst we were not very impressive collectively I would not name an individual. The whole spectacle was a bit of a crime against football to be honest. I was speaking to a non SUFC supporter I the evening and he was telling me he had watched Crawley play the other day/night. He was appalled at how bad the game was and the lowly standard of football. That is the 3rd division mate was my response. I am used to watching it week in week out.
Crimes against hoof
There were definitely no capital crimes against hoof yesterday. Smith for Yeovil was very good. He has a good touch, is tricky, is dangerous and has good vision. Our best player was Collins, but that was not for his distribution!
Officials
What a bunch they were. Abolutely hopeless. We had the 3rd divisions Howard Webb (well he looked bit like him anyway). The ref was fussy and did not let the game flow. He did not give United much at all. He made some really bizarre decision in both directions. There were some blatant fouls that he missed and some none existant fouls he pulled up for. His assistants were not up to much either. The standard of refereeing at this level is shocking and the plebs that officiated yesterday really fitted the mould.
Player ratings
Howard 7/10 – Solid performance. Did not do much wrong. He made some routine saves, some half decent saves and that side was fine. He tried to roll the ball out when possible and boy can he kick it far! I think he is probably an improvement on Simmonsen. Hope he continues to play like that.
McMahon 5.5/10 – Real mixed bag. Thought he looked shaky first half. Gave his man too much space and dallied in possession. He is not very good going forward and at times his distribution was terrible. Yet on other occasions he showed good vision and played some excellent passes. His set pieces were good too and his corner lead to a goal.
Hill 6/10 – Steady. A pretty solid defensive performace. He is a decent defender. He offers little going forward, but does his defensive duties well.
Maguire 4.5/10 – Looked off the pace yesterday. He was skinned easily twice. He looked a little slow and had an off day. He got better as the game went on, but first half Smith gave him the run around twice.
COLLINS 7/10 – Our best player. Topped off a solid defensive performance with a well taken goal. A very good header. He was our best defender and looked solid. He let the ball bounce once and this caused a problem. However he marshalled the defence and attacked the ball He made some crucial interceptions, blocks and tackles. Definitely more like the Collins of last season.
Gallagher 5.5/10 – for large part of the game he went missing, but he showed in flashes the reason we signed him. He looked dangerous with some good runs. He had two decent efforts on goal. He came inside and found some space between defenders and strikers (a bit Quinn like). However he badly faded in the 2nd half and was anonymous. It makesme think that with match fitness he could be an asset.
Cresswell 4/10 – thought he really struggled to get into the game. He is not a left winger and it showed. He completely wasted a couple of potential opportunities with over hit crosses when in good positions. However he did keep trying. He just looked like a slow, aged striker playing out of position.
McAllister 5/10 – He did ok yesterday. He made some key tackles and blocks and got stuck in. He did more of the Doyle role and did not hide defensively. In a way he did the dirty work, allowing K Mac to play. However he did very little from an attacking point of view. I will be pleased when Doyle comes back, though Mc Allister should provide reasonable cover.
McDonald 5/10 – He had a bit of an off day. He did the usual mix of good touches, finding space and passing well. He showed some good vision too. However he did not impose himself on the game much. He also misplaced some passes. Often when he got the ball he had no options and had to go backwards. In the first few minutes he made the Yeovil players looked daft, but he faded after and had a quiet game (by his standards).
Kitson 5/10 – He is a bit of a handful and made his presence felt. He showed strength, won a few headers and tried to link up. However he never really looked dangerous and him and Blackman did not work well together. I am not sure he is the best option. He looks like a battering ram, but rarely threatened their goal.
Blackman 3.5/10 – Did very little of note yesterday. He did not get a lot of service, but looked pretty anonymous. He has scored a few so far this season, but yesterday he showed nowt. His touch was not great, his running not good and he was just not in the game. He had one shot and missed a free header. Other than that it was like he was not playing. I was interested to see how he would get on and was disappointed with his performance.
Stadium/atmosphere
It is a bizarre stadium. Right in the middle of nowhere. I quite like that the away end is terracing, though that was helped by it being a really nice day. The sun was out and it made for a good afternoon.
I though the Blades fans were a bit quiet and the atmosphere never really got going. We hiffed and puffed a bit in the first half and there was some singing/chanting in the first half. However it petered out a little. The atmosphere picked up a little after the goal, but it was not a classic away following (despite their being a good 600-700? and it being terracing).
There was not much atmosphere form the home fans. A little in their (kop?) stand behind the goal. There were a lot of empty seats in the two stands to each of our sides.
Ale
We started of in the Mermaid pub in the town centre. We went through the Palmers range (IPA, Copper and 200) which were all nice ales. All darker ales, but well bodied. The 200 was the strongest and best. It had a bit of an nutty element to it and the 5% gave it a kick.
We moved on to the excellent Butchers Arms after that. The bar staff were very friendly. My mate and I were dallying at the bar and deciding which ales to have. The bar maid seemed to ignore us, but she actually prepared tasters of the 5 ales they had on. I tried a dark ale that was quite nice. Strong and nutty. But the best ale was one called Citra. It was a pale ale, very bitter and hoppy. However it had a lovely elderflower smells and wonderful bouquet. The flowery smell fliter into the taste. A delicious drink, perfect for nice(ish) weather.
My first visit to Huish Park and we took 3 points. It was a very good away result and that is the main thing. 3 points and a clean sheet away from home should never be scoffed at. It was a far from convincing performance though. A bit of a smash and grab from SUFC. Yeovil will really feel that they should have taken something from the game and United rode their luck quite a lot. Still, I would have snatched your hand off at half 2 if you would have said that it would be a repeat of last year’s result.
The match
You’ll have to bear with me if I don’t get the order of things right, as I supped a lot of al yesterday. The game was actually a bit uneventful. A tight game, lacking in any real quality, between 2 averages sides.
The Blades started fairly well and made the early running. Kitson was making a nuisance of himself and McDonald was trying to get on the ball. He showed some good touches and vision early on. The typical K Mac stuff where he always finds that extra yard. We did not create much early on and I do not remember us having any real efforts.
In fact it was Yeovil who almost went in front. Maguire was caught flat footed when Smith went through. Maguire got back, but got made a mug by Smith who skinned him easily. He got to the by line and teed it up for one of their players. Luckily the ball was side footed straight down Howards throat. Yeovil attacked again and almost finished off a good move, though this time Howard saved low to his left. Both saves were fairly routine, but Yeovil should have scored from both occasions.
It was then the Blades that almost took the lead with Gallagher testing their keeper. The move came down the right hand side and I think McMahon’s ball was flicked on by Kitson (though it could have been direct) and Gallgher hit a rasping shot. The ball was tipped wide by the keeper. Moments later Gallagher got forwarded again and hit another right footed strike that was beaten away by the keeper. It was down the other end, so I could not see properly, but they looked decent saves. Gallagher was proving tricky, as he was finding space between the midfielders and the strikers and making some good runs.
I think 0-0 at half time was pretty fair, as both teams had chances. Yeovil’s were slightly better mind and they may have felt a little unfortunate not to be in front. Their misery was compounded early in the 2nd half when the Blades went in front. Pressure from the Blades forced a corner. McMahon’s inswinger from the right hand side was met firmly by COLLINS and the ball flew past Stech. It was right in front of the Blades fans. It was a good header and a good cross. After some reportedly poor corner taking it was nice for us to score from a set piece.
I do not remember that much taking place after that. Howard was still the busier of the keepers, but right down the other end and with the sun in my eyes, I could not see how good the chances were. United seemed to grow in confidence and stature though. The defence got better as the game went on and Collins looked really solid.
Cresswell had a shot at the near post saved (though it would have been a soft goal) and Blackman should have done better with a free header.
The appalling referee somehow found 4 minutes of injury time, but the Blades saw it out pretty comfortably. The game finished 1-0 and the Blades players came down and applauded the fans on the terrace. United and Wilson will be very happy with the result.
United – The positive fans will say that is was 3 points, an away win and a clean sheet. The negative fans will say we were lucky, we did not play well and the performance was similar to Bury/Doncaster. Both are probably true.
I thought we were poor yesterday. Yeovil definitely deserved something out of the game. Had one of their early chances gone in, it would have been a completely different story. However we got the result and that is what matters the most. Some of the recent problems (lack of creativity, lack of penetration and lack of ideas) persisted. We did not really have much cutting edge. Gallagher looked lively and offered something different. K Mac had a bit off an off day and the strikers never really looked like scoring. Cresswell looked like an old, not very good striker playing out of position on the left wing. McAllister did not do much going forward, but he actually broke up play a little and made some key blocks and tackles.
We looked a bit clueless at times. There was not enough movement up top and we were too narrow. We did the usual thing of passing along the back 4 and then hoofing forward (to Kitson).
We were fairly solid defensively. That said, Yeovil could and should have scored, then I might not be saying that. McMahon looked a bit shaky first half and Maguire had a bit of a mare (though they both improved as the game went on). Howard was definitely the busier of the 2 keepers, though once we went in front I felt like Yeovil would not get back into the game. Collins played very well and commanded the defence. We dealt with what they threw at us after the goal fairly easily.
We were a bit lucky, but it makes a change as we deserved the points away at Colchester and Coventry but did not get them. We remain unbeaten and have moved into the play offs. Wilson has to take credit for our start. The squad is severely depleted and he had to put up with Quinn being sold late. He has also had to deal with Doyle and Flynn missing and we’ve come out of those 3 games with 5 points.
Yeovil – they are a pretty poor side. Lower mid table I would say. They are reasonably well organised and Smith looks pretty tricky. He was by far their best player and if they were going to do something it would be through him. He made Harry look daft at one point and was a handful all afternoon. Their big lump of a centre back was pretty good and dealt with most of the high balls. Their keeper, Stech, made a few good saves first half, but looked dodgy on crosses.
They will actually feel they should have got something from the game. They created chances, but they did not stick them away. They had a few shots on target too.
Crimes against football
Difficult to pick anyone out. Whilst we were not very impressive collectively I would not name an individual. The whole spectacle was a bit of a crime against football to be honest. I was speaking to a non SUFC supporter I the evening and he was telling me he had watched Crawley play the other day/night. He was appalled at how bad the game was and the lowly standard of football. That is the 3rd division mate was my response. I am used to watching it week in week out.
Crimes against hoof
There were definitely no capital crimes against hoof yesterday. Smith for Yeovil was very good. He has a good touch, is tricky, is dangerous and has good vision. Our best player was Collins, but that was not for his distribution!
Officials
What a bunch they were. Abolutely hopeless. We had the 3rd divisions Howard Webb (well he looked bit like him anyway). The ref was fussy and did not let the game flow. He did not give United much at all. He made some really bizarre decision in both directions. There were some blatant fouls that he missed and some none existant fouls he pulled up for. His assistants were not up to much either. The standard of refereeing at this level is shocking and the plebs that officiated yesterday really fitted the mould.
Player ratings
Howard 7/10 – Solid performance. Did not do much wrong. He made some routine saves, some half decent saves and that side was fine. He tried to roll the ball out when possible and boy can he kick it far! I think he is probably an improvement on Simmonsen. Hope he continues to play like that.
McMahon 5.5/10 – Real mixed bag. Thought he looked shaky first half. Gave his man too much space and dallied in possession. He is not very good going forward and at times his distribution was terrible. Yet on other occasions he showed good vision and played some excellent passes. His set pieces were good too and his corner lead to a goal.
Hill 6/10 – Steady. A pretty solid defensive performace. He is a decent defender. He offers little going forward, but does his defensive duties well.
Maguire 4.5/10 – Looked off the pace yesterday. He was skinned easily twice. He looked a little slow and had an off day. He got better as the game went on, but first half Smith gave him the run around twice.
COLLINS 7/10 – Our best player. Topped off a solid defensive performance with a well taken goal. A very good header. He was our best defender and looked solid. He let the ball bounce once and this caused a problem. However he marshalled the defence and attacked the ball He made some crucial interceptions, blocks and tackles. Definitely more like the Collins of last season.
Gallagher 5.5/10 – for large part of the game he went missing, but he showed in flashes the reason we signed him. He looked dangerous with some good runs. He had two decent efforts on goal. He came inside and found some space between defenders and strikers (a bit Quinn like). However he badly faded in the 2nd half and was anonymous. It makesme think that with match fitness he could be an asset.
Cresswell 4/10 – thought he really struggled to get into the game. He is not a left winger and it showed. He completely wasted a couple of potential opportunities with over hit crosses when in good positions. However he did keep trying. He just looked like a slow, aged striker playing out of position.
McAllister 5/10 – He did ok yesterday. He made some key tackles and blocks and got stuck in. He did more of the Doyle role and did not hide defensively. In a way he did the dirty work, allowing K Mac to play. However he did very little from an attacking point of view. I will be pleased when Doyle comes back, though Mc Allister should provide reasonable cover.
McDonald 5/10 – He had a bit of an off day. He did the usual mix of good touches, finding space and passing well. He showed some good vision too. However he did not impose himself on the game much. He also misplaced some passes. Often when he got the ball he had no options and had to go backwards. In the first few minutes he made the Yeovil players looked daft, but he faded after and had a quiet game (by his standards).
Kitson 5/10 – He is a bit of a handful and made his presence felt. He showed strength, won a few headers and tried to link up. However he never really looked dangerous and him and Blackman did not work well together. I am not sure he is the best option. He looks like a battering ram, but rarely threatened their goal.
Blackman 3.5/10 – Did very little of note yesterday. He did not get a lot of service, but looked pretty anonymous. He has scored a few so far this season, but yesterday he showed nowt. His touch was not great, his running not good and he was just not in the game. He had one shot and missed a free header. Other than that it was like he was not playing. I was interested to see how he would get on and was disappointed with his performance.
Stadium/atmosphere
It is a bizarre stadium. Right in the middle of nowhere. I quite like that the away end is terracing, though that was helped by it being a really nice day. The sun was out and it made for a good afternoon.
I though the Blades fans were a bit quiet and the atmosphere never really got going. We hiffed and puffed a bit in the first half and there was some singing/chanting in the first half. However it petered out a little. The atmosphere picked up a little after the goal, but it was not a classic away following (despite their being a good 600-700? and it being terracing).
There was not much atmosphere form the home fans. A little in their (kop?) stand behind the goal. There were a lot of empty seats in the two stands to each of our sides.
Ale
We started of in the Mermaid pub in the town centre. We went through the Palmers range (IPA, Copper and 200) which were all nice ales. All darker ales, but well bodied. The 200 was the strongest and best. It had a bit of an nutty element to it and the 5% gave it a kick.
We moved on to the excellent Butchers Arms after that. The bar staff were very friendly. My mate and I were dallying at the bar and deciding which ales to have. The bar maid seemed to ignore us, but she actually prepared tasters of the 5 ales they had on. I tried a dark ale that was quite nice. Strong and nutty. But the best ale was one called Citra. It was a pale ale, very bitter and hoppy. However it had a lovely elderflower smells and wonderful bouquet. The flowery smell fliter into the taste. A delicious drink, perfect for nice(ish) weather.
