Weekend results

I’m not one for chicken counting, and I am most certainly not counting my chickens now, but there’s a line in a song that says:

Come along and share the good times while we can

and a massive effort by United away at Hull City, and an equally huge result for Brentford at home to Leeds means that this evening are exactly those good times they were singing about and I’m sharing them.

A win in either of our last two games means that – incredibly (and I mean that literally, because I really cannot believe it) – Sheffield United will be back in the Premier League.

I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m going to be a nervous wreck for the next 5 days and in complete pieces for the duration of the match on Saturday evening. Apparently, we’re planning to be at a braai that night.

If it happens – IF it happens – expect scenes.

Fan Man: A new breed of superhero

The Blades were brilliant last night in the gale force wind at Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane.
1-0 up halfway through the first half thanks to a wholly legitimate penalty, it was all going so well until Gary Madine had a rush of blood to the studs ten minutes later and scythed down one of their midfielders for a wholly legitimate straight red card.

What followed was a masterclass in prolonged, committed, uncompromising defending as wave upon wave of Brentford attack bore down upon the United goal. Sure, we rode our luck a couple of times, but these stats don’t tell any lies. It was an absolute siege, and we survived.

As you can see, the final score was 2-0, but there was a particularly squeaky bum patch just before we got that all-important second goal, where there seemed no way out for United. Every clearance came straight back, and every attack seemed certain to end with an equaliser.
So, picture the scene after 67 minutes, when the ball was cleared out for a Brentford throw-in and one fan on John Street decided that he was going to be a hero and waste a bit of time as the Brentford player asked him to pass the ball…

Oof. Still, at least it hasn’t made it onto computer screens all around the world, thanks to the power of social media and South Africa’s favourite blog.

That would be awful.

The highlights package isn’t out yet, and generally, they don’t put this sort of thing in anyway, but I’ll link to it when I see it. Just in case.
And also to remember one of the great Sheffield United performances of recent years.

COYRAWW!

Top

This happened for a week last season and things didn’t work out quite as I would have liked. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth celebrating again now.

After a hard-fought win over Hull City yesterday – the mighty Sheffield United are top of the league. And while I might not be the Premiership (yet), you can only beat who you’re up against, and we seem to be doing that quite nicely. Who knows if it’ll last?

I hope so, but in the meantime, some song lyrics come to mind.

Smile for the while and let’s be jolly
We shouldn’t be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can

More tenuous football news links to one hit wonders from the 1980s will surely follow. Or perhaps not

Snowy football

My brother sent me a photo, which I think came from the Sheffield Star newspaper, possibly more specifically from their correspondent here. It’s from last weekend’s Championship match at Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane, in which Sheffield United played Nottingham Forest.
The weather wasn’t great. The match finished 0-0.

But the photo needed some playing with in Lightroom, in my humble opinion. (See here for details of why I appropriate other people’s photography).

When I saw it, it reminded me of a dramatic painting, so obviously I made it into a dramatic painting.

Make it bigger by clicking here.

The blizzard conditions are obviously what makes this photo so eye-catching, but it’s the juxtaposition of that chaos with the stability of the horizontal touchline in the foreground that I really like. It’s almost cinematic.

I’m not an artist, but if I was, I think I’d like to paint something this good.

In the meantime, I’ll just have to content myself by attempting to make artwork out of other people’s photos.