Humdinger, Throwback

Bradford City 3  v Sheffield United 3

Saturday 22 October 2016

League 1

Twitter @ball_sup

Humdinger. Throwback. Great advert for the Football League & League One. I said to all who would listen before the start - don’t be defensive, but get a shape, get organised, get men behind the ball, rein it in a bit, switch on. Hopefully get a nil nil or sneak a win. Same points, different route.

The big crowd, the swollen pubs, the full trains. Made me remember that Bradford are a Proper Club. Manager, players & fans bang up for it. Blades, Ditto. Bradford like to get it off the keeper, play it forward, at pace, make runs. Early on, it was clear that United would have their work cut out. But, that shape & organisation meant we weren’t overrun.

Once we’d got through that, we gave as good as we got. At times, it was easy for them to pull us this way & that. Accurate balls at pace. But, this was no rearguard. Ahead twice. Great advert.

That away end is shit though. Maybe that’s the point, proper clubs have shit away ends.

And, here come the negatives. That sort of crowd, with barely hidden hostility, not going to make for an easy, nice quiet drink. We didn’t do too bad - timing was key. Hardly anyone in The Record Cafe when we walked in. A few more in The Bradford Brewery. But, we were early enough to get a seat & a few in before it got too chaotic.

I’m marking The Bradford Brewery down a few pegs. There is a bit too much attitude going on. Some of the Carrier Bag Firm were given hard stares for politely asking if the barperson could “serve down this end in a bit”. I was served a shocking pint of Hockney Pale - wrong colour, spectacularly cloudy. Then I couldn’t get the barperson’s attention to question it. When I did, they simply told me the barperson must have poured me Solero instead. (I’d watched her pull from the Hockney Pale pump). No probs once they got onside, pulled me another pint of my choice. Then the Hockney Pale came back on, then it went off. All a bit too much.

I had Bradford, Northern Soul at 3.8% & Solero at 4%. Both were fine. But, in another throwback, those (and others) had that sort of metallic taste going on that you used to get from small microbreweries, but which I haven’t tasted for ages.

We’d started, quietly, in the superb Record Cafe. Four on cask. Six on Keg. Sounds wrong to be critical, but the kegs were all full on messed about with beers. They needed a core hop hitter. I went Settle, No. 4 Nine Standards Amber Ale on cask at 3.7%. Which was superb.

392/823
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