Sheffield United U18 2 v Hull City U18 0
U18 Professional Development League, North
Sheffield United 2 v Reading 1
The Championship
Saturday 21 October 2017
SUFC 2017/18 Games 36 and 37
Double header. Shirecliffe and The Lane. And a beer festival, CollabFest at BrewDog. It's mad at the top of the Under 18 Professional Development League, North. Just three points cover Forest on top with 17, down to Barnsley, 3rd bottom, only 3 points behind with 14. That 2-0 victory over Hull leaves United unchanged in 7th. On 16 points, only one behind the leaders. That felt like a very experienced under 18 side out there for the Young Blades. George Cantrill, David Parkhouse, Jordan Doherty all with recent under 23 games under their belt.
The Young Blades were worth that win. Good tempo. Attacking threat. Calm & steady defending when they needed it. Nice, all round team performance.
The First Team though. Well we battered them. But, Reading changed it a bit in the second half. We disrupted by bringing Brooks on for Duffy. And, Reading got back into it. They had a really good ten minute spell. Nicked one back. And, you know, owt can happen. We’re playing really well. Got it all going on. Bringing Brooks on will continue to be an issue. I don’t think he’s enough of a midfielder to come on for Coutts, Fleck or Duffy. (He replaced Duffy today). And, he’s not a traditional up top striker. He’s best in front of a midfield three. Behind a front one. Taking it from the midfield & wingbacks deep. And running at the defence. But, they all know what they’re doing. Lundstram came on for Sharp. So, that restored a midfield three without Brooks. But, I’m not taking anything away from Reading. They were third best in a two horse race for much of the game. But, got it together enough in a patch to cause us problems.
I thought Leon Clarke was superb. Running down lost causes. Movement. Leaning in when it counted. At times, I’ll admit, I get carried away, it’s just joyous football. At one stage, O’Connell played the ball from the edge of the half way circle to Stevens on the left. More or less a lateral, crab pass. But, then, he’s (O’Connell) gone haring on the overlapp. Like a man possessed. Breakneck speed. Never thought for one second about doing anything else. Crazy.
I’m stuck foursquare in Beer Festival Time. I did the Ascot Beer Festival at the beginning of October. The ever busier Steel City Festival at Kelham island this week. And, capped it off today, celebrating two wins at BrewDog CollabFest 2017. A reminder of the format. Each BrewDog bar teams up with a brewery local to them & brews a special, one off Collab beer. Over a three day weekend, the claim is that all those (now 34) beers are on across each bar. No. I’m not having it. I’m an Equity Punk - a shareholder. I was originally attracted by BrewDog’s older, now defunct, breath of fresh air approach against Big Beer. They’re just another branch now. A bar like Sheffield doesn’t have enough Taps to get all those 34 on. But, I’ll drag it back. A great chance to sample keg beers brewed by some interesting, newer European Breweries. I think we even dodged a bullet. As there weren’t any spectacularly hipster Sour Beers on when we were in. As an aside, the Sheffield Collab with Abbeydale was also not on. Drunk out, they claim.
BrewDog Cardiff & Crafty Devil, Rock Lobster, Vermont IPA with Orange Pulp, 5.5%. Crafty Devil have their tap cellar in Canton. Within walking distance of Cardiff City. I can vouch for the addition of orange pulp. Mrs Ball Sup had more or less the last one before they took it off. Mucho pulpo floating about in that one.
BrewDog Kungsholmen & Hyllie Bryggeri, Hyllipan, Belgian IPA, 6.5%. Came up as a reasonably hoppy IPA. I couldn’t really discern any Belgian interference. Something something something about Brexit, the EU, back off Brussels. Ha Ha Ha.
BrewDog Malmö & Benchwarmers, Captain Coconut, Coconut IPA, 5.6%. Fair play. They kept the Coconut to a minimum. Very much in the background in a lovely IPA.
BrewDog Newcastle & Almasty, Sixteen Letter IPA, 7%.
BrewDog Aberdeen & Fierce Beer, Very Big Moose, Chocolate and Vanilla Stout, 12%. I’m giving that Standout Beer Of The Day. It was just Smooth. With a large number of Capital Os. Nicely straight ahead thick n chewy. Certainly not oversweet. But, you don’t want any hop bitterness nonsense getting in the way at the end of that fucker. Just the one please. But, that was superb.
BrewDog, Prototype DIPA, 8.2%. On the “normal” side of the board. Not in CollabFest. Oi Mate. If that’s a prototype it needs one of two things. Either change it’s name from DIPA. Because it ain’t. Or make it a DIPA. Modern life, eh. It’s like they’ve forgotten where we came in. Too many DIPAs coming up yellow in my opinion. Caramel ‘em. Let’s have some residual sugar. It’s supposed to be a meaty, chewy, substantial beer. Got a drawing board? Go back to it.
The day had been broken up earlier by a lovely pint of Stancil, Ginger Pale Ale on cask in The Albion at 4%.
I’ve said too much. Two games. Two wins. First team battered Reading with some joyous football. Great beers at CollabFest. Very Big Moose. Here’s hoping for some Hops.
554/1159
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