Three together

Shrewsbury Town 1 v Sheffield United 2

Tuesday 19 April 2016

League 1

Played at Greenhous Meadow

Twitter @ball_sup

Today’s Adkins Home Grown/Scouted from Non-League quotient - 3/11 = 27%. We/He might as well give up on this. He’s hunkered down to Long, Sharp & Adams. And, some on the Bench.

If there are three CAMRA Beer Guide pubs as close together as those in Oakengates (Telford & Wrekin), then I need to be told. The coach stopped there for the pre-match drink. Yards. On one side of Market St. you’ve got the Crown Inn. It’s only a narrow one lane affair. And bang opposite you’ve got The Station & the Old Fighting Cocks. To cap it all, the non-Guide Duke Of York is bang there as well.

But, the Crown Inn was a little disappointing. Two rooms. Lots of handpulls fronting both bars. But, one room was impromptu closed with barstools across the entrance & therefore most handpulls were off. Maybe five on. Which is not too bad I suppose.

I went Hobsons, Best Bitter on cask at 3.8%. Nice beer. I enjoyed it. Not as malty as I’d expected. But, still well balanced against a simple bitterness.

Across the divide to The Station. Great place. Best described as old fashioned. Either a) they’ve had a pallet swap with some Yorkshire brewery or b) they have a thing for Yorkshire beers. North Union, Salamander, Elland, Timmy Taylors - all present. But, I went Roosters, Cashmere on cask at 4.3%. That was lovely. Cashmere Hop, not often seen around these parts. It was actually not as full on fruity citrus as I’d feared/expected. All the better for that. The bitterness grew a bit, but sat there in a well balanced beer. Rather than dominating.

So, we hung on and are hanging on. Ryan Flynn didn’t shine as much as he has been doing in that centre midfield role. Basham was out on the right. He pulled that off - by getting up, down & across a lot. United let the game drift towards the end. Sitting back too much. But, they pulled it off. Billy Sharp won’t have had anything left in the tank at the end. In one way, we need him to chase & harry to get us over the line in games like this. But, in other ways, we need to set up better. So, that we can press throughout the team.  Anyway, a nice win.

304/637