First Touch

Sheffield United 2 v Oldham Athletic 0

League 1

Monday 26 December 2016

Twitter @ball_sup

Twenty three games played. It's all ticking along nicely. Halfway through. United are now in second place. A point behind Scunthorpe. A point ahead of Bolton. United have an eight point gap to Rochdale in fourth. And an 11 point gap to Peterborough in seventh.

Oldham had a lot of that game. Particularly in the first half. Maybe United weren't quite at it. But, credit to Oldham. High work rate. Closing most things down. Everywhere on the pitch.

The Blades looked a lot more threatening when Clarke came on for the largely anonymous Done. Clarke did, naturally, manage to jump under a few headers. But, he's a fully built footballer. A lot is said about “first touch”. What I notice about Clarke is the simplicity. His first touch is to set up his second touch. That's a great skill. He's always thinking to nudge it, or nurdle it, or turn it, or drop it to where his marker isn't.

Him & Sharp can just barrel in on goal. It creates. Both chances & panic. United kept at it. They just seemed relentless. The worry is a Goal won't come. But, this time, two did.

The pre-match was in The Stags Head. Thornbridge all the way. I'm softening. Mainly because their beer range is widening & consistently good. Although I did sup a range in India. I did feel a little bit like I was weaning myself back into English beers.

A safe low abv blonde.
A brown malty English bitter.
And, a well hopped modern session IPA.

Step forward. ….

Thornbridge, White Swan on cask at 3.5%.
Thornbridge, Lord Marples on cask at 4%.
But, we're back in the room. Standout Beer Of The Day, Thornbridge, Peverel on cask at 4.5%

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