Bolton Wanderers U18 4 v Sheffield United U18 0
U18 Professional Development League, North
Saturday 17 February 2018
SUFC 2017/18 Game 62
I won't bore you with how it works. Suffice to say, I'll sometimes make “a bit of an effort” to get to a particular game, because I think it'll lead to a great beer day. This was one of those. Major rail works at Salford Crescent meant I had to get a Tram to Besses o’th’ Barn (yep, such a place there is). And, was picked up in an Aldi car park by “another interested party”. Thanks mate - I owe you.
The beer component was at Track. A brewery/tap house in the industrial arches under Manchester Piccadilly Station. Keg only. No cask. Trestle tables - for the meeting of random strangers to encounter.
“Yes, of course, please sit here”
“Me, I’m from Sheffield”
“Who do you support?”
“United, man & boy, fought in the war for them"
…..”I'm from Aberdeen, I played with Paul Coutts at Cove Rangers….”
Good random encounter that.
Track, Skyway, Citra Ekuanot, Vic Secret, Galaxy DIPA on keg at 9%. Belter. Some peach & pineapple in the smell. Almost Old Wolves Shirt Gold in the glass. Great mixed balance of tropical fruits & hop bitterness. Rich & lingering bitterness. It doesn't taste up to that 9%. Send help.
Track, Denali IPA on keg at 6.5%. Very chewy. Just comes in as strongly bitter. It does die a bit into some mango & other tropical stuff from Waitrose. It's a good beer. But it's not defined enough. Needs to go all tropics or all throat grabbing bitterness. But, inevitably, the further you get down it. The better it seems. Certainly hits the spot.
Track, Galaxy IPA on keg at 6.5%. Maybe I should have put those two IPAs head to head. A hint of orange in the smell of this one. I like that bittering much more. A lot of orange, marmalade, tangerine. The sweetness is very pleasant. And the bitterness comes powerfully off that. Galaxy wins.
Track, Half Dome, APA on keg at 5.3%. Oh Hello. Lots going on there. Brimful of flavour. Keeps going forever. Buds, lips, tongue a-tingling. A reminder. They also serve who are not Hopped To Hell. Seems to come from a tinned peaches background. It's the swirling stuff that gets you. Tastes Good. Marvellous beer. All winners.
Track, Sonoma, Pale Ale on keg at 3.8%. Needed that one. Sensible abv. Nicely put together. Fizzing & effervescent. The hop kick grows a bit. A lot to like. Some sugar kicks in.
That was a poor performance at Bolton's Academy. Sorry to say it, but rabble elements at times. Players balling out their mates with F Words a-plenty. Midfielders way up front, out of position & not tracking - complaining loudly about the defence when another one was banged in. Players shifted about to try and shore up. In fact, it was only towards the end, once it was clear we were second best, that the staff & players calmed down a bit & started being a bit more supportive to each other. I'll redress a bit - yes, they care, yes, there's passion, yes, it matters to them, yes, they're young lads trying to make their way. All hail that.
United have something of a cohort problem at U18. A lot of the exceptional kids have been pushed up to the U23s. Graham, Slater, Doherty. There's a few injuries. Cantrill, Greaves, Ferguson. So, this is a very young U18 side. Partly that's a deliberate policy. With the objective of most of this lot surviving through to (hopefully) become a much stronger U18 group next year.
Del Geary explains it thus. “You know yourselves, two years difference between 16 & 18 is huge. In a way it's not between 23 & 25”.
Incidentally, Del got a bit cross. The Bolton keeper came out for a ball pumped forward. He misjudged it. Misjudged how it would bounce. Misjudged where he was. Misjudged it totally. He ended up jumping to catch it, high above his head. But, a good five yards outside his box, maybe more. He made a right bollocks of it - is what I'm trying to get over. Whistle. Free kick. Yellow Card. The Blades Bench Crew clearly felt it should have been Red. And, continued to argue & bicker. Throughout. Spoken to numerous times by the lino & ref. Words exchanged with the Horwichians on their bench. Feisty.
Anyway. United gave the ball away constantly. Didn't get tight. Nor track people. And got punished. Three down after 33. Four down after 55. At least we regrouped enough to avoid something much worse.
613/1278
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