Cautiously Maybe

Leicester City 1 v Sheffield United 0

FA Cup Round 5

Friday 16 February 2018

SUFC 2017/18 Game 61

I ventured up to an industrial estate (yeah, yeah). To Charnwood Brewery in Loughborough. Excellent place. Big sign & welcoming at the front. Bright, clean “shop” & bar front. Comfortable stools & trestles scattered around, including in the brewhouse. There were four casks on. I went;

Charnwood Brewery, Sly Rye, on cask at 4.2%. Nice, fresh beer. It came up less malty than I'd hoped for. I needed some red fruit. But, fair do, there was stuff going on. Some spice. Indeterminate nut. Good beer.

Charnwood Brewery, Salvation, Golden Beer on cask at 3.8%. Very tasty for a sub four. Very crisp bitterness. Not overpowering. Tropical stuff in the background.

Earlier, in “a different location”, I'd had;
Brew Foundation, Little Bitter That, Session Bitter on cask at 3.8%. Very fruity. Would be a way to describe that one. I can't quite put my finger on it. There is a slight sourness to it. I don't know if that is deliberate. It's pleasant. And it does have some “English Bitter” about it. Not my favourite of the day.

I'm not heartbroken. But, I felt that was an opportunity missed. Obvs, some team changes were down to the New Big Lads being cup tied. And, Fleck is serving a ban. But, to use Lafferty, Carruthers & Evans, you're digging deep. Also, we weren't as much of an attacking force as we needed to be. At times, there were few outlets. Couldn't get it to Donaldson or Wilson. No overlapping Centre Half. Boom. Leicester have got it already. And, it's on the way back. You can't suck it back in forever. Quality players will punish you.

Carruthers is going to play on our minds for years. I have no doubt he's a good player. He has good radar vision. Knows where he is, his mates are. And the enemy an’ all. He's got good balance. And he's nippy over (say) 15 yards. But, Christ, he needs to put himself in front of his opponents. And, he needs to use some of that nip to TRACK. Otherwise, we'll die wondering.

All that said, we did not go out there to be defensive. Cautious maybe. There was a lot of shape going on. The back five were holding at times. But, it cuts the outlets down. Partly, the Premier League can fuck off. But, parts of it fascinate me. Strikers who can somehow find an extra two foot of space. And who can do more in a foot of space than a normal human. Strikers who, if they get just one bit of space in ninety will score. Gold Dust mate. Get. Me. One.

Vardy had no right to score there. Outside the “normal” danger zone. Off balance. Everything going the wrong way. Great header that.

We had our chances. We rode our luck. We played well enough throughout. Tried to take the game deep & see what was occurring. But. This is the FA Cup. And what might have been.

612/1277