In Threes

Wigan Athletic 0 v Sheffield United 3
The Championship
Tuesday 1 January 2019

Barnsley U18 2 v Sheffield United U18 2
U18 Professional Development League
Saturday 5 January 2019
Played at Oakwell Academy

Sheffield United 0 v Barnet 1
Fa Cup 3rd Round
Sunday 6 January 2019

SUFC 2018/19 Games 53, 54 & 55

May to May Brewery Visits - 73

Twitter @ball_sup
www.twitter.com/ball_sup
Untappd ball_sup

The worst of those 3 games. Easy. Barnet at home in the Cup. Ask me another one. In Wilder we trust. Apparently. If “The Club” can be selfish. Rest players. Rotate. Then so can I. If the magic of the Cup has gone. At least I can use it to my advantage. I was looking for a draw there. To give me the chance to go to Barnet (new ground) in a replay & break up my trip to Swansea. You don’t like that? Take it up with Wilder. He started it. I get it, of course. Someone. Somewhere. Once said. “We need to rest the first team for the Cup, we don’t want any injuries or anybody to be tired”. And, then tens of thousands have bought into that. No. Hang on. It’s Hundreds Of Thousands. Here’s one. If you ask players to play with other players, they never play with, then they won’t be able to play. You make 11 changes. That’s disruptive. This is fucking Big Boy’s Football. Barnet will rightly think - Hello. Barnet played very well. They deserved to win. Wilder will blame the players. Because he’s a victim of his own publicity. He’s fucked that up.

The most entertaining of those 3 games. That mad two all draw at Barnsley. The Young Blades were the better team. And, they went 2-1 ahead on 90+4. Substitute Reon Potts getting something on it to help it over the line. Yet. Barnsley got their second equaliser on 90+5. The scenes. The pitches are built into a hill. Terraced down one after the other. I swear, as the Young Tykes swarmed after the scorer, they all disappeared from view as they went over the edge down onto the lower pitch. Both sides had their moments. In general, Barnsley were hitting it long & a lot of stuff could just be tidied up by Kyron Gordon & Jean Belehouan at the back. United played a more controlled game - although not without huff & bluster. Initially, I was impressed by Sammy Ompreon. He took up some great striking positions & had some lovely touches. Sammy scored the opening goal with a neat flick header from George Broadbent’s corner on 19 minutes. He’s looking a little talled & more athletic as he matures & his value in the air is a new thing to his game. From memory, this was my first look at Frank Maguire. He was OK in spells. But, faded in & out at times. One thing I noticed was his apparent two footedness. Keep going with that Kid. Maguire was part of a great move with Ompreon on 24. He played Ompreon in, he stayed calm, but the keeper stayed upright & tall & beat the shot away.

As the game wore on, it was Zak Brunt who caught my eye more. Very switched on. Very nice on the ball. However. If he’s got a Copy Book. He’s blotted it. On 70 minutes, Utd were given a penalty for handball. (It was one each at that stage). The goalkeeper made a FINE save from Brunt’s spot kick. That, and a spate of substitutions for both teams set up that lunatic finish deep into injury time. Very enjoyable game. Disappointing the Young Blades couldn’t cling on.

The best pub across those 3 games. That was hands down, The Bobbin, in Leigh, before the Wigan game. Fairly large single room micropub. Very welcoming. Intriguingly, maybe because it’s January, after a heavy December, they had two lower abv Pales on. The best was the 3.8%, Blackedge Brewing Company, Hop Pale Ale on cask. The Hop bitterness was running all the way through it, with a little citrus cutting in.

As it happens, that beer was more-or-less matched in the best Brewery across those 3 games. The Hilltop Brewing Co just outside Conisbrough. Quite a place. I know my stuff. My trained eye suggested we’d come across a usual Saturday afternoon Old Boys drinking session. We deliberately placed ourselves in “The Tap Room” to be part of it. Some right bollocks being spouted. Most of them seemed to have their Sons come & collect them in the car at a pre-arranged time. Sign. Me. Up.

There were four of their own on cask. The pick was the 4% Blonde. Much hoppier than I expected. And, hooray to that. Lots of floral flavour, well balanced.

762/1601