Positives mainly & a negative

Bradford City 2 v Sheffield United 3

Pre Season Friendly

Tuesday 17 July 2018

SUFC 2018/19 Game 4

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If you want to. There are a lot of positives to take out of that. If you want to. I do. A very bright start. Movement all over the pitch. All that leading to a flowing, dynamic goal after just six. Triallist McGoldrick was very involved. So, that's a positive, if we decide to go that route. We haven't spent a fortune, we haven't got, on someone we can't afford, who is no better than what we've already got, and will need to break the wage structure, annoying the other players in the process - just to appease the ANNOUNCE Brigade. So, that's a very BIG positive.

Ryan Leonard played in a back three in one half. And was pushed into midfield later on. That gives us options. Which is positive. The Centre Backs did a lot more overlapping than “the earlier games”. Fleck was a-busy & a-buzzing. At two nil, we were cruising. And it looked gooood. Rafts of substitutions disrupted us. And Bratfud got it together & dragged themselves into it.

The drink was more disappointing. After promising much. The Rose & Crown in Cleckheaton has got a Microbrewery out the back. I think they maybe brew under three imprints - Cleckheaton Brewery, Haworth Steam Brewery & Whitechapel Brewery. I don’t quite know what is going on there. Anyway - it seemed a number of their own were off in the bar. How does that even happen?

I’ve had the one called Sovereign & after all that branding, I couldn’t really work out which nominal brewery it was from. On cask at 3.7%. A bit of tart (that shouldn’t). A little unpleasant aftertaste. All around negative.

682/1428

Sharp Channeling

Sheffield United 3 v Bradford City 0

League One

Monday 17 April 2017

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Billy Sharp channeling his inner Patrick Suffo, Ched Evans & Diego De Girolamo there towards the end. Gets the ball, he ain’t passing. No criticism from me. He’s earned the right. According to the media, he’s chasing 30 goals this season & 200 in his career. He’d scored one earlier in this game & laid one on for Clarke. He’s been a consummate professional this season. Missed hardly any games. Bang at it. Coming deep to do the job. Defending when he has to.

That was all towards the end of a dominant, dominant performance by The Blades. As always, scoring early will help. The confidence just flows through them after that. Bradford didn’t seem to have the right script. You have to close us down in midfield so we can’t link up. That pushes Freeman & Lafferty ever forward. And, you exploit that space & attack us wide when you get the chance. Balls whipped into the box cause confusion. Take your chances.

Bradford are no mugs obviously. Still vaguely chasing 2nd. Still trying to nail on the Play Offs & get home advantage. But, a team already promoted. A team already Champions. A team who’ve put a brick on the accelerator. So, they can’t turn the “gas off”. We’ve battered ‘em.  Same foundations as when we’ve been at our best. Coutts, Fleck & Duffy bossing it in midfield. O’Connell & Basham giving it to them - or stepping through when Bradford were on the back foot. Freeman & Lafferty box to box wide. I thought Clarke & Sharp had one of their best games together. The whole set up, coupled with how Bradford played, just gives us time, time, time. I loved it.

So much, that I’ll forgive myself a Big Beer Day. The Beer Engine before the game. The Devonshire Cat straight after. And, BrewDog, Division St. for your gratuitous beers.

The Standout Beer Of The Day was the glorious Magic Rock, Fantasma on keg at 6.5% in The Dev Cat. Gluten free. Deep & rich. Straight ahead American style IPA - reminded me of what we’re here for.

The Twisted Barrel, Call Of Korriban on keg at 5.8% (also Dev Cat) was right up there. Black IPA style. Very nicely hopped, off a bit of burnt sweetness from the malt. Not a great deal going on apart from that. I mean to say - showing off the two things it’s supposed to taste of to perfection.

The Devonshire Cat leg was completed by;
Eight Arch, Session IPA on keg at 3.8%.
Raw, Trulla Red IPA on keg at 5.8%
Both bangers.

I’d started in The Beer Engine on;
Blackjack, Jabberwocky on cask at 4.1%. Nicely balanced malty, hoppy hybrid. Full of flavour.
Dark Star, American Pale Ale on keg at 4.7%. Nicely flavoured. But, “ordinary” compared to some of the other belters from today.

And, through the mist…..
Yellowbelly, Citra Pale on keg at 4.8% and Siren, Soundwave on keg at 5.6% - both in BrewDog. Both were superb. The Soundwave felt like going back to an old friend & the Yellowbelly was full of hoppy flavour & bitterness.

464/972
85

Humdinger, Throwback

Bradford City 3  v Sheffield United 3

Saturday 22 October 2016

League 1

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Humdinger. Throwback. Great advert for the Football League & League One. I said to all who would listen before the start - don’t be defensive, but get a shape, get organised, get men behind the ball, rein it in a bit, switch on. Hopefully get a nil nil or sneak a win. Same points, different route.

The big crowd, the swollen pubs, the full trains. Made me remember that Bradford are a Proper Club. Manager, players & fans bang up for it. Blades, Ditto. Bradford like to get it off the keeper, play it forward, at pace, make runs. Early on, it was clear that United would have their work cut out. But, that shape & organisation meant we weren’t overrun.

Once we’d got through that, we gave as good as we got. At times, it was easy for them to pull us this way & that. Accurate balls at pace. But, this was no rearguard. Ahead twice. Great advert.

That away end is shit though. Maybe that’s the point, proper clubs have shit away ends.

And, here come the negatives. That sort of crowd, with barely hidden hostility, not going to make for an easy, nice quiet drink. We didn’t do too bad - timing was key. Hardly anyone in The Record Cafe when we walked in. A few more in The Bradford Brewery. But, we were early enough to get a seat & a few in before it got too chaotic.

I’m marking The Bradford Brewery down a few pegs. There is a bit too much attitude going on. Some of the Carrier Bag Firm were given hard stares for politely asking if the barperson could “serve down this end in a bit”. I was served a shocking pint of Hockney Pale - wrong colour, spectacularly cloudy. Then I couldn’t get the barperson’s attention to question it. When I did, they simply told me the barperson must have poured me Solero instead. (I’d watched her pull from the Hockney Pale pump). No probs once they got onside, pulled me another pint of my choice. Then the Hockney Pale came back on, then it went off. All a bit too much.

I had Bradford, Northern Soul at 3.8% & Solero at 4%. Both were fine. But, in another throwback, those (and others) had that sort of metallic taste going on that you used to get from small microbreweries, but which I haven’t tasted for ages.

We’d started, quietly, in the superb Record Cafe. Four on cask. Six on Keg. Sounds wrong to be critical, but the kegs were all full on messed about with beers. They needed a core hop hitter. I went Settle, No. 4 Nine Standards Amber Ale on cask at 3.7%. Which was superb.

392/823
36

Salvaged ...

Bradford City 2 v Sheffield United 2

Sunday 20 September 2015

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I've been away on cricket duty. But United have stuttered recently in home games. Slipped out of the automatic and playoff spots. It is still early days. But, the further you slip the more ground you have to make up.

I'm glad they did. But, I do not know how they have got anything out of that. Not at the races. For large parts of the game, they were just shifting it around ponderously. Moribund. Little pace & movement in the middle nor upfront. The defence knocking it between themselves. Looking, hoping, that summat would happen in front of them.

Sharp trying to draw the free kick. Not getting the message. It's Division 3 kid, stay on your feet. Bradford pressed. Stayed strong. Movement. Not brilliant, but effective.

Anyway. He's changed it, They've got back into it. McNulty can have the Anonymous, was he even out there, award.

So, second rescue of the day. That was a superb beer day. Particularly for a Noon kick off.

Bradford Brewery  (Rawson Road). Eight on cask. Some pukka keg. Some usual suspects. I had it as 3 of their own on cask. The rest guests. They've sold me a dummy. Bradford Brewery, Lost In New York on cask at 5.5%. Lovely. But, when I went back, it was off. "Because it's too strong to serve at 10 O'Clock on a Sunday morning". Yeah love, after you've already sold me one.

Then, Bradford Brewery/Signature, PI on cask at 5%. Superb as well. Thoroughly recommend the place. Nearly saved the day. But, Double Whammy, The Blades have salvaged it as well.

208/425

Can't wait

Sheffield United 1 v Bradford City 1

Saturday 18 April 2015

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I can't wait for this season to be over. I can't quite put my finger on it. We've had some great wins. Fingers crossed we'll be in the Play-Offs. I'm not particularly a boom and bust merchant. But, its seemed flat at times, marking time almost. From a long way out, we've all just been trying to get to 3 games. Whatever happens, there'll be a lot of I told you so.

We're not consistent. We've used (and continue to use) a large number of players. We're not a settled side. We're not gaining momentum, we're spinning plates.

Today's game, case in point. United probably did enough to win it. But conceded the equaliser late on.

Two superb beers today. But, I got chased down by the abvs. I had Kirkstall Brewery, Black Band Porter on cask at 5.5% in a rather crowded Sheffield Tap. The security had failed a bit and there were some Bradford shouters & bawlers in there.

And then in a quiet Tap and Tankard, I had Atom, Uncertainty Principle on cask at a whopping 6%. That was superb. IPA style, tasted very heavily hopped. Intense.

Finally (& necessarily) moving down the abvs I had a perfectly decent Kelham Island Best, on cask at 3.8%.

Come on, let's limp over the line.

121/270

Hip Hip Hipperholme

Bradford City 0 v Sheffield United 2

Saturday 18 October 2014

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A Destination Drink today that I’d been hoping to tick off for a while.  The Cock o’ the North pub in Hipperholme, West Yorkshire.  It’s essentially the Halifax Steam Brewing Company tap.  The logistics are reasonably straightforward. I caught the 549 bus from Huddersfield Bus Station. That dropped me more or less outside the pub.  The 549 runs from Huddersfield via Brighouse to Halifax. So, quite straightforward from any of those three.  It’s about a 10 minute schlep up the hill to Hipperholme, where I caught the 571 Bus to Bradford.  So, Cock o’ the North fairly accessible from those larger West Yorkshire places.

I'm really glad I went & I enjoyed myself. But, no beating around the bush, bits of it were odd. The place had a bit of a cliquey feel. A few characters sat at the bar. Constant banter with the staff. I had a "was that a tenner or a fiver" misunderstanding & a few of the customers piped up.

Some of the beers seem to be badged as Ladies names or references (eg Blondie). And the corresponding pumpclips use "glamorous images" - I emphasise not risqué or offensive - just glamorous. It was all a bit Old Skool Tennent's Lager.

Anyway. Broadly welcoming & helpful. It's fine inside. Big & bright. But on the outside it's got a "big portakabin" thing going on. Nothing wrong with that, it's a brewery tap.

There were 8 casks & 1 keg from Halifax Steam. Plus Krombacher Lager. I'm going to say that 4 of those casks were Identikit Blonde Beers. In a sense, difficult to tell them apart.

One of the casks was "chocolate". I tasted it but didn't have it. I assume it's added chocolate. Certainly tasted as such. Way way too much for my taste.

The Steam Punk IPA on keg at 5.3% was OK. Good effort. Bit safe. I wouldn't rush back to it.

For the record I had;

Aussie Kiss 3.8%
Blondie 4%
Lilly Fogg 4%
Child Catcher 4.8%
Jamaican Ginger 4%
Steam Punk IPA 5.3%

The Stand Out Beer of the Day was Child Catcher - more mouthfeel & a bit more ooomph than the others.  But I was disappointed with the lack of real variety across 8 pumps.