4 Goals, am I dreaming?

Sheffield United 4 (Four) v Colchester United 1

Tuesday 10 February 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

Cor, we needed that.

Today’s drink was ….. Moor B-Moor on Keg at 6% in The Rutland. Lovely & bitter against almost red fruit sweetness. There's also a tartness. Maybe reminiscent of Cranberry. Deep & intense flavours. Great beer

Then Hopcraft, A Good Rogering 6.1% on Cask in The Rutland. Pleasant, but slightly disappointing if I’m honest. Not a lot of bittering to my taste.

I also had Stancill, Barnsley Bitter at 3,8% on Cask in The Red Lion. I like that as a does what it says on the tin beer. Nice, copper, bitter.

The B-Moor is hands down, Standout beer of the Day.

United had a good bit of luck with the first goal, keeper spills it, bit of pinball.  But, that really helped them settle down. You need a bit of luck down the way. That gave them the leeway to start attacking at pace - which they are very good at, but do infrequently.  At Gillingham on Saturday, we came perilously close to being absolutely appalling. We’ve got some way to go before we can ever claim to be dominant. But, the final score tells the story. It actually went a bit flat at times.

I remain a spine man. And I do think they’re better with Doyle in. Have we got Basham as a settled Centre Half now? Is he part of my Spine?  The January Window jiggles things up. I was very comfortable with Ryan Flynn playing at right back. Presumably, Brayford’s arrival jiggles that up. They’re sucking ordinary midfielders in, which might shove Louis Reed down the pecking order. More & more signings eases Diego even further out. Nigel seems to like McEveley - making it difficult to get Terry Kennedy in.

Things need to settle down. We need to get some results together. If we have to go back to first principles to do that - so be it. But, longer-term, I’d like to be able to get Reed & Kennedy into a settled side.  

84/203

Mad 5 minutes

Colchester United 2 v Sheffield United 3

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Twitter @ball_sup

We've won it in a mad 5 minutes near the end after being 2 down. Ask me how. I don't know. We looked a bit better after we ditched the target men - one less distraction. Score. Bit of momentum. Bit of panic. That's it.

The Bricklayers Arms has become our pub of choice before Colchester games.  That's primarily because we've had 'em in a lot of night games recently. The shuttle bus to the greenfield out-of-town ground starts fairly close to the Bricklayers. So, it's a convenient quick watering hole.

But. For a change I hit The Victoria Inn first. Can't recall ever having been in before. One keg (Buxton Axe Edge). Five casks. Leaning strongly to Essex beers. I dithered & the barman took over. I'm happy with that. Went with Maldon Brewing Company Farmers Ales Ella at 3.9%.

Lovely beer. Very pale. Nice lacing down the glass. Well balanced big citrus hit & tongue tingling hop bitterness hit. A little icing sugar sweetness on the lips. I thought it was a bit metallic at first. But the flavours soon took over.

So .... I stuck with them & went for Puck's Folly at 4.2%. I got a lot of mandarin on the palate. Again, a tongue tingling bitterness. Developed towards Mango. A little sour apple further down the glass.

And so, on to The Bricklayers Arms. As well as being convenient for the shuttle bus, it is a pretty decent pub as well. It's all about the Adnams. Nine casks. I had Adnams Topaz Gold at 4%. My tongue & Hopometer were still tingling from the Farmers Ales.

The Topaz was more soft fruit apricot than citrus or tropical. But another in-your-face tip of the tongue bitter missile. Way down the glass, the bitterness becomes almost ginger. Strike me I'm still getting swirling apricot aromas though.

I'm still a sucker for alleged Craft Beer. So I had a go at The Adnams Jack Brand Dry Hopped Lager on keg at 4.2%. It was pleasant enough. Very refreshing. It came over a bit too sweet for me. There is a citrus bitter kick. It's quite burst in your mouth. I'm a little unsure. Maybe they should have gone all out for a Pale.

If I had the balls I'd put it up against Carlsberg or some other industrial brand they've got.

3-2 get in.

Worse Than Hitler

Sheffield United U21 0 v Colchester United 0

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Shirecliffe Academy

Twitter @ball_sup

I really enjoy going to age group football. Both Sheffield United & England. In the main it's refreshing. No histrionics & drama. Players who mainly want to play & give it their all. Refs let the game flow.

It does suck you in a bit. You start wanting to see the players you've seen being given a shot in the 1st team.

Both teams were bright & busy. Plenty of chances at both ends. I had Colchester shading the 1st half with United coming more into it in the 2nd. Not much composure & quality out there. It was all a bit rushed & frenetic.

Enjoyable game though for all that. For United there weren't really any next cab off the rank players out there. Most of those would have been with the 1st team group in Peterborough the night before. I guess Summer signing James Wallace was of most interest.

He started on the bench & came on later in the 2nd half. He looked strong & committed. Not head & shoulders above the others, but stood out a bit.

Lots of the other contenders were busy at times - anonymous at others.  Diego had a quiet game. He seemed to get the ball a lot with his back to goal & couldn't make an impact.

Otis Khan had a few runs attacking defenders at pace. Connor Dimaio I like. But he needs to just be left to get on with it & develop. Maybe Johnstone's Paint & the odd substitute appearance in the short term for him.

Nobody really putting their hand up & demanding to be picked.

With a 2pm kick off, the drink was post match.

I went in The Rutland Arms. I had a beer I'd been hoping to track down. The Steel City Brewing/North Riding Hotel Worse Than Hitler at 5.4%. And 139.4 ibu according to the pump clip.

Fantastic. Does what it says on the tin. It's all about the upfront bitterness & the bitter finish. I'm going to say the Blackness adds something. But the power of the hops means, you know, it could be pale it could be red. To me the Blackness accentuates the bitterness. It sort of gives a backbone of chewy body on which the bitterness flourishes. It's my sort of beer. I loved it.

Next up was Stone Brewing Ruination IPA at 7.7%.

Marmalade on the nose. Zingy & mouthfilling. Lovely cloying sticking to the roof of your mouth & numbing bitterness. Tastes all of it's 7.7%. The sweetness is quite in your face. That surprised me a little. It was enjoyable.