Amstel is Off

Oldham Athletic 1 v Sheffield United 1

League One

Saturday 25 March 2017

Twitter @ball_sup

How do you deal with it? You put a glass over the Amstel tap. What are you dealing with? Not sure. The symptoms seemed to be a) a stag party, b) an all female 30th birthday group, c) a mob of W. Yorks. lads on the lash & d) some sun.

The Station Buffet Bar, Stalybridge is one of those pubs that is on “a route”. In this case, a train route. You buy your appropriate Romper. You get on a train. You get off. You have a bevy. Occasionally, on Look North & Calendar we get reports. Trains mobbed. British Transport Police overrun. Northern Rail (etc) Hectors at their wits end. I'd ”heard rumours”. That to discourage, some pubs wouldn't serve the dreaded LAGER.

So, presumably that what was going on. Declare the Amstel off. There was also Glass Apartheid at the bar. Us older, solitary drinkers, seated in the rooms. Glass.

Funny hat. Balloon tied to your arm. Half a dozen of you. Plastic all the way.

I had Beer Nouveau, Horse Wynd on cask at 5.1%.

Then, the other extreme. Bridge Beers, Stalybridge. Straight ahead Micropub. Gravity cask behind the bar. I had Four Kings, Porter at 5.2%.

I'll bow to superior judgement. But, there seemed to be a lot of bollock talking about the state of the pitch. To the extent it apparently influenced our starting XI. To the extent he left Coutts out. (Shakes head). The lack of wing back alternatives exposed again. Lafferty on international duty. Stick round peg Matt Done out there. Just like we promised we wouldn't.

Anyway. We've got the points behind us. We've earned the right. It was all a bit of a reality check.

461/956
83

First Touch

Sheffield United 2 v Oldham Athletic 0

League 1

Monday 26 December 2016

Twitter @ball_sup

Twenty three games played. It's all ticking along nicely. Halfway through. United are now in second place. A point behind Scunthorpe. A point ahead of Bolton. United have an eight point gap to Rochdale in fourth. And an 11 point gap to Peterborough in seventh.

Oldham had a lot of that game. Particularly in the first half. Maybe United weren't quite at it. But, credit to Oldham. High work rate. Closing most things down. Everywhere on the pitch.

The Blades looked a lot more threatening when Clarke came on for the largely anonymous Done. Clarke did, naturally, manage to jump under a few headers. But, he's a fully built footballer. A lot is said about “first touch”. What I notice about Clarke is the simplicity. His first touch is to set up his second touch. That's a great skill. He's always thinking to nudge it, or nurdle it, or turn it, or drop it to where his marker isn't.

Him & Sharp can just barrel in on goal. It creates. Both chances & panic. United kept at it. They just seemed relentless. The worry is a Goal won't come. But, this time, two did.

The pre-match was in The Stags Head. Thornbridge all the way. I'm softening. Mainly because their beer range is widening & consistently good. Although I did sup a range in India. I did feel a little bit like I was weaning myself back into English beers.

A safe low abv blonde.
A brown malty English bitter.
And, a well hopped modern session IPA.

Step forward. ….

Thornbridge, White Swan on cask at 3.5%.
Thornbridge, Lord Marples on cask at 4%.
But, we're back in the room. Standout Beer Of The Day, Thornbridge, Peverel on cask at 4.5%

422/867
47

What's happened there?

Sheffield United 3 v Oldham Athletic 0

Saturday 12 March 2016

League 1

Played at Bramall Lane

Twitter @ball_sup

Today’s Adkins Home Grown/Scouted from Non-League quotient - 4/11 = 36%. We've started with Long, Whiteman, Sharp & Adams. Calvert-Lewin & Reed have both come on. And, Graham Kelly was an unused substitute.

Three Nil. I don't know what's happened there. Well, maybe I do. A team of basically competent players, trying to do their best, have visibly grown in confidence as the game has gone on. That's what we have to do to get out of the fog we're in.

Here's the acid test. After the first goal went in, McEveley & Edgar making runs out of defence with the ball at their feet. Not many runs. But runs nevertheless.

More of that. More of everything from today.

I went in The Cremorne for the first time in living memory. Great place. Dare I say it, not too crowded. Nice beer range. Very friendly. I went Ilkley, Fireside Porter on cask at 4.2%. All about the liquorice that one. Very nice.

I'd earlier had Toolmakers, Razmataz at 4.2% in Fannys (Lord Nelson)

287/599

Piccadilly Tap

Oldham Athletic 2 v Sheffield United 2

Saturday 11 April 2015

Twitter @ball_sup

The Venue

Piccadilly Tap, Manchester. Recently opened. My first time in. Nondescript entrance. Table & chairs and a few stools. With the bar at the back. Quite a lot of bartop. To say that all the beer comes out of taps set in the "copper" back wall. It's a Euston Tap style uniform taps. Even the Real Ale comes out of them. There are no handpumps. The beers are all chalked on blackboards. Just enough information on them to get your fancy tickled. Counting cider & the closest you're going to get to normal lager, there's 18 keg & 7 cask.

I mean, there's a few to go at.

There were a few in. The passing trade footfall is ridiculous. Wall-to-wall humanity. Not all that many coming in though.

The Beer

I had Brightside American IPA on keg at 4.8%. I'd also had Coach House Dick Turpin on cask at 4.2% and Prospect Whatever at 3.8%. Those two in other pubs as we made our way to Boundary Park.

The Game

What can you say. No consistency still in selection, who plays where if picked & performance. But a get out of jail point. Not an enjoyable experience.

117/263