A comfortable away win and a clean sheet while we’re up to fourth spot, till tomorrow at least. What’s not to like?
BEFORE
After the frustration of the Cardiff match of course I’m hoping that we’ll get back to winning ways this evening. Sheffield are rock bottom at the moment, having managed just two draws from their eight matches and they’ve conceded fourteen goals. We didn’t have our best shooting boots on against Cardiff but I’m confident that we’ll put that right this evening and come away with the three points. Ekwah and Dack won’t be involved again and the starting line-up should be very similar to last Sunday’s. Like many others, I’ve been impressed by Aouchiche and I’d like to see him start. Burstow hasn’t shown us his best yet so I’d also like to see Rusyn given a chance. I’m planning to watch the game with other members of the London Branch but that may change. Match prediction: 2-0 to us.
I got to the meeting place around 7.45 and checked the starting line-ups. The only change I spotted was Roberts starting in place of Ba so that meant Burstow was going to have another go upfront. The other members of the London Branch weren’t as confident about the match as I was. At the stadium there was a minute’s applause for Maddy Cusack and then we were into the game.
THE MATCH
In the early stages Sheffield were playing it very tight as Cardiff had done but things soon changed for the better. In the third minute we were awarded a free-kick in a perfect spot just outside their box but it was deflected for the first corner. Pritchard took it from the left and the TV decided to jump ahead a few seconds so the next thing we saw was Ballard celebrating. We had to wait for the replay to see Pritchard’s corner being heading powerfully into the net from Ballard’s header via the groping palm of Vasquez in goal. In the eighth minute we were two ahead and it was a typical Clarke effort as he jinked in from the left and across their box before lamming a hard low shot into the bottom right corner. Things calmed down for the next ten minutes or so but we were passing it around very nicely for endless passes in a row. In the twentieth minute Patterson conceded our first corner, diving low to his right to palm away a low shot. The corner came to nothing and we starting pressing once more. With a quarter of the match gone I remained very confident that we’d win. It was time to get another beer in.
Sheffield looked quite dangerous on their odd break but a third goal from us would bury them. Right on the half-hour mark Jobe pirouetted into their box and was pulled down. Clarke took the penalty and delivered it with authority into the bottom right corner for his third successful penna in a row. I don’t know where all this pirouetting has come from but I’m not complaining. A few minutes later Burstow had a golden chance to get his first but he mishit a low cross from the left and it bobbled away. There was a bit of discussion among us about what the odds would be for both Sheffield clubs to sack their managers within a week. I suggested a double with the aforementioned plus both clubs losing 8-0 at home. Just on the stroke of half-time we won another corner and Ballard got his head on it again but this time it landed on the roof of the net. It remained 0-3 as the half-time whistle went but I doubted if it would still be the same at the end of the game.
We’d made no changes as we kicked off again and we were soon pressing them back again. Roberts went on a great run down our right and we won another corner. It came to nothing but Ballard was clearly being manhandled. Shefield were still putting together the occasional tasty move and Patto had to make a great save in the fifty-sixth to deny them. A low Jobe shot went very narrowly wide but the hour-mark was approaching and I was hoping to see Rusyn and Aouchiche come on soon. In the sixty-sixth we made a double swap with Aouchiche and Ba coming on for Pritch and Roberts.
As we entered the final quarter of the match the result surely wasn’t in doubt but the final score was certainly debatable. In the seventy-sixth Burstow and Clarke were replaced by Rusyn and Rigg, and Sheffield made a double switch of their own. Delgado was booked for a bad foul on Rusyn as he raced down the left but Aouchiche drove the resultant free-kick well wide of their left post. With five minutes on the clock we brought on Seelt for Hume, with the former being an unknown quantity to me. Jobe had a low shot straight at Vasquez and then we were into seven minutes of added time. I love these big dollops of added time when we’re well ahead. We saw out the rest of the game without any real incident and it ended 0-3.
