Well now I know why they call them the Blades - they have put a dagger right in our hearts and stabbed us in the back with such a (according to their own boss) 'smash and grab victory' We were however, once again, our own worse enemy. The first 40mins was one way traffic and we created 3 or 4 clear chances - chances that we should have buried. Bamford missed the target, Harrison blasted over when he should have scored, Roberts headed over when he should have scored. We had other half chances and good pressure but it just did not go for us and they defended like demons They had a bit in the last 5 minutes with two corners that we struggled to defend and then they had a break and the lad rounded Kiko who had come out of his box (an omen for later on) but then messed up 2 or 3 up at half time and everything would have been rosy but our failure to score even one meant that the second half became an absolute disaster for us. The weather got worse and worse and the pitch a bit stickier which did not help our fast passing game. They dragged us more and more into a battle as we failed to create anything of note. Then the series of 'difficulties' first Bielsa made what most of us viewed as a bad substition when he rightly took off Harrison but instead of giving CLarke the chance to run at them he brought on the out of touch, out of form and off the pace, Douglas. Then Cooper the lion of the season so far, a real hero, turned back into League One Liam of last season and dithered , half slipped and failed to clear so Sharpe got to the ball in front of him and passed to the unmarked player who fell as he took his shot and this made it go right into the corner of the net Then Pontus made a great saving tackle but injured himself and became a virtual passenger. Then Kiko came flying out of goal again and fouled the Sheffield attacker - red card (and no complaints from me) though I have not bothered watching any of it again so who knows. So in effect down to 9 fit men with Pontus in net - an injured Pontus who had a great chance from close range to equalise but messed it up , as did ROberts on the end of a great move after that but failed to get his shot off We did try right to the end , even sending goalkeeping Pontus up for the last minute corner but in a way that summed up the day as ALioski put the corner over everybody - poor decision and execution , I said pre match that this was not the defining moment of the season and a defeat would not be fatal and I stand by that although it did feel at the end as if we have really blown it. The maths is now simple we need to either match them in every result from now on and then win the game they lose or somehow get our goal difference better than theirs so that a draw when they lose (which I am sure they will ) would be sufficient We have games that are all winnable albeit none will be easy and the likes of Brum and Preston away will be very hard, especially since our away games are an 'event' and teams raise their game. Strangely both us and Sheff U play Millwall at home and both Brum and Preston away so our fixtures are very similar It is not over yet but yesterday was a real knife in our ribs and the worry is that their commitment and defensive style may prove more effective than our free flowing lovely to watch football in these last few games DaveOn one more cheerful note, most if not all of you will have seen the Alioski 'chitty chitty bang bang song~ - if you havent find it , it is 'brilliant' - we were laughing about it at half time and it turns out it was written and performed by a lad who sits next but one to me (Gary)
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