Ticket £21
Bus into Sheffield £1-50
Total £22-50
It has been almost 5 years since I last visited Bramall Lane, so today's lunchtime kick-off was an ideal opportunity to revisit. Truth be told I am not that keen on the Blades, even though they are my closest Football League side. Still, at it's best 'The Lane' offers a crackling atmosphere, and this post-Christmas fixture should hopefully blow away some cobwebs today.
After catching the bus in, collecting my ticket and taking some photos I headed inside to the 'Kop', where my seat was fairly central, for a perfect view of the action. Via it's back entrances the stand is exposed to the elements, with a kind of platform elevated high above nearby terraced streets. Despite their long stay in tier 3 of English football, United still feel like a big club, and the crowds building up outside supported this.
This should be a straightforward win for the Blades who were second going into this one. They went for Northampton from the outset, creating some early pressure which the away side withstood. But Northampton - in a striking fluorescent away kit - looked decent for the first half an hour. Although they did not create any shots on target in the first half, they did have a few handy runs and attacks which should perhaps have resulted in more. In particular Hoskins was excellent for the Saints when they did forge forward towards the Kop end. Sheffield United were clearly the better team but were often caught out on the odd counter-attack - this was not going to be an easy win today.
Northampton ran out of their counter-attacking intensity in the second period, but still put up a strong resistance to United. The stats showed that overall the home side had 22 shots compared to 7 for the Midlands side, which reflected the pressure exerted by the Blades throughout. Gradually, the away defence began to stutter and it seemed as if United would finally blow the doors down. Loose balls on the wing and too much space for United eventually turned into a couple of goal-mouth scrambles. Northampton were on the ropes.
But there was still no goal, and as the countdown at the far end dropped to 2 minutes, the vociferous Kop were getting more frustrated. To be fair to United they continued to pour forward, and their patience paid off when Kieron Freeman banged a loose ball in the box right into the roof of the net. 89th minute and a collective sigh of relief rang out across 'The Lane'. They still had time to hit the bar in the closing stages, but 1-0 was enough to see them win again.
Their manager Chris Wilder has been named the EFL Manager of the Year for 2016, and I could see why. This team look hungry, capable, and ready for promotion. They are top of the league going in to 2017, so there is much optimism in these parts. I headed back into the centre and walked all the way back to Handsworth, where I watched Final Score as results across the country flooded in. My rollercoaster 2016 footballing year has finally come to an end.
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