Liverpool (04-10-2014)

Liverpool 2 – 1 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League), 4th October 2014

Ticket = £51
Train (Sheffield-Liverpool) = £22-50
Bus to Anfield = £4
Tea = £2
Programme = £3
Total = £82-50

For the 3rd weekend in 4, we made our way to Anfield for another clash. Like Villa, this was against Midlands opposition in West Brom, whose ground I’d visited back in a freezing weekend in January 2010. That seems a long way away now, and at some points we’ve felt like real regulars on Merseyside over the last 3 seasons. Again, I’d nailed these tickets via the Late Availability sale, which is great for last-minute tickets. The only down side is that the heavily discounted travel tickets have usually gone by this point, so we again utilised the Two Together Railcard, which made it £22-50, a reasonable discount to keep some of the costs down.

Last week, we had been massively disappointed as Liverpool had rather unluckily dropped two points against Everton, despite an excellent performance. The rusty banger is taking a while to warm up this season! Liverpool started slowly, and the first-half was characterised by a lot of sideways passing and wasted possession. There was a 10-minute spell just before the break when the home side looked something like the team they had been last year, with smart interchanges between Sterling and Coutinho and high pressing up the pitch. On another day, they would have gone in frustrated at the break, but today it fell for them, with Lallana scoring a superb goal from inside the box after a swift one-two with Henderson. This was bang on 45 minutes, and we were delighted – you could see how much the goal meant to Lallana, and it had come at a perfect time for the home side. 

After the break, Liverpool started where they left off, with sparks of activity and movement recalling the great 2013-14 season. But the longer it stayed 1-0, nerves grew, and it was almost inevitable that WBA would equalise. This time they conceded from the penalty spot, with Berahino netting in front of the Anfield Road end. Not to be deterred, Liverpool continued with their neat passing, and while this wasn’t quite as good as last year, there was a certain spring in their step despite the equaliser. There was a frustrating lack of penetration to the attacks, and they occasionally lost concentration when Berahino was on the ball, but this was a big improvement performance-wise. 5 minutes after the West Brom equaliser, Henderson slotted in from inside the box after one attacking move broke down. 2-1 ahead and Liverpool now looked like they had a surge of confidence running through them. It was arguably too early for them to take the lead (61 minutes) and they had to ride out the final 15-20 minute period with some nervousness before scrapping home. This was a deserved win, and you could see what this meant to the players to get their first league win since August. Hopefully once confidence returns, performances and results will gradually improve, and they will play their way into form. Roll on the international break!

Handsworth (02-10-2014)

Handsworth Parramore (U19) 5 – 0 Buxton (U19) (North Midlands Under-19 Football League), Thursday 2nd October 2014

Entrance = £2
Programme = £1
Tea (x2) = £2
Total = £5

All roads lead to Olivers Mount for me (on occasion at least), as I seem to be drawn back here by some greater footballing force. I haven’t had the chance to see a game here this year, so took advantage of this Under-19 fixture under floodlights, and sandwiched in between a couple of Liverpool games. Surprisingly, this wasn’t free, and I parted with £2 entry plus £1 for a programme. The friendly woman on the turnstile-cum-portakabin apologised that there the rather thin programme was £1 this evening – apparently this was because of the lack of a 50-50 tote/draw this evening. Not a problem as I have no truck with any funds going back to this great local club.

On the pitch, this game pitted 5th-placed Handsworth against 7th-placed Buxton, with the early league looking close (mainly due to the fact that only 11 teams participate, and most have played only 4-5 games thus far). This encounter belied the two places between the clubs, with Handsworth – to be frank – running amok and bossing the game throughout. In my notes from the first half, I didn’t record a single decent attempt from Buxton, with Handsworth easily over-running their Derbyshire opponents. As usual, their game was full of pace, with Kyle Lilley lively on the left wing, and James Dawes (at number 9) looking Rooney-esque in his swift decisive attacks. The latter forced a save from the keeper’s legs, whilst even the full-backs (Blakemore on the right, Dacre on the left) had opportunities to open the scoring. How Handsworth weren’t in front by half-time was a mystery – Phillips did have the ball in the net after a fast move involving Safi, and Dawes hit a volley over from close range. Goalless at the break, but Buxton were being ‘thrashed nil-nil’.

I wondered if Buxton could do anything to stop the home side, and for a time in the second-half, it seemed they might frustrate the Ambers. First, Dawes had another shot – this time scooped over the bar – then, a Buxton player registered a superb shot on target heading for the top corner, well-saved by Jones. Dawes fired another shot wide, before Buxton’s 11 had a free-kick blocked on the edge of the box. Just when it seemed as if this would end in a frustrating stalemate, on 66 minutes, Blakemore headed in from close range in what looked like a possible own-goal. As is so often the case, it took a less than classy goal to open the floodgates. After that it was one-way traffic. Beaumont doubled the home lead shortly after, converting a great assist from Lilley, before Dawes set up number 16 (I think it was Carroll) to make it 3-0. By complete coincidence, the goal came on 9.16, having involved an assist from 9 to 16! The Ambers rounded off the evening with a headed goal from one of their defenders, and a long-overdue goal for Dawes, who dummied and shimmied his way to create space for a shot. Late on Buxton’s 10 forced a save from Jones in the home goal, but it was too little too late. Handsworth had deservedly won a game they had dominated. Good luck to them with this league – on this performance, they should be up there at the business end of the season.