It's a steel

Anything yellow and blue
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slappy
Grumpy old git
Posts: 2884
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:52 pm

It's a steel

Post by slappy »

Well that was one of the more enjoyable away days, our first away win of the season.
I had visited Hillsborough once before when we played them in a cup match midweek but that was at night so couldn't really see the ground.

This time I came up on the train, ridiculously cheap LNER advance tickets of £14 return London to Doncaster, and £4.55 Doncaster to Sheffield Return. + travelcard to London £19.40.

Stopped in the Sheffield Tap for a pint before heading off to Kelham Island on the tram £4.40. We stopped at the Kelham Island Tavern, which has apparently won real ale pub of the year twice in a row. After a few more beers and a delicious pork-pie (I also bought one more for the train home), off on the tram again to the match.

A really enjoyable game, a nice early goal to set things up, an equaliser, and then that added time winner from James Henry to send us delirious, and then Jack Stevens tipping an even later shot onto the bar to leave us winners, with a bit of "play the ball in the corner" to use up the last few seconds.

Hillsborough is a proper old school ground, converted to all seater. The posts holding up the stand blocked the view a bit, and you could see in the home end that whole sections of seats were empty to avoid missing seeing the main part of the pitch. I didn't understand why some fans were in the uncovered open corner in the top left when it was raining.

Journey back was a bit more stressful. The tram was absolutely crammed full and seemed to take almost an hour to get back into Sheffield.
Then back at Waterloo, the line was blocked between Woking and Surbiton, so had to get the slow train home which eventually got in past midnight. [edit: got full refund on travelcard via delay/repay]
Dr Bob
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Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:16 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: It's a steel

Post by Dr Bob »

My Wednesday-supporting friend advised me to walk down to the Hillsborough tram stop to get the blue line after the game, as that would be less crowded than the yellow line trams (and it goes directly to the railway station). She was right - busy but I even got a seat.

The first two minutes had me concerned, but even then we showed great defensive resilience and soon took control of the match. I was certainly a bit concerned about our failure to score more than one by half time (Cambridge, Bolton, Wombledons), but was surprised by how little they offered going forwards, at least in terms of threatening the goal as opposed to making our defence in from of Stevens work for their corn (although his one reaction stop from Bannon in the first half was outstanding).

Inevitably the balance was a bit more even in the second half, but our bouncebackability after their goal was impressive. And I thought Williams' pass in for the goal was really good. My immediate reaction was "my god, not another low cross", but I had not seen Henry behind the big defender. And his finish was sublime. Listening to the overhype about Mo Salah's goal against Man City the following day, it struck me that had he (or someone of his stature) scored that goal, people would be raving about it for days.

I was also surprised and relieved to see how poorly the three ex-Oxford players performed. It was interesting to read their fans' views of Johnson and Dunkley, in particular, on their forums. I was not very impressed with Johnson last time he was with us - and even if he was playing out of position, he only did one good thing (even if it did result in their goal). I think it shows how far we have come, that players who once we would have wanted to keep or have return are perhaps not so viewed any more.

But was it the best away day in years ((c) Oxford Mail)? Well, had I planned my trip better and factored in some time to enjoy the local beer scene, then "Probably"...
Kernow Yellow
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Re: It's a steel

Post by Kernow Yellow »

Dr Bob wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:46 am But was it the best away day in years ((c) Oxford Mail)? Well, had I planned my trip better and factored in some time to enjoy the local beer scene, then "Probably"...
One of my best ever away days (nights) was at Hillsborough in 1996 - arrive Sheffield c. 4pm, enjoy 'beer scene', celebrate Mooooody earning Us draw at then-Premier League Owls, enjoy more pub and nightclub scene, arrive back in Oxford c. 4.30am. Oh to be young again.

It was always going to be a stretch too far from Cornwall this time, but at 5pm on Saturday I really wished I'd made the effort. Those are the days that make it all worthwhile. Before the game I would have taken Dunkley, Johnson and Shodipo back in a heartbeat - the latter was an underrated star of last season imo, and the other two have gone on to better things since leaving Us. Interesting to hear they didn't live up to their potential.
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