18/11 Sheff Utd 2nd Half

By: Tony Butcher
Date: 19/11/2000

No changes were made by either team at half time. Well not in personnel. Tactically, Sheffield United dispensed with namby-pamby passing - everything went, to quote Bing Crosby, straight down the middle. The higher the better. Ugly, but against Town likely to be effective.

Sheffield United 3 Grimsby Town 2
17 Nov 2000, Nationwide League Division 1

Town continued as before, though with a bit more attacking intent. Donovan seemed to be a bit perkier and Town loaded the right hand side. Within three minutes Town were level. After a period of pressure and possession football down the Town right, McDermott, 10 yards inside the Sheffield half, just managed to keep a short pass from one of the central midfielders in play. He advanced and rolled the ball inside. Someone dummied his pass setting Livvo (I think) free. There was a bit of interplay outside the area and Livvo received a pass near the corner of the penalty box. He ran across, shimmied and feinted to go right, but continued going across to the left. LIVINGSTONE created a small gap and, from 15 yards out, near the 'keeper's left hand post, delicately curled a left foot shot around the 'keeper low into the corner of the net. It was an exceptionally well crafted team goal, with a fine finish. So that shooting practice before the game did work. And oh did the Town faithful yell, and yell, and yell. It was only what we deserved.

Grimsby Town Coyne McDermott Gallimore Handyside Groves Coldicott Campbell Burnett Donovan Livingstone Nielsen   Subs Bloomer Clare Croudson D Smith Jeffrey

It lasted fully 2 minutes. Town cleared a Sheffield attack down the right, and McDermott knocked the ball down the line to Livvo, right on the touch-line. He held off two defenders and back-heeled the ball for Donovan to run onto. Donovan lost out on the challenge and the ball was immediately switched over to the other wing where Devlin was completely alone. Gallimore ambled across and Devlin again beat him easily (I think this was the occasion he made Gallimore fall on his bottom). The cross was clipped to the centre of the goal, about 8 or 9 yards out. BENT nodded firmly into the left hand side netting.

Sheffield got rather excited after this with an increase in the tempo of their play - in other words they whacked the ball higher and harder. Groves, in particular, was beginning to crumble. He had great difficulty with high, high balls whacked towards his forehead. He didn't like it up 'im.

Near the hour another disaster. The Sheffield 'keeper whacked a high drop kick literally down the centre of the pitch. Groves was underneath the flight of the ball and appeared to adjust his position two or three times. The ball bounced on the edge of the Town area, hit Groves on the right arm and rolled out into the centre of the penalty area. BENT ran forward and lifted the ball over Coyne, it rolling gently into the right hand side of the goal.

At around the same time, after another huge whacked clearance by the 'keeper, one of the central defenders headed the ball back to a Sheffield forward, about 35 yards out. His half volley smacked against the crossbar, with Coyne racing out to punch it way from one of the other forwards.

For the next 10 minutes Town had quite a bit of the ball, though I don't recall too many chances. Livvo tired to curl a shot into the 'keeper's top left hand corner, but the 'keeper parried away for a corner. It was almost an exact replica of Coyne's save in the first half. Except, of course, Coyne's save was better. Campbell was brought down inside the area, when challenging for a loose ball. The ball was travelling away from goal at the time, but he still appeared to be brought down. Well, the referee didn't have a clear view, being stood a yard away.

At around the same time Coldicott was booked for diving, after being tripped just outside the area. Perhaps I am being one-eyed here? Or maybe not, as even Keith Curle shrugged his shoulders and gave a "Huh?" gesture.

With about 20 minutes left Sheffield whacked a long low clearance down their inside right channel. The ball seemed to skip off the pitch and through a small gap between Handyside and Groves. This left Groves and Bent alone just outside the Town area, just to the left of centre. Groves lunged in and the ball rolled away, wide of the goal. The Sheffield player fell over Groves' leg. With this referee it was obvious what he would do. Red card. Being at the other end of the ground I couldn't tell whether Groves made contact with the ball. At the same time Gallimore fell over, clutching his foot. Groves walked off, Gallimore limped off. Bloomer replaced Gallimore and Town went to a 4-3-2 formation with Livvo at centre back, Bloomer, left back and Donovan up front near Nielsen. That moment seemed to sum up Town's day - everything was going wrong. Whe game was over now, wasn't it? We might as well go home now. Well, not quite.

2 or 3 minutes after Groves was sent off, Town scored another great team goal. Coldicott won a tackle on the Town left, just inside the Town half near the touchline, with a great full force sliding tackle. Man, ball and half the ground were gobbled up. The ball rolled to Burnett who ran forward, swaying past a Sheffield player. He advanced to the centre, about 30 yards out, and played a brilliantly weighted pass between the defenders for Neilsen to spin off the shoulder of the centre back. NIELSEN held off two defenders and, from 8 yards out, just to the left of goal, clipped the ball over the 'keeper and into the right hand side of the goal. Fantashtic.

For the next 10 minutes Town really gave it a go and put United under intense pressure. Donovan had a 5 minute patch of goodness, during which he produced a great dribble down the right, beating three men, twisting , turning, twisting, turning and twisting again, to leave two defenders going the wrong way. He clipped in a cross from the bye-line to the far post where Livvo headed firmly back across goal, but just over the bar. The ball crawled over the bar. After another Town break Donovan hit a half volley 10 foot over the bar from 20 yards. This followed some typical one touch football down the Town left involving Nielsen, Campbell and Coldicott. It was getting quite exciting with the Town supporters really getting behind the team. Could we hear the Yorkies sing? NO.

With 10 or so minutes left Clare replaced Burnett, who was given a standing ovation for an excellent all round performance. He's back. Second lesson learnt, Mr Lawrence. Town sent Livvo forward and played a 3-3-3 formation. Only one more clear chance was created - Clare shot straight at the goalkeeper when unmarked 20 yards out. Again this chance was created by one touch interplay down the right and through the centre. That is, team play.

The gung-ho formation left spaces which Sheffield nearly exploited on a couple of occasions. Only some interceptions by Handyside, and a couple of good races off his line by Coyne stopped more (undeserved) goals being conceded. The last few minutes saw Town knock high balls up to….big Daryl Clare, who jumps like a glove puppet. Not a clever tactic.

There were three minutes of injury time and they were a total farce. Sheffield played for time, by knocking the ball around, and ultimately into corners. United got a free kick on Town 's left after Devlin "fell" under a challenge from Bloomer. Bloomer whacked the ball back at Devlin (missing). So the referee booked Bloomer. United took ages to take the free kick. So the referee booked Donovan for encroaching and moved the free kick forward. Sheffield played the ball into the corner flag. Then the referee ended the game. Cue standing ovation for Town and roared disapproval for the inconsistent and wholly partial man in black.

There were many positives to take from this game - Burnett, Campbell, the Burnett-Campbell partnership, the team spirit that fought to the end in adversity, the slickness of the passing through the centre of midfield. The negatives are known to us anyway - the whole of the left side. Coldicott is wasted there and Gallimore needs protection - he's lost without his Smith. Groves isn't a top class centre back when facing bigger, stronger, faster opponents. It was a bit like the Watford game - a poor set of officials and luck running out.

There is adventure and spirit within the squad. They never gave up and deserved better. Just remember the name of that referee. I won't

NickO's man of the match: Burnett - brought composure and comfort to the middle and created the second goal. To quote someone in the stands "Wayne is wonderful"

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