Away Day Wiz Diaries #15 – Sheffield United 2-1 Swansea

A double-header of sorts, as two big games at either side of the pyramid collide on one cold Tuesday night - Blades v Swans + The Rules Derby

I know what you're all expecting here. Tuesday night. Swansea. Coach roof has fallen off. Driver’s got lost. Plod are playing up. Yada, yada, yada. But no. Not this time. I have something to tell you...

You'll have heard of Sheffield FC no doubt. Hallam FC? Probably. For those who have somehow managed to live under a rock let me explain.

Sheffield FC are the world's oldest football club. Hallam FC play at the world's oldest football ground, Sandygate. Both occupy the lower rungs of the football ladder, with Sheffield, for now at least, finding themselves one division higher. When they play each other this is known as the Rules Derby. And it's been over a decade since they collided.

Alan, what are you talking about - how is this relevant? Well, here's tonight's moan. The Sheffield and Hallamshire senior cup quarter-final draw pitted these two historic clubs against one another, with a scheduled date of the 14th of January 2025. A fixture not to be missed. So I got myself a ticket. And to cut a long story short it bloody snowed. And Sandgate is effectively as far above sea level as Mount Everest. So it got called off.

"Please football gods, do not be rearranged for next Tuesday when I'm at Swansea."

…I'll let you guess what happened next.

My ticket would not go to waste. My mate Ian, who couldn’t make the original date, got the prize. More on that in a minute. But first, the reason you’re here: Swansea.

Again we had a combined trip with Handsworth Blades - big thanks to Steve for organising. Stopping off in the town of Neath, we decided to pub crawl it. We did three pubs. And they were as lively as you'd expect on a Tuesday evening. However, we made the most of it. A game of killer on the pool table in the first, a game of round the world on the darts board in the second, and some chips and chicken tikka in the third. Then we were jumping back in the coach to the Liberty, or whatever they're calling it now, Stadium. It’s a rather bland, usually empty new build. I never went to the Vetch, but I imagine it had far more about it than this soulless arena.

Seven minutes in disaster strikes, as Cooper parries his save straight onto the Swansea attacker’s bonce and Swansea get themselves ahead. For the rest of the first half we were outplayed, lucky to go in only one down and with 11 men. Something has to change here.

And change it has, Seriki, McCallum and Campbell on for Gilchrist, RND and Brooksy. And two minutes into the half Seriki flies down the right, his deflected cross finds its way into the path of Brewster who smashes his volley goalwards which beats the keeper to level us up. The Swansea skipper is then shown a red card for an agricultural challenge on Rhian, and the Swansea fans all appear to be wearing rose-tinted goggles. I'm not sure what they're moaning about, to be honest, it's a terrible challenge. If he'd done that in the street he'd get done for assault.

And the winning goal soon followed. A penalty awarded for a foul on the energetic Tyrese Campbell, which was duly dispatched into the onion sack by Harrison Burrows.

A fantastic 3 points! Hopefully, by the time I next write about United, we'll have boosted the squad with another 3 or 4 players, and we'll have a few back from injury. Because we need it. Running on fumes at the moment. [Some of that is coming true, although the result didn’t follow last Friday night v Hull].

Meanwhile, back in Sheffield, it was a cracking night up at Hallam FC for the original Derby between the two oldest clubs in the World, at the oldest football ground in the world, Sandygate. Over to Ian.

Ian Rands: There were lots of local media covering the match, although I'm not sure the national media gave it the attention the occasion deserved. The sell-out crowd, just shy of 1,500 (if capacity had allowed there would have been many, many more) made their way to S10 early doors and with an hour to kick off the stand was close to full, and hundreds had assumed their position pitchside. The Shed End was already in fine voice, and that continued throughout the 90 minutes. With a touch of pyro (not literally) thrown in, as the teams took to the pitch and after a goal. Although I have to admit I struggled to get on board with the songs decrying Sheffield (the club), it just sounded so wrong.

The night was a celebration of football history that the council and Welcome to Sheffield do not make enough of. In fact, they barely mention football, our heritage, and its place in its history in their marketing of the city. Have a look at www.welcometosheffield.co.uk it's a joke. Yet, the number of visitors from outside the city for the game was clear from the variety of accents heard.

In terms of the game itself, it was a deserved 2-1 win for Hallam. It was an end to end first half, with Hallam taking an early lead, and Club equalising within five minutes. Hallam went closest to taking the lead before half time, with a shot thumping the post and out to safety. After a goal early in the second half, The Countrymen dominated the rest of the game. By the final whistle, fans were on all four sides of the pitch, two to three deep along the cricket pitch side, a sight rarely seen, if at all, in recent history.

A great night for the city of football, and one which might be repeated twice next season with Club rock bottom of their league and likely to join Hallam who have a chance of making the promotion play offs. Only an FA reallocation, rebalancing the feeder leagues, might prevent it.

Footnote: An admission. I left thinking Hallam had won 2-0. I missed the restart after Sheffield scored, on my phone - a bit distracted by the Blades’ awful start at Swansea - and from the other end of the pitch, and with all the noise of the Hallam support, I'd assumed that the ball had gone the other side of the post!

Alternative joint MOTM award - Ian for his pictures and words from Hallam and for the second time this season Claire, who brought me a pillow for the journey home!!

See you at Derby Wiz.