League One Lowlights: Huddersfield twice

A column to remind us of what was Sheffield United's default setting

With the Blades top of the table at present, it can be easy to forget that football isn’t always this simple. To remind us all of Sheffield United’s default setting, Andrew Wilson shares his memories of our darker times during the spell in League One, starting with a couple of defeats against Huddersfield.

Tuesday 13 September 2011: Sheffield United vs Huddersfield Town

Manager: Danny Wilson

Line-up: Steve Simonsen, Matthew Lowton, Neill Collins, Harry Maguire, Marcus Williams, Michael Doyle, Ryan Flynn (Nathaniel Mendez-Laing 72), Lee Williamson (Kevin McDonald 46), Stephen Quinn, Richard Cresswell, Chris Porter (Ched Evans 46)

There isn’t one side I fear in this league. That’s not cockyness, It’s just they are all crap—stannyblade, S24SU.com

It’s easy this League One lark.

Played 7, won 5, drawn 2. Top of the table!

The League One tour was going exactly as planned, and everyone was enjoying a short break from the Championship – after sixteen of the last seventeen seasons spent in the second tier, it had become rather stale.

The drop in class meant new teams to play, new grounds to visit, and – more often than not – three points to obtain. As if to highlight the division’s poor standard, even Nick Montgomery had found the net against Tranmere.

Huddersfield were next up – also unbeaten themselves, although four points further back. This was potentially our first true test, but with home advantage, it was also an excellent opportunity to stamp our authority on the division.

Before matchday, an element of bad blood had developed, with many Huddersfield fans boycotting the fixture due to pricing. Amid much quoting of Football League regulations, we learnt that away fans could be charged up to 10% more than home fans in comparable stands. With tickets on the Kop costing £26, Sheffield United had graciously given away fans ten pence discount from the maximum allowable, charging £28.50. This was widely seen as taking the piss by Huddersfield supporters, who demanded their prices matched our own.

The debate, as usual, went around in circles, with those who found £28.50 a little steep for third-tier football soon shot down by Bigger Blades, who explained that anyone prioritising silly things like food and heating over match tickets was not a true fan.

Nonetheless, the away turnout had clearly been impacted by the boycott – so much so that in the pub beforehand, any away fans who had made the journey were (jokingly?) berated as scabs – a time-honoured South Yorkshire insult.

We did get talking to a few, who explained that “hundreds” of fellow Terriers had stayed at home.

“Because of £2.50?” inquired one curious Blade.

“It’s not about £2.50, it’s about football teams taking advantage of your loyalty, increasing the prices year-on-year, until you get to the point where following your team means you have to start making cutbacks elsewhere. It’s about the slow transformation of the working man’s game until it becomes completely detached from the communities who created it.”

“Still though, it’s only £2.50 more than the Kop...”

It’s safe to say that sympathy was in short supply. The pervading thought process at the pub was: they’re not boycotting because of the price; they just know they’re going to lose.

With Lecsinel Jean-Francois suspended, having accumulated an impressive five yellow cards by early September, new loan signing Marcus Williams made his debut. This was Danny Wilson’s first change to what had thus far been a settled back four of Lowton, Collins, Maguire and Jean-Francois.

Perhaps this change in personnel unnerved Steve Simonsen, as, after twenty minutes, he spilt a long-range shot to the feet of Lee Novak, who duly opened the scoring.

Still, we had recovered from deficits against Walsall and Scunthorpe; there was no reason to think— oh f***, it’s two nil. Novak again, this time firing home after United failed to clear a free-kick.

No matter, a good half-time team talk will get us— for f***’s sake, it’s three-nil! Oscar Gobern heading home from a corner.

With that, the game was over after just forty minutes. By the final whistle, the smattering of strike-breaking away fans outnumbered the remaining Blades.

On their way to the exits, everyone offered up the same thought: perhaps League One won’t be so easy after all...

Sheffield United 0-3 Huddersfield Town

Lee Novak 20, 37         

Oscar Gobern 40

Attendance: 17,373

Post-match league table:	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1 	Charlton Athletic 	7	5	2	0	9	17
2 	Sheffield United		8	5	2	1	7	17
3 	Huddersfield Town 	8	4	4	0	9	16
4 	Milton Keynes Dons 	7	5	1	1	8	16
5 	Brentford 		        8	5	1	2      6      16

Has the bubble burst? The first of the better teams in this division, and we lose 3-0 at home. Hmmmm...—Hartley Hare, S24SU.com

Saturday 26 May 2012: Sheffield United vs Huddersfield Town (at Wembley)

Manager: Danny Wilson

Line-up: Steve Simonsen, Matthew Lowton, Neill Collins, Harry Maguire, Matt Hill, Nick Montgomery (Andy Taylor 119), Michael Doyle, Ryan Flynn (Michael O'Halloran 108), Lee Williamson, Stephen Quinn, Richard Cresswell (Chris Porter 85)

Swore I'd never go again after Burnley, but can't resist it now —Northyorksblade, S24SU.com

This was my fourth play-off final following Sheffield United, and it’s safe to say I didn’t have fond memories. However, the difference this time was that we weren’t trying to grab promotion via the back door – we undeniably deserved to go up.

Our points tally of ninety would be enough to win the league some years, and only once before in Football League history had a team amassed 90+ points without achieving promotion (Sunderland in Division One, 1998).

I’m not going to say I felt confident in the build-up – with Sheffield United’s record in the play-offs, you’d be a mug to feel confident – but I was hopeful. Hopeful that this time would be different.

Yes, Huddersfield had destroyed us at Bramall Lane, but we had gained a smidge of revenge by beating them 1-0 on Valentine’s Day at their place.

And yes, our three previous play-off finals had all ended in defeat without scoring, but the theory went that the Footballing Gods were bound to take our side eventually.

Admittedly this theory wasn’t based on much – we had laboured to a 1-0 aggregate victory over Stevenage in the semis – but we already shared the record for the most play-off final defeats, and it wasn’t an honour we wanted to claim outright.

There was a YouTube video and everything. It showed clips of our previous attempts against Palace, Wolves and Burnley; all accompanied by sad piano music. But then the mood changed, the beat dropped, and the highlights switched to show goals from this season. Admittedly the scorer of most of these goals was now in prison, but still. It was our turn.

Forget about 1997, when a dour match ended with an agonising defeat – this time we would take the game to our opponents.

Banish any memories from 2003, when we missed a penalty on the big day – our sudden-death penalty shootout victory against Hartlepool in the League Cup had shown a rich seam of penalty takers throughout the squad.

Ignore any flashbacks from 2009, when an end-of-season striker shortage meant that a bumbling and ineffective Craig Beattie led the line at Wembley. This time was different – we had Chris Porter.

***

The sun beat down on the east side of Wembley as Sheffield United failed to look like scoring once again. The conversations turned from excitement to endurance, as the match became merely a countdown to penalties. At half time, those with common sense applied suncream to reddening skin, while those without applied mustard to £15 frankfurters.

How could I have been so stupid? The searing heat bleached the game of any quality, and by the second half, I was praying for a goal by either team – I wasn’t sure I could survive extra time without developing sunstroke. Alas, it never came, and we were all forced to sit through another 30 minutes, despite everyone knowing that no one would score.

Once again, we had failed to find the net in a play-off final, although at least this time we had the consolation of keeping a clean sheet.

So keen was Steve Simonsen on keeping his linen unblotted that he started the penalty shootout, in the same manner, saving from both Tommy Miller and Alan Lee. Yet despite Huddersfield failing to score from their first three penalties, somehow we didn’t take advantage, and the game continued to sudden death.

I remember being amazed when Jordan Rhodes stepped up next. Surely he’d taken one already? It simply did not seem fair that their sixth penalty was to be taken by the division’s top goalscorer while our reply was to come from Stephen Quinn. With hindsight, it turned out to be a precursor for when £10m Rhodes hilariously bottled taking a penalty for Sheffield Wednesday in the 2017 Championship play-offs. To be fair, I can see his line of thinking: penalties in matches count towards your tally – you get yourself a nice little goal bonus, and some kind soul will update your Wikipedia stats – but penalties in a shootout don’t count for anything, so why bother?

Anyway, by this point, everyone was scoring, including Rhodes and Quinny, so on we went.

We were getting to the dregs of the squads now, and it was around penalty thirteen when I first checked my watch.

Gary Roberts: scored. Bloody hell, how long has this been going on for?

Harry Maguire: scored. My train home leaves in an hour, and I still have to trek across London!

Calum Woods: scored. I have never known a penalty shootout get boring before.

Michael Doyle: scored. I wonder what I’ll have for my tea tonight? Probably just a takeaway to be honest, not sure I can be bothered cooking.

Jack Hunt: scored. Is it actually possible to miss a penalty? I’m sure I’ve seen it happen before, but I’m struggling to remember.

Michael O'Halloran: scored. This is my life now. Doomed to watch footballers kick the ball in the net from twelve yards for all eternity, as the sun slowly cooks me.

Sean Morrison: scored. Has anyone left a game during a penalty shootout before?

Matt Hill: scored. It’s time for the goalkeepers! At least this should be fun.

Alex Smithies: scored. Shit, why did I think this would be fun? How could this possibly end well for Sheffield United? When will I ever learn??

Steve Simonsen:

THE END

Sheffield United 0-0 Huddersfield Town

Attendance: 52,100

If I never see that fucking arch again it's too soon!! —mattbianco1, S24SU.com