Up!

What a night under the lights at Bramall Lane! An expectant sell-out crowd. An opposition set up to defend and frustrate. A tense first half. And then, through patience and persistence, with a touch of Premier League quality, the breakthrough. And from that moment on, nothing ever looked to be in doubt.

The party atmosphere was augmented by a second goal 15 minutes from the end, and after that, it was just dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s as we cruised to a victory and promotion back to the Premier League.

And then one big party for the 30,000 fans in the ground. I would have loved to have been there. There were a few tears last night and actually some mixed emotions. Sure: joy, relief, pride, but also a tinge of sadness, as well. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s missing out on these sort of shared moments that make me most homesick, even though I’ve been here for almost 20 years now.

But, what a night. What a team. What a club.

The Premier League is going to be a massive challenge – more so than maybe ever before – but with that combination of youth, experience, team spirit and those fans, I know we’ll give it our best shot.

Still proud

The Blades may have gone out of the Capital One Cup last night on a snowy evening at Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane, but they went down fighting until the very last minute and have every reason to be proud of yet another amazing cup run.

Here’s our hero of the moment (although there were many outstanding performances), Che Adams, hard at work:

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Sheffield United v Tottenham Hotspur, Britain - 28 Jan 2015
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And manager Nigel Clough agrees with me:

I’m incredibly proud of the players, to run a team like Spurs so close, that bit of quality made the difference.
We knew one goal would change the complexion. We got the second and then had a chance for a third and just missed it.
We were disappointed when we came away from White Hart Lane with a 1-0 defeat and we’re even more so tonight, as we came so close.

Yep. So very close. But it looks like we’ll have to settle for just the FA Cup and automatic promotion this season.