We’re the famous Sheff United and we’re shifting attention from our currently somewhat iffy league form by going to Wembley.
We’ll probably get thumped, but it’s important to remember that to be thumped in an FA Cup semi final at Wembley, you need to be in an FA Cup semi final at Wembley.
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:
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.
Wow. What an intense 90 minutes of football yesterday. How good was that match compared with the dull sterility of Saturday’s semi-final? It must have been brilliant for the neutrals. Sadly, I’m not a neutral in this particular case and it was a sad end to our amazing FA Cup run, but what a way to go out. As the Nike adverts surrounding the field repeatedly proclaimed:
If you go down in flames, at least you were on fire.
And yes, we were. Aside from fifteen crazy minutes just after half time, including that one Ricky Villaesque run from Tom Huddlestone [“Tackle him! TACKLE HIM!!!”], we matched Premiership Hull City blow for blow and the team made us all very proud. Gone was the Wembley “stage fright” from previous visits, as we went all out for it from the first minute. From the Yorkshire Post:
Yesterday, dreams of becoming the first team from the third tier of English football to reach the FA Cup final died amid Hull’s superior football. But in a first half where United assumed control and then a late rally that briefly brought hope of forcing extra time, Clough’s men did their superb travelling army of fans justice.
No wonder that the hordes from Sheffield afforded their players a standing ovation at the final whistle. It was thoroughly deserved, and not just for yesterday’s efforts with the manner in which Clough has transformed the Blades being nothing short of remarkable.The future is looking bright.
I went through every kind of emotion over the 90 minutes and together with the heat (and possibly a couple of rather strong homebrewed wheat beers), it left me completely exhausted. I’m not quite sure what state the Blades players were in, but if the Sheffield Star is to be believed, they had some… er… “male issues” at the final whistle.
Hmm. “Prostate on the turf”? Some problems with their R’s there.
Thankfully, all I had to do was wander upstairs to my (stupidly hot) bedroom. Many of the United fans had a long trip back up from London, arriving back in Sheffield well after midnight.
All in all, an amazing effort and a magical cup run, which started away against Colchester United early last November.
We’ll just have to win it next year instead…
Big day today, as my beloved Red and White Wizards head down to Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup semi-final against Hull City. My Dad and brother will be there and I’ll try (as before) to guide them safely in. I’ve seen United in 3 FA Cup semi-finals, all of them with us in a far better situation than our current League One position. In fact, if we win today, we’ll the first club in over a century to get to the final while playing in the “third tier”.
However, our record in those semi finals is “less than great”, sitting at 0-3.
Not for want of trying though. Who could forget this amazing moment from our 0-1 defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford in 2003?
That’s how close we were. I was sitting (obviously, I wasn’t actually “sitting” at this point, but the point still stands (pun intended)) looking right along the goalline and I still cannot explain how Seaman kept that out.
But that was then and this is now. Sadly, our recent record in Wembley games is equally poor. The omens, they are not good, but I do like this sentiment from our manager:
Because given our circumstances and the teams we have had to play (and beat) to get to this point, we should already be proud of what we’ve achieved, but what’s the point of resting on our laurels now? It’s been the way for a while in this cup run that any step further would be something amazing. So why not go for one more?
33,000 Blades fans will be there to cheer them on:
Retail Sales Manager Lisa Crossland said:
“As quick as new merchandise is coming in, it is selling. This morning alone (Tuesday) we have sold more than 800 T-shirts, 600 flags, 300 car flags, 250 foam Wembley hands.”
I’ve long since given up on trying to predict the outcomes of Sheffield United games, save to predict them as being generally unpredictable. In getting this far, the team has already proven that we have the ability, we have the belief. Now we just have to go out and put it all into practice this afternoon.
Hold thumbs.
Not a dry nerve left in the house as my beloved Blades win through to the FA Cup semi final:
Bring on whichever team is (un)lucky enough to draw us for the big game at Wembley next month.