Subs:

Wright 7/10 – Steady enough when he came on. The issue was missing Baldock who had offered a real threat down that side. Wright will feel unlucky to be dropped. We got caught as they broke a few times near the end and at times you can see he lacks pace but we do seem better when he plays.

Clarke – Played half an hour and the ball did stick more when he was the focal point of things. Sometimes he dithered a bit when it came to him and the ball got crowded out but for the final 10-15 minutes we gave it a really good go and he linked well.

Brooks – He got half an hour also but despite a few tricks and bits of play, not sure he showed what he has done in the last few games. He did get kicked badly once and also, they surrounded him with players. He maybe should have moved it on a bit quicker. Still you can see the threat he is when he gets on the ball and glides on the surface. Think him and Duffy will rotate a lot over the coming weeks.

Manager: Wilder 6/10 – Giving him 6 may seem harsh but he made 2 changes and they did not work. Another day they might but he opted to freshen things up. Of course, you never know if he had played same team if they would have made the difference. I would have left the midfield as it was as it had done so well the last few games. Still he made the changes fairly early and they had half an hour to make an impact and it did not quite happen as we got crowded out a lot despite having all the ball. A setback but overall as he said, it was a decent performance save for two poor mistakes and lack of cutting edge/final ball up top. Between the boxed United were the better side. Overall it has been a great start and the way we go at teams and just attack is so refreshing.

Officials – Andy Davies. Not sure he was that great to be honest. He went through a spell of giving them everything second half. Every 50/50 went their way. I do not normally say that and think I am quite fair on referees and never say they were biased against us but he gave us very little in general play I felt. No arguments on any of the bookings; all four were poor fouls. The two they committed also were bad ones, especially Osborn on Brooks – an awful tackle.

Crowd / Day Out – Been to City Ground 5 or 6 times and never seen us win. Missed the 5-2 win in the Prem and the 2-0 win in Clough’s final home game. Somehow seem to pick the ones we lose! I think I saw a draw when Devlin scored a late goal. The ground looks very tired on the outside and a bit like Hillsborough seems to need a lot of work doing to it. Surprised they have never upgraded the stand where the dug outs are as it is very tired. The side we sat in we were in the lower tier. I have been here when we have had bigger followings but they get 25,000 most weeks so can restrict the away numbers, much like we and many others do. The days of taking 5 or 6,000 to Championship teams seem long gone for most now and probably rightly so as clubs should look after their home fans even if it means I may miss a few more games due to not getting a ticket. There was a decent atmosphere in the ground. The Forest lot always make a decent noise especially those above us (glad there is netting there now – remember getting pelted with coins in a miserably 3-0 Jack Lester inspired defeat in the Warnock days). United fans did their best to get behind the side and the start was excellent of course. Some great singing in the concourse pre- game with the Four Seasons (Clock covered it in the 90’s) song, ‘Oh what a night’ belting out for what seemed like forever with lyrics referencing the late September Derby Day win. Sure, you can find it on social media.

Another cracking away day. The result of course put a dampener on things quite literally as it lashed it down post game as we stayed in Nottingham. Still it was a really good day out. We set off from Sheffield on the 10.30ish train and got to Nottingham around 11.30am. We went for a breakfast at Junkyard and had a few nice ales (cannot remember what they were!). We then moved onto Das Kino and played Ping Pong (I was comprehensively beaten by my mate who I have never played before and it seemed like he had played the sport a few times before). After a pint here, we moved to Bunkers Hill for another drink before heading to the ground for a beer inside.

Post game we went to the Hockley Arts Club which was decent and then after this we found a few ‘secret’ bars. Not that secret as you can find them easily but you kind of have to know where the doors are. The first one Boilermaker you get to a door and it looks like a laundry room and you speak to a woman who has a head set in and then you are ushered in. All a bit pretentious but it was nice inside and packed. We had switched to cocktails at this point. The next secret bar was a bit more ‘secret’! A man outside ushered us down an alleyway and then we had to push a door that did not seem to be there and go downstairs. It was called Lost Property. Was a bit crap in here. Not many in and just seemed like somebody’s lounge. People were a bit up themselves too. A debate about music with one woman saw her not wanting to engage with us at all. She probably was right. We were well on our way (drink wise) by this stage. We then headed for the Station via getting some chips and back into Sheffield where we finished the night in the Last Picture House on Abbeydale Road. Very tired this morning but enjoyable day/night. Great company, good drinks and good chat all day. Watching United has become fun again.