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But I don’t learn, by now I should realise that the day would only end in some kind of disaster because for Bramall Lane read graveyard as far as Burnley Football Club are concerned.
The last time I actually travelled there from Burnley to see us win was for the quarter-final of the FA Youth Cup in the 1967/68 season – for our league victory there in 1973 I was actually living in the land of knives and forks and was able to walk there.
I just had a feeling things would be different this year, they were not in the best of form, we were due a win and Stan had been almost buttering Neil Warnock up during the build up to the game.
Burnley fans appeared to be relaxed on the way over on the coach and certainly were outside the ground. I mistook that for quiet optimism when in fact it was just the faithful already accepting that defeat was inevitable.
"Glen’s not here and Robbie’s ill and on the bench," one worried Claret informed me at around 2:30. I recalled Stan’s concerns that we might not be able to raise a team but dismissed it.
Well we did raise a team, or so we were told before kick off, with Luke Chadwick returning for Glen and Gareth Farrelly back for Robbie. We were ready and hopeful that we could get something finally from this so I reminded everyone of the time that Alex Sabella ripped us apart in a game there that saw us 4-0 down within the first quarter of an hour.
Chappy forced Paul Gerrard into a save before we had warmed our seats and although we hardly threatened again in the opening stages it was clear that Warnock’s lot were crap. Near the top of the table they may be but they weren’t playing that way.
The biggest threat to our goal came when our two central defenders collided with Arthur coming out on top and Branchy requiring treatment to what looked like an ankle injury. Whilst we debated who might come on as his replacement (unaware that Mark McGregor) was on the bench the skipper returned to the action seemingly none the worse for his clash with his defensive partner.
Sheffield United did get an effort on goal with a headed from a left wing cross but Ashley Ward headed over. Incredibly Ward had received no abuse from the Burnley fans despite listing Blackburn as a former club, somewhat surprising given the amount of time devoted to our local rivals during the afternoon.
There really is little else to write about for the simple reason that little else happened in what was fast becoming the worst match of the season. Both sides seemed to have no ideas how to break the other down and the main entertainment came from Stan’s regular waves to the crowd on request although he declined to take up the suggestion of an attack on the home team manager.
Bad as it was though going in 0-0 at half time at Bramall Lane is worthy of mention and we all but did until a joke goal even worse than the goal we gifted Cardiff seven days earlier saw us fall behind.
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We had played badly but so had Sheffield United and neither side deserved to be in front although it is probably fair to say that both deserved to be behind. A 0-0 scoreline would have been just about right.
We came out very early for the second half and it became apparent very quickly, and long before Sheffield United came out, that Graham Branch should not be out there. He would certainly struggle to run as he was struggling to jog around. The injury he had seemingly brushed off was set to put him out of the game but incredibly he started the second half only to be replaced by the returning McGregor just three minutes in.
There had been suggestions at half time that the second half couldn’t possibly be worse than the first half – it wasn’t but it certainly wasn’t any better although we really should have done better when Ian Moore chased a loose ball only to miss out far too easily against the oncoming Blades keeper Gerrard. Chadwick hit the loose ball goalwards but it was easily cleared.
We introduced Robbie Blake and then full back Lee Roche replaced striker Delroy Facey bringing about a number of positional changes but it made little difference.
It could have been 2-0 as well but the Beast made a stunning save to his right to keep out an effort from Mr. Karren Brady (Paul Peschisolido) who had come on as a substitute.
It started with Gerrard saving from Chaplow and ended when the keeper got down well to take a cross from Mo Camara as Chappy looked set to get onto the end of it.
I don’t think our performance deserved anything but neither did Sheffield United’s in what was the worst game I have seen all season. A 0-0 draw would surely have been the right result and only a ridiculous goal changed that.
It wasn’t all bad though and again Chaplow played well but for me King Arthur’s crown was all but back in place on Saturday. Apart from putting his captain out of the game Arthur played well and is looking more his old self just at the moment.
No yellow cards either in a game with hardly a free kick. Some would say the referee was too lenient others would say that he prefers to keep the game going. A bit of both I suspect.
But another defeat has left us worryingly in 18th place and only five points clear of the bottom three. We don’t want to get any closer than that and the sooner we start pulling away the better. Stan says we need a bit of luck so let’s hope we can find it at Pride Park this Saturday.
The teams were,
Sheffield United: Paul Gerrard, Robert Kozluk, Chris Morgan, Phil Jagielka, Alan Wright, Peter Ndlovu (Andy Parkinson 79), Michael Tonge, Stuart McCall, Chris Stretch Jnr Armstrong, Jack Lester (Mr. Karren Brady 73), Ashley Ward (Wayne Allison 89). Subs not used: Nick Montgomery, Mike Whitlow.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Dean West, Graham Branch (Mark McGregor 48), Arthur Gnohere, Mo Camara, Luke Chadwick (Robbie Blake 59), Richard Chaplow, Tony Grant, Gareth Farrelly, Ian Moore, Delroy Facey (Lee Roche 66). Subs not used: Joel Pilkington, Matt O’Neill.
Referee: George Cain (Bootle).