Coventry City.
Well, this should be interesting. I almost didn’t go, but come on, like that was ever going to happen. It’s really difficult when you’ve had to massively recalibrate your expectations, and I genuinely couldn’t see anything other than a defeat in this one given both clubs’ league positions. Would I be surprised? Stay tuned to find out.
Pre-match.
Coventry City are a strange club when it comes to United. They’ve developed some sort of one-sided rivalry with us that, I think, dates back to a rather spicy game in 2019. That match saw on-field and off-field protests about the shocking and frankly unacceptable way the Sky Blues were being run at the time. The protests at that match threatened to overshadow what was a very decent away performance and result for United on our way to automatic promotion that year. Since then, City haven’t exactly had us on their Christmas card list.
That said, Coventry City are a big club, and the fact we came into this game with them top of the table shouldn’t be understated. They’ve been there or thereabouts for a few seasons and are now enjoying a genuine push for automatic promotion. Fair play to them.
Another midweek away trip for me too, but at least I wasn’t spending the full 90 minutes completely alone with my own thoughts this time. Eventually parked up my ginger friend and I spent the very wet, very long walk to the stadium discussing Sky Cards (Google it) and lamenting our beloved club’s woeful start to the season.
“It’s raining, and we couldn’t find the car parking space. My trainers are leaking, and Tom Cannon starts. This has all the hallmarks of a 6-0 drubbing.”
The match.
After being treated to a surprisingly good pre-match light show—complete with fireworks and Coventry’s own The Enemy—United actually started the better side… for all of five minutes. Coventry soon woke up and had the best chance of the opening 15 minutes, forcing a smart save from Blades ‘keeper Michael Cooper.
The home team looked every bit a side sitting top of the table, knocking the ball around confidently and asking a lot of questions of a beleaguered United defence, but we held firm.
So trust me, no one was more surprised than I was when we somehow took the lead after 25 minutes, despite all that pressure. One of the few drawbacks of seeing a goal live (there aren’t many) is that sometimes you’ve absolutely no idea what’s happened. When United went 0–1 up from a Sydie Peck corner, the stadium announcer credited Sam McCallum with the goal, even though I swear he was nowhere near it. Who cares? United had soaked up all the hosts’ pressure and taken the lead. We’d scored first, finally. (I bet the lads over at The Pinch podcast were buzzing.)
From there, United grew in confidence, creating a couple more decent openings, with the goalscorer McCallum and pantomime villain Callum O’Hare at the heart of everything. Suddenly, we looked like a competent side. First to every ball, crunching into tackles, and working hard out of possession to win it back.
The half-time whistle arrived, and overall, it had been a really good half from United.
“Oh god, Adam Davies is coming on.”
Cue an unexpected goalkeeping substitution for the Blades for the start of the second half, losing Cooper to a back injury. Replaced by the seldom-seen Welsh international Adam Davies, there was suddenly a bit of anxiety in the away end. Anxiety realised, as United’s first-half lead didn’t last long. Coventry had come out flying, and a simple knockdown, coupled with two Blades defenders getting in each other’s way, left Tatushiro Sakamoto to slot it home past substitute ‘keeper Davies. 1–1. Tails up.
I hate to say there was an air of inevitability about things after that, but there was. The sub ‘keeper could (and should) have done much better when Cov defender Bobby Thomas nodded home from a corner to make it 2–1 to the hosts not long afterwards. The home team had applied the pressure, and we’d folded. All that first-half hard work undone in a few minutes.
Which one of these nuts has got any guts?
I thought that’d be us done, but United rallied a bit as the game entered its final stages, with a couple more decent chances going begging. There were moments where I found myself thinking, if we weren’t so bloody unlucky, one of those would’ve gone in.
Any faint hopes of a equaliser disappeared deep into stoppage time, thanks to another Davies mistake in what had been a horror show from him. United were caught on the break and the Sky Blues countered, the Blades high line exposed and Davies hesitated coming off his line, leaving Haji Wright to bear down on goal and simply square it for home hero Brandon Thomas-Asante to put the game to bed. 3–1, and the away end absolutely apoplectic at the feckless ‘keeper. Full-time, and a third straight defeat for United.
“Well, it’s a dry walk back to the car at least, and I’ve won 24 quid!”
Post-match.
I didn’t stay to clap United off, and a small part of me regretted that in the immediate seconds after. But seeing our manager immediately sulk off down the tunnel at the full-time whistle, coupled with the realisation that I’d wasted my Tuesday night driving four hours up and down the wet motorway to watch us shoot ourselves in the foot (again), made me feel a lot less guilty.
Why do I do it? Fucked if I know.
Ifs, buts, and maybes. Would we have lost that game had Cooper remained in goal? Well, it’s a moot point—because he didn’t. Wilder 3.0 had also spoken pre-match about not being the architects of our own downfall (I’m paraphrasing) and tonight, you could argue we managed that three times over, no thanks to a horrendous goalkeeping display in front of an already fragile defence.
Okay, the overall performance hadn’t been terrible, but we had a result in our hands and we’d chucked it away. Again. Whatever the post-mortem, chatter, or final statistics look like after tonight, it’s still a very long way back from here.
I’m worried.
Wednesday away next, too. Joy.
if you didnt go, id of unmasked you of the Bladesman account!
Went into last with zero expectation and as per United pulled me back in at half time…. Reckon Ivo has a recall clause in his contract ha.