No Palmer. No Hamer. No O'Hare on the bench. It's fair to say, most Cov fans were not expecting a free flowing football classic. Nevertheless, we've had a few good results lately, Sheffield United have fell off a little bit, and the CBS are now selling Madri on tap. So maybe it did have the makings of a classic under the lights.
Disclaimer: It was not a classic under the lights.
The first sip of Madri brought me right back down to earth. In a glass, it's an elite level beer. In plastic out of the CBS pumps, it makes a rum and coke from Jeffrey Dahmer seem appealing. The first half was drab to say the least with no real opportunities for either side. Having said that, I'd of taken a draw before the game, so settling for cancelling out United wasn't too disheartening.
The pairing of Gyokeres and Godden didn't work, hasn't worked, and I'm fearful that it will never work. You can't fault Godden's work rate but his only role last night seemed to simply be another body on the pitch. He proved me and others wrong last year with his overall play but it almost feels like he has came to the end of his cycle at this level. I hope he can prove me wrong again but at present, he's badly struggling. An extra body in the midfield instead might have helped us to gain a tighter grip of the game.
The same story did not play out in the second half. the Blades took control of the game for the most part and looked so much more assured on the ball than us. In truth it seemed like a bit of a free for all from City, sloppy passes and no real shape allowed United's attackers to cause us all sorts of problems. Since our return to the Championship, Ndiaye probably put in one of the best performances at the CBS. His ability to take the ball under pressure so comfortably was a level above.
Despite conceding several chances, including the woodwork being hit a couple of times, we stood firm. Robins has shown a more pragmatic approach in recent games showing that he is prepared to shake it up. Whilst we are not great to watch at the moment, we are incredibly hard to beat.
We survived until the 88th minute when Gyokeres was able to show his quality and win us a penalty out of nothing. Waghorn stepped up and slammed it home.
Three weeks ago I would have said we were in a real dog fight this year to stay up, the last few games have changed my mind thankfully. With O'Hare to come back in, Palmer getting close to full fitness and Hamer hopefully screwing his head on right, I feel we will be okay. A lot of that will depend on whether we are able to keep Gyokeres after January though, as all too often he seems to be the only out ball.
Final thoughts on the game: The £6.40 I paid for a dry pork batch was an international war crime and Fankaty Dabo will 100% cause me to have a heart attack before the end of the season.
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