Gillingham Football Club (A) Sky Bet League 1 Saturday 8th August 2015

Anticipation has a habit to set you up for disappointment...  You all know the rest of the lyrics.

Sheffield United had a fantastic pre season in terms of results; they didn't lose a game.  So when at 8:00am Adam picked me up to make the short trip down to Kent I was excited that at the fifth time of asking we had a very good chance of going up.  As the rest of the lads jumped in the car the sense of excitement grew and we all collectively seemed very positive indeed.

Having squeezed a holiday in between tramlines and the start of the season it was very apparent that the good feeling that surrounded the club hadn't left during my trip to France, which was very pleasant indeed by the way since you asked.  When we had Wilson we all knew we had a good squad but the manager had serious question marks making for a nervous start to the season.  The inevitable failure losing out to them lot and the loss of key players made the following summer a similar affair.  Weir is best left unmentioned.  Last year Clough had galvanised us the previous season so there was optimism but this season felt different.  Adkins has done it before and we all genuinely believe he can do it for us.

The journey was full of football discussion but the only real bone of contention to do with the Blades was dovetailed in the form of a lack of any recruitments in defence doubled with the appointments of our new captain.  We arrived in Gillingham around half 12 and consumed a couple of pints in the designated away boozer.  We went to the same one last year and I have to say it is a toilet and will gladly never go there again.  Despite the slightly expensive ale the optimistic mood grew as more and more blades arrived.  When we made our descent towards the scaffold supported away end songs about Billy Sharp bounced off of the walls of the terraced housing as the near 2,000 blades most kitted out in our new strips made their way to their seats.

A lethargic start saw what appeared to be Long dropping the ball into his net via a Gillingham player and any optimism soon begin to peel away.  United showed very little fight and the first half could have been a greater score if it wasn't or some solid defensive work from Baxter clearing balls which had been whipped into the box past the stationary back four.  Murphy and Woolford swapped wings and the team seemed somewhat confused as to where they were playing.  Sound familiar? 

Basham as always showed a degree of commitment but this was in vain as the early goal soon led to a second as the defence never seemed to recover from the opening 10 minutes.

After half time, Baxter was withdrawn with injury and this led to the introduction of Sammon and what appeared to be some form of diamond formation with Basham sitting in front the back four.  No real chances of note were created and Gillingham soon score a 3rd goal which coincided with the exodus from the away end.  This then led to a very good goal for Gillingham's fourth towards the end of the game but despite the ferocious strike being good enough to beat any keeper, United appeared to be asleep from the throwing.
So United lost 4-0.

This was a disaster 4 of the back 5 are not good enough.

I am so angry at the performance and the result I have no desire to go into all the individual errors.

Tuesday in the cup the season starts again and the blades better book their ideas up.

GILLINGHAM: Nelson , Jackson, Egan, Houghton, Williamson, Morris (Hessenthaler 45), Osadebe (Wright 88), Norris, Dack, Dickensen, Oshilaja. Subs not used: Garmston, Ehmer, McGlashan, Morris, Donnelly.

SHEFFIELD UNITED: Long , Freeman, Basham, Murphy, Sharp, Baxter (Sammon 46), Collins, Woolford (Reed 70), McEveley, McFadzean, Adams,(Scougall 70). Subs not used: Howard, J Wallace, Higdon, K Wallace.

ATTENDANCE: 7,511.

Images - credit to Sheffield Star