Sheff Utd 3 Carlisle 0
A routine victory for the Blades in a game that featured 2 penalties and Alan Woodward receiving a phone call mid-game.
11/9/76
Att 13,666. Pitch wet & slippy.
An entertaining start - Edwards ran thro & shot over. Woody chasing onto a thro ball was felled by Ross - with hoots of derision Hamilton placed the ball & his penalty was saved by Ross. Woody then beat the fullback et alia & set up a chance missed by Edwards & Hamilton.
A Woodward freekick was headed down by Edwards at the far post but Ross got a hand to it. Meanwhile Flynn headed off the line after Carlisle’s Martin had crossed from the wide open left. Woody ran past 2 men & had his piledriver blocked.
Edwards was then put thro & brought down by Gorman & Parker. Hamilton, after a lengthly chat with Woody, insisted on taking the penalty despite protests from the crowd - only Hamilton wanted himself to take it, and he obliged by thumping it into the net roof.
Subsequently Brown saved well a Barry shot.
After 35 mins Woody started a move on the right, played a one-two with Ludlam & blasted in from a narrow angle - just like the old days!
Colquohoun flicked a Hamilton freekick just over; then from a Barry cross Bonnyman missed a sitter. So the half ended with Utd looking confident.
A few minutes after the restart a freekick on the right edge of the penalty area was hit hard & low by Woodward & McDonald under pressure from Colquohoun put in his own net.
The game then ended as a contest as Utd did what they pleased, though Carlisle played attractively & should have scored when Garner gave the ball away to Barry - Brown idly watched his shot go past him, hit the post & bounce back into his hands.
Meanwhile Colquohoun had just failed to connect with a Woodward cross & a move involving Hamilton & Edwards ended with a Woody shot stopping dead on the line.
Kenworthy got booked for a disgusting tackle & shortly afterward Flynn, elbowed in the eye, required attention - whilst Cecil Coldwell was doing his magic sponge bit, the phone from Sirrell upstairs was ringing & ringing unanswered so Woody trotted over and answered it: comment from behind “It’s the missus Woody; she ses buy a pahnd o’tayters on the way home.”
McGeady came on for the remaining minutes with Kenworthy replacing Flynn in defence.
1. Brown - good game, a couple of acrobatic saves.
2. Franks - dreadful - left the right flank vacant - is not a fullback & never will be. Distribution awful & should not take freekicks.
3. Garner - played well - looked more confident - delays tackles but usually wins them.
4. Flynn - reasonable, especially in the air.
5. Colquohoun - very good - as subtle as a bull in a China shop, but stopped a good deal.
6. Kenworthy - decidedly unimpressive - has no midfield vision & gets rid of the ball as soon as he receives it - looks lost in midfield.
7. Johnstone - improved throughout the game - lots of neat touches & usually wins a foul everytime he is touched. His nippyness left Carlisle defenders flatfooted - got thro a lot of work in midfield - pity he can’t tackle.
8. Woodward - superb - he ran the game in the first half from a forward position - when in possession he was devastating & when not in possession his colleagues ensured he got the ball as quickly as possible. An excellent captain.
9. Edwards - in for the injured Guthrie, played quite well - if he had not been so overanxious he could have scored a couple.
10. Ludlam - well he shows flashes of class but he is extremely slow & sometimes his distribution suffers from anxiety.
11. Hamilton - played on the left a la Salmons - did a lot of tidying up at the back but not well serviced - perhaps he should come looking for the ball more often. His confidence will be boosted by his penalty recovery.
12. McGeady - only on for a couple of minutes.
No Bradford, Hemsley, Calvert, Speight! What have they done wrong?