Idiotic fans make headlines as lead singer Chris Wilder's Sheffield United babes come of age against Sheffield Wednesday
Lead singer Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United babes come of age in derby victory over Sheffield Wednesday
The noise hit you before you even took your seat in the Bramall Lane stands, a guttural battle-cry roar five years in the making. Songs of avenging Boxing Day and celebrating Bouncing Day, flares and flags and little inflatable pigs thrown around the terraces. This was football, but not as we usually know it.
This was Sheffield United v Wednesday, football's first city's derby back again after five long years apart. Love it or hate it - and there are plenty on either side - it was here, after more than 2,000 days, and it was real. For what felt like a change, the eyes of the footballing world were on the Steel City. And absence had not made hearts grow fonder.
One imbecile in the away end interrupted an otherwise silent Bramall Lane during the preamble to the Remembrance Day tributes, where a planned period of silence instead gave way to applause. One Owls fan used the occasion to mock George Baldock's tragic passing last month; a Blade in the top tier of the Bramall Lane end above him was filmed spitting on his rivals beneath. Both deplorable acts which will be dealt with by their respective clubs, who rightly believe such behaviour has no such place in the game.
Fortunately the vast majority of the capacity Bramall Lane crowd managed to behave like decent human beings before the main event got underway and, true to form of the last few derbies, didn't live up to anything like its hype. Those of us who'd spent the previous week wondering why the Sheffield derby doesn't get the wider appreciation we feel it deserves perhaps got the answer in a first 45 minutes played at 100mph for the most part. There was not too much individual quality on show and neither goalkeeper got their gloves dirty at the break.
Another man who spent the first half on the periphery of the game was United striker Tyrese Campbell, in from the start again after injury blows for Kieffer Moore and Rhian Brewster. United couldn't get a foothold in the game and the striker was left chasing shadows against Wednesday's three centre-halves. Four touches in 45 minutes told its own story.
So typical it was, then, that it should be Campbell who put his stamp on this fixture early in the second half, poking under James Beadle after good work from Gus Hamer and Callum O'Hare beforehand. The 24-year-old had planted himself smack bang in the middle of the latest Sheffield derby and the noise inside Bramall Lane as the ball hit the back of Beadle's net made the spine tingle. Advantage United.
The onslaught that some Wednesdayites perhaps expected didn't materialise from there; neither did the Owls response that many Blades feared, especially as Danny Rohl kept summoning up attacking options from the bench. United, in contrast, ended the game with 18-year-old striker Ryan One up front on his third professional appearance, and with Sydie Peck, 20, and Femi Seriki, 22, behind him. It was both a show of boss Chris Wilder's faith in his academy players, and how stretched his promotion-chasing squad still remains after a few injuries.
But such worries could wait for another day. The full-time whistle sent Wilder sprinting and leaping away in joy, his unbeaten record against the old enemy intact and his first Bramall Lane win against them in the bag. A man steeped in the Steel City, this was more than just a game for Wilder.
He had the hopes, the ambitions, the dreams and, yes, the fears of an entire fanbase, half a city, on his shoulders, a burden that few of us can truly appreciate. He ended up singing United songs long into the night, as well he should. Forget the predictable response from Owls supporters; all football fans, deep down, want to see themselves represented in their manager. In Wilder, Unitedites have exactly that.
As the dust settled and the flare smoke cleared, the crowds dispersed and the city pubs filled up again, the overwhelming feeling was probably relief. At victory for Unitedites, that the scoreline was at least respectable for some Owls. Above all, it was all over. At least for the next 126 days until March's return leg, but who's counting?
The latest instalment of this classic rivalry had not quite sparked as many expected but United's victory was one of industry as much as invention, and when all was said and done the latest tick in the W column was all that mattered. The city was United's once more.