Kalvin Phillips moment of madness reshapes derby narrative as Sheffield United settle for relief over rout
Kalvin Phillips moment of madness reshapes derby narrative as Sheffield United settle for relief over rout
At 10 minutes to one this afternoon, as they took the half-time shrill of Josh Smith’s whistle as their cue to head down to the Bramall Lane concourse, Sheffield United fans were daring to dream. Their side had cruised into a 2-0 lead at home to their rivals Wednesday, who were on the brink of official relegation to the third tier.
Those who were old enough and unfortunate enough to have been at the game that become known as the Boxing Day Massacre back in 1979; some who weren’t even born on that day almost 50 years ago, when Thatcher was new to Downing Street and people were still getting to grips with the new-fangled invention called the Walkman.
But every Unitedite has had to live with taunts of that 4-0 hammering in the half-century since, even as time moved on and that brief moment of it fades increasingly into irrelevance. In the years since United have done a pretty good job of stamping out its memory, most recently winning 4-2 in Wednesday’s own backyard and then hammering them 3-0 earlier this season.
But this, many sensed, was the moment to erase it almost completely, to choke the life out of their rivals and send them into the abyss of League One on the back of the type of thumping that would be talked about for generations to come.
And, for a long time, it looked on. Unitedites seemingly couldn’t agree amongst themselves what a satisfactory outcome would be amongst Wednesday’s much-publicised predicament but almost all were in agreement on one thing; a quick start was essential.
Into ‘em early. Kill absolutely any sense of stubborn resistance that exists in Henrik Pedersen’s shell-shocked squad, quell any chance whatsoever of the Owls getting a foothold in the game they had to win to earn a stay of execution. And boy, did United start quickly.
Andre Brooks and Femi Seriki pressed the life out of Joel Ndala, the Manchester City man could only find Gus Hamer on the edge of the United box, and tens of thousands of Unitedites all, in one collective, guttural roar with rising intonation, urged him to shoooooooooot.
The calmest man in Bramall Lane instead sensed a different path. Inferior players would have accepted the invitation to test Seny Dieng’s handling early on and, without being in touch with the game, probably squander the chance.
But Hamer is different, possessing both the vision to spot the clever movement of Patrick Bamford and then the precision to seek it out. It was helped by some terrible defending from the experienced Liam Palmer, who bizarrely jumped out to try and block the expected Hamer shot by waving his arms about but only succeeded in leaving a gaping chasm for Bamford to exploit.
Kalvin Phillips moment of madness reshapes derby narrative as Sheffield United settle for relief over rout
But it almost lifted the roof off Bramall Lane, as a helpless Ndala appealed desperately for offside despite being the one to keep Bamford on. A second not long after, from the left boot of Harrison Burrows to begin to banish his own painful memory of a play-off capitulation to Wednesday while he was at Peterborough, put United completely in control.
From there, there was only one winner. Callum O’Hare hit the post, Andre Brooks and Femi Seriki were a constant nuisance down the right hand side. Wednesday’s first touch of the game saw Svante Ingelsson boot the ball up the field to just clear his side’s lines, rather setting the tone for their first-half display.
History was beckoning, thought those under the south stand. One group talked about their memories of Boxing Day, as if preparing to replace them forever. Underneath them, in the home dressing room, boss Chris Wilder was reminding his side that the job was only half done.
And so it proved. Not long after the restart, with some Unitedites still savouring the last dregs of their half-time pints, and in the space of four minutes, everything changed. First, Kalvin Phillips saw red for a horror challenge on Ingelsson. He got the ball first, and then a lot of the Swede around the knee area. It was the type of challenge, in the VAR era, that just looked like a red.
Ref Smith thought so, too, and Phillips meekly seemed to accept his fate, both holding his hands up in apparent apology as he trudged off before questioning the decision with fourth official David Webb.
That split-second decision, from a player who had used every ounce of his experience before that to absolutely cruise through the game, changed the mood instantly. Phillips became the fifth United player in their last eight games to see red.
Boss Wilder insisted afterwards that his side are not a “reckless team” and that is a fair comment. They have actually cleaned up their disciplinary act considerably from last season, when they were racking up FA fines like they were going out of fashion.
But Phillips’ challenge was a reckless one and the former Leeds United man can perhaps consider himself a touch fortunate that it didn’t cost United dearer. Any thoughts of exercising past painful demons essentially followed Phillips down the tunnel; Charlie McNeill took advantage of the chaos left behind by Phillips’ departure to pull one back for Wednesday.
United were still well worthy of victory, which could still have been by a greater margin with Sydie Peck and sub Tyrese Campbell, looking for his fourth goal in Blades colours against the old enemy, seeing efforts saved by Dieng late on. Michael Cooper, in the opposite goal, had nothing meaningful to do either side of McNeill’s well-struck effort.
But an afternoon that promised history and euphoria ended with more of a feeling of relief than anything amongst a fanbase who knew that anything other than victory would not do against a ramshackle rival side who were absolutely abject in the first half.
Now, though, they must try to go again against Coventry City on Wednesday, and at QPR and home to West Brom after that, without Phillips, who had just shown signs of getting up to speed again after his long period on the sidelines.
Now he faces another significant one, both for him and United. But he only has himself to blame; and can perhaps be thankful that it didn’t cost any more.