Kevin Gage's Sheffield United Column: Whether the rights and wrongs of VAR, it's given me one of my most magical moments as a Blades fan late on against West Ham United

All these phrases and a (few more stronger ones besides!) have been trotted out after one of the most memorable games I can remember witnessing at Bramall Lane in my nearly 30 years up here as a Blade!

Sheffield United’s victory over West Ham United on Friday night was not particularly memorable for any technical or specific football reasons, but for high drama and nerve-tingling tension, leading to fingernail-biting anticipation, and then finished off with a red and white tidal wave of unconfined joy and celebration, those last four minutes of added-on time will take some beating!

Just when you think you’ve seen it all and this wonderful season couldn’t possibly get any better, up crops another incredible plot twist. I don’t really know where to start, as most good stories start at the beginning. This one, however, has to start at the end!

So yes, the law of averages indeed. We’d been on the receiving end of some very tight (but correct?) VAR decisions previously, and were overdue another one going in our favour.

According to a graphic I saw online last week pre-West Ham, showing a league table stripped out of all VAR decisions this year, we were three points better off and sixth in the table. After Friday night, that table has evened itself out a bit, and today we sit were we absolutely deserve to be.

Even as I say that, I could even make a good case that we could possibly be even higher as our performances have merited an even-better return than the 32 points total we’ve accumulated. Let’s not get too greedy, though.

Let’s be honest, it’s beyond our wildest dreams to be where we are, and even though I’m still glancing down the table more than looking up it, I’m confident my Manor House ‘Survival Party’ will definitely be a thing, and a few weeks before the season’s end at this rate too!

Unfortunately, all the shenanigans off the pitch in the VAR bunker room somewhat overshadowed the actual game as we had to cope with, and then overcome, a resurgent West Ham side who looked nothing like the lower table strugglers they’d become before David Moyes was appointed.

They showed some great individual quality on the ball, and pressed us high up the pitch as well as any side I’d seen at the Lane this season. Some sides come here and sit back, some come here and are forced back. West ham did neither and in truth, they should have gone in at half-time 1-0 up. In fact, sipping my half-time tea, I’d have taken a draw, to be honest.

But I’m now a fan, not a player. I HOPE things happen and WANT them to, rather than being in a position to do something about it. As such, and from experience, I can 100 per cent guarantee that every single Sheffield United footballer, and every single one of the football management staff, would NOT have been thinking any of those negative thoughts. And so it proved as we stepped up the intensity of our work.

We pushed forward, became braver on the ball and gradually got the better of a decent team. John Fleck pounced on a slip in the Hammers defence and despite giving Oli McBurnie a lot still to do with a bobbling, slightly rushed pass, our No.9 slid the ball home. The Moose was let loose shortly after and all of a sudden we were a totally different attacking proposition.

Lys Mousset’s strength, pace and willingness to run into those wide-open spaces down the side of centre-backs is a great option and outlet for us. It gets us up the pitch quickly and from the accurate, perfectly weighted passes he usually gets to take the ball beautifully in his stride, running directly at defenders in and around the penalty area.

You can actually hear the inner roar from the Blades crowd and feel the sense of anticipation all around, and it's wonderful to experience. Only a very good save stopped him from registering his sixth goal this season, from his six shots on target so far. Another sub in the form of Mo Besic came on and was just what we needed at the time.

John Lundstram was a bit off the pace all game, to be honest (but after the season he’s had we’ll forgive him that) and Besic gave us a bit more energy and game management as time ticked by. Note the use of the term ‘game management’ by the way. Along with the term ‘tactical foul’, that’s the official, polite version. In layman’s terms, he scythed attackers down before they reached the danger area and did us too much damage. Perfect. Game management at its absolute finest!

Just enough time was left for Robert Snodgrass to make a late cameo and to try once again to be the arch-villain, a role he usually plays so well. Unfortunately, he hadn’t read the whole script, and certainly had missed that vital last page! The VAR editors made sure those final few minutes will live with me for a long long time and whatever your views on VAR, it was an utterly, superbly, wonderfully, brilliantly explosive ending!

The hundreds of Blades fans in my TC Suite area certainly enjoyed it and were left laughing, punching the air, high-fiving, cheering, shaking their heads in astonishment and generally lost in the madness of what we’d just witnessed.

Whether VAR is here to stay or we never see it again after this season, it’s now provided one of my most magical moments as a supporter, and there have been quite a few of those in recent years too!

Next up, the small matter of Arsenal at The Emirates…followed by Man City. We’ve already beaten the Gunners, and our performance at The Etihad, backed up by the important stats, says that we should have won that game too. After the events of this weekend, don’t rule out more wins and more points. We’re Sheffield United. Anything can happen, and to us, it usually does!

UTB.

Kevin Gage owns The Manor House hotel/bar/café, High Street, Dronfield. Follow him on Twitter: @gageykev