No. 62. Bramall Lane, Sheffield United

Full Size

Sheffield United 1-2 Wigan Athletic

Mine and Stu’s lack of new grounds had persuaded us to take in a new one before the end of the season, so we chose Bramall Lane for the relegation nail biter between Sheff Utd and Wigan. We booked our tickets a couple of weeks in advance to make sure. We set off from Bury at 12.30pm, filled up with petrol and joined the M62. The weather was wet and visibility was poor as we joined the M1. We came off at junction 33 and entered Sheffield. The directions I had read were to follow the ring road. We did this until the signs disappeared!! At this point we got a bit lost!! Eventually we found the A61 and followed the signs for Bramall Lane. We parked up a side street and walked to the ground. We queued up to get into the Halliwells Stand and found our seats. The ground slowly filled up and by 3pm was filled to its 32,000 capacity. Wigan started the brighter, passing the ball very well on a slick surface, and it was no surprise when an excellent move down the left hand side ended in Paul Scharner hitting a low left foot shot into the corner. Sheff Utd came back strong however and equalised when John Stead bravely headed past Mike Pollitt, getting clattered in the process. 2 Wigan players went off injured soon after and the half got a bit scrappy and Wigan reverted to hitting long balls to Emile Heskey. The tactics paid off though, as an in-swinging free kick was handled by Jagielka for a Wigan penalty. David Unsworth, on as one of the substitutes, slammed home the penalty to give them a 2-1 half time lead. The second half was a bit of an anti climax really, McCulloch got sent off for Wigan and from then on Sheff Utd bombarded the Wigan goal with long ball after long ball. With Emile Heskey playing brilliantly as an emergency centre half, Wigan played out the time and deservedly won 2-1, and consequently stayed up. Sheff Utd got relegated though, most fans were in complete shock, they obviously didn’t expect West Ham to beat Man Utd. We walked back to the car and found ourselves going the wrong way home, heading for Bakewell instead of the M1!! Eventually we headed home, getting back for 7.30pm