SOBS VS MAN UTD

The Lads went to the Theatre of Greed and were well beaten by two first half goals. Not comprehensively, but not far off. To get anything at Old Trafford today (and presumably every other game) teams need to overcome three things. Firstly, the brilliance of Amad. Secondly, the constant whining and falling over of Fernandes, and thirdly a referee so committed to the Man U cause that Alex Ferguson would be embarrassed. We overcame none of those and basically got what we deserved, although a penalty (that would have been given at Dean Court or Turf Moor) late in the first half would have spiced things up a bit.

After a pleasant but wet stop off in Bury, the world's Black Pudding capital, where we had a good chat with a City fan, in came the team news.

Roefs

Hume Alderete Mukiele Masuaku

Xhaka (c) Sadiki Le Fee

Traore Isidor Adingra

...and a bench of Patterson, Mayenda, O'Nien, Rigg, Ballard, Neil, Brobbey, Talbi, and Geertruida. What a bench, eh?

Unusually for Manchester, the sun came out - probably a good thing for us, even if it did return whence it came fairly soon - as the bus crawled towards the ground on the ridiculously circuitous Grand Tour of Salford that visiting coaches are forced to make.

After a full body search (What's under your hat? "Me heid, same as last time") we were in with a wee while to spare - as was Fabio Borini, in our end, and we reminded the world of his Mag-slaying exploits. Never mind that penalty shootout, eh?

With the rain having abated, we lined up in blue and faced the near end (formerly the Scoreboard) and waited for Fernandes to collapse in agony. A minute of immaculately observed silence as a mark of respect for the synagogue attack preceded the start, then Granit set things away.

Amad at RB? We shouldn't have taught him all he knows.

In the third minute it should have been in after a low cross from our left, but we were offside anyway. A brightish start, but Amad soon got going to give Masuaku a hard time. We in the crowd knew what he'd do, Arthur clearly didn't, and he was a threat whenever he got the ball. When Mount spun on the edge of the box and fired just inside our keeper's left hand post after eight minutes, we faced an uphill struggle. While Xhaka and Sadiki individually had decent games, the latter particularly after the break, as a unit - be it three, four, or five in number - our midfield didn't really click, while the home side's did.

Roefs denied Amad on twenty, then pulled off another save soon after as the rain returned. The game's first corner arrived on 26, to the home side, then Alderete was carded for stopping Mbueno on halfway. Two minutes later it was 2-0 as we didn't deal with a ball in from our left and Sesko popped it away. Bugger. That had the home fans rummaging for their song sheets, and a few minutes later Regis shook things up by replacing Adingra with Ballard and moving our fullbacks further forward.

There was no card when our man was caught late in the centre circle, then Xhaka's low shot was tipped round the keeper's left hand post for a corner. Three added minutes were announced, Nordi slung in a long throw and Hume looked to have taken a boot to the head. The ref consulted his assistant, who'd had a perfect view, and he confirmed a penalty. Then Fernandes spent a full minute in the ref's ear and the screen was consulted. No penalty, but make no mistake, had we been at virtually any other ground, we'd have had the chance to score. Anyway, we had a corner on our right from which Ballard's back post header hit the side netting.

I couldn't really argue that the home side deserved to be ahead, but two yellows to us and none to them did not reflect the physical side of the game fairly.

No more changes for the second half, and out came the sun. Ten minutes in, Traore's run was ended in controversial fashion by their keeper and Fernandes, with us screaming for a free and at least one card - out came the card, but it was waved at our man, presumably for a dive. Almost immediately, he was off, along with Isidor and Masuaku, the three replaced by Mayenda, Brobbey, and Talbi with the latter going to left wing back where he saw plenty of the ball, prompted by Sadiki.

We dealt with a couple of Utd crosses then got in one of our own from our right, but it flashed right across the goal with nobody able to apply the necessary touch. When we next set Mayenda up, he shot over then with ten to go we replaced Hume with Geertruida. There was the novelty of a home yellow - to great applause from our noisy section- for the lumbering Casemiro, then our latest sub did well to chase back and get in the vital tackle in the box at the expense of a corner. We cleared that and set Mayenda away through the middle. He unselfishly laid it left to Talbi, but the shot was straight at the keeper's feet and all we got was a throw. Should have scored. The five added minutes ended with a wild one from us (cross or shot? Dunno) high into the Stretford and we were beaten.

Man of the Match? It'd have been Amad, had he not been on the wrong side. I'd probably go for either Sadiki or Xhaka - it's Granit for his performance over the whole game, but he needed the rest of the midfield to function to be really effective.