Bramall Lane: Sheffield United 0-5 Brighton & Hove Albion

Sheffield United 0-5 Brighton & Hove Albion

It has been over 15 years since both myself and Adrian last visited Bramall Lane, to say we were regulars would be a complete lie! Four matches in four days for me which consists of Leicester City v Middlesbrough at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, Sheffield United v Brighton and Hove Albion at Bramall Lane on Sunday, Everton v Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Monday and finishing with MK Dons v Wrexham at Stadium MK on Tuesday. We set off at 11am heading north on the M42 and M1 towards Chesterfield before taking the A61 into Sheffield parking on Guernsey Road before walking up Shoreham Street towards Bramall Lane. Bramall Lane was originally a cricket ground opened in 1855 however it wasn't until 1862 when the first football match was played there between Sheffield and Hallam. The newly formed Sheffield United played their first match at Bramall Lane in 1889 and it's been their home ever since. The oldest stand is the Bramall Lane Stand which is a two-tiered structure behind the goal opposite the Kop. This stand has had the corner filled in with extra seating linking up to the Tony Currie Stand. The second oldest is the Tony Currie Stand which opened in 1975. Prior to its construction, the land where the stand has been built used to be the cricket pavilion and outfield. The Kop has been redeveloped over the years becoming all seated in 1991 with a capacity of over 10,000 seats and is the largest stand at Bramall Lane. It was noticeable to us there is no indoor concourse area but it consists of various outdoor refreshment kiosks and toilet blocks dotted around outside the Kop. The newest stand is the John Street stand built in 1996 with a capacity of 7,000 seats. Since the construction of the stand, the corners have been filled in with seating for an extra 900 supporters between the John Street Stand and the Kop and the opposite corner has been filled with rentable offices known as the Enterprise Centre. The stadium as it stands today holds 32,050 supporters. For the first time in their history, Brighton have scored 5 goals away from home in the top flight of English football, this against a quite woeful Sheffield United who on that performance will certainly be relegated. Already with several first teamers missing through injury, Chris Wilder's plans were completely thrown out of the window when Everton loanee Mason Holgate was sent off in only the 13th minute, this for a dangerous high tackle on Kaoru Mitoma. Prior to this incident Brighton had already shown their greater ability and they then set out to destroy the home side. Facundo Buonanotte bundled the ball over the line after Lewis Dunk had headed a corner across the 6 yard box in 20 minutes. Four minutes later, a cross from the right by Gross was met first time by Mitoma and although Fodringham in the United goal blocked the shot, Danny Welbeck was on hand to score with his left foot to make it 2-0. The keeper made good saves from headers by Welbeck and Dunk and at times some brave defending kept Albion at bay. The dejected home fans thought they had scored a goal just before the break but the goal scorer Ben Osborn was offside, this backed up by VAR. The second half saw a procession of attacks on the Sheffield United goal and it was almost inevitable that the visitors would increase their lead. Brighton's possession based game had United players chasing all over and in the last 15 minutes the lead was increased. Mitoma's low cross from the left was touched into his own net by Jack Robinson. Simon Adingra fresh from glory in the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast then very much came to the party. A great finish for 4-0 in 78 minutes and his deflected shot in the 85th minute made it 5-0. It was a complete domination by Brighton, everyone comfortable on the ball with some excellent passing and moving. As for United, a day to forget. It's the third home game in a row where they have conceded 5 goals and they never ever looked like causing the Brighton defence any danger. James McAtee did try a couple of lung busting forward runs from his more advanced midfield role but Dunk and friends quickly slammed the door closed on him. With 11 v 11 it was always a big ask for the Premier League's bottom side but following the sending off, it realistically became impossible against one of the best passing sides in the Premier League. Its a long way to Sussex from South Yorkshire, but tonight it will be a happy return journey for De Zerbi, the players and the fans who set off early this morning. At full time with Bramall Lane already empty apart from the jubilant Brighton supporters, we headed to the Kop exits, down the large flight of stairs before making our way down Shoreham Street towards the car parked on Guernsey Road before heading out of Sheffield on the A61 to Chesterfield before rejoining the M1 back towards the East Midlands. Next stop, Goodison Park!

Sheffield United 1-0 Swansea City

Bramall Lane is home of Sheffield United (The Blades). I (Ross) set off from my local rail station, Loughborough at 12:04. I got to Sheffield Railway Station at 13:38 after taking a picture of the impressive fountains outside the station I walked to Bramall Lane and got there at 14:00 and took some picture outside the ground. After working out how to use the automatic turnstiles I was given a pair of “Noizstix” which are inflatable sticks you bang together to create an atmosphere. Bramall Lane started as a cricket ground in 1855 and 7 years after that, Sheffield FC played Hallam FC to raise money for the Lancashire Distress Fund and ended 0-0. The Halliwell’s stand (Bramall Lane End) was opened in 1966 and in the 2006 closed-season; the roof was extended to cover not only the top tier but also the bottom tier and also meant that the pillars were also removed. Away supporters are located in the bottom tier of this stand. The Valad stand (Main Stand) was opened in 1975 and was renovated in 2005/06 season replacing cladding outside the stand and wooden seats with plastic ones. After this was the Fraser Property’s Kop which was built in 1991 and holds 10,221 supporters. The next development was the John Street stand which was completed in 1996 and the Kop corner and Westfield Health stand were both built early 2000. The game saw the one goal scored by David Cotterill from the penalty spot. After the game, I got back in plenty of time for my 17:27 train to Derby and changing for Loughborough.

Bramall Lane

Saturday 17 February 2024

Sheffield United 0-5 Brighton & Hove Albion

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