A County fan at THAT game last night
Hannah Brown was at Hillsborough to witness the resurrection of Sheffield Wednesday
Friday 19 May 2023
The play-offs never ever disappoint do they? (I’m going to bite my lip here and refrain from telling David Elleray to fuck off, which my body automatically does upon hearing any mention of the play-offs, even 29 years later.)
On Tuesday, we saw Luton overturn a first leg defeat to book a trip to Wembley and continue their incredible story; the fake Hatters are now just 90 minutes away from the Premier League, less than 10 years since finishing their season with a final-day trip to Hyde in the Conference.
Wednesday night brought us more incredible scenes, as Coventry won at Middlesbrough to secure their place in the Championship play-off final. On that particular day Luton were at Hyde, Coventry were playing a League One game over 30 miles away. Not an away fixture, but a “home” one at Northampton’s Sixfields Stadium. The Sky Blues dropped further to League Two before their fightback started. That’s the other fairytale which could be completed on 27 May.
As for last night, I’m not sure I have any words to describe the drama at Hillsborough, so I’ll leave this one for Hannah Brown, a County fan who was at the game in South Yorkshire. Fingers crossed that isn’t the only second leg comeback Hannah’s going to witness this week…
Finally, a big thank you to Matt at Your Health Roots for sponsoring today’s edition. Part of Matt’s job is helping patients suffering with chronic pain. Worst case scenario, I’ve told him to expect 10,000 phone calls at 2.30pm tomorrow. (Please let that be a joke and not a prophecy.)
Enjoy today’s issue.
Des Junior
I want to preface this by saying I’m not a groundhopper – home and away games with County cements that, plus I don’t own a flat cap or a dog-eared notebook.
Last night’s game followed Saturday’s semi-final between Bolton and Barnsley, and came from a place of abject panic after agreeing to co-host a new League One and League Two podcast and realising my League One knowledge was subpar at best.
I needed to be somewhere approaching expert level very, very quickly.
So for the second time in a week I took myself off on my own to a League One play-off semi-final, at Hillsborough this time, hoping for a bit of a fightback from Darren Moore’s men, and somewhat more excitement than the 1-1 “thriller” I’d already sat through at Bolton.
What followed was absolutely stunning.
4-0 up after the first leg, Peterborough came out with agenda – aggressive, physical play, and running down the clock, which would come back to haunt them when Wednesday’s fourth goal was scored in the seventh of six minutes of added time.
A crowd of 31,385 experienced one of the best comebacks of all time (and my favourite since County’s FA Cup replay against Bolton) and watched each goal go in with increasing incredulity.
Going behind in extra time after equalising in the 97th minute was “the Wednesday way” according to my neighbour’s dad who dialled in his support.
The Wednesday way also meant it went to penalties, and a pitch invasion, and a trip to Wembley.
The Wednesday way struck me as not dissimilar to “the County way” – never easy, or linear, but we get there in the end.
This time it was a Darren Moore managerial masterclass – focusing on mindset change and great comebacks this week – and I hope the County boys take inspiration from last night’s grit and resilience when they walk out at Edgeley Park tomorrow.
Hannah Brown (@_HannahJBrown) is an editor for The Real EFL and co-host of the brand new The Real EFL Podcast. Episode one, reviewing all the play-off semi-finals from last weekend (including Salford v County) and looking ahead to the second legs, is available now on all major podcast platforms.
Photo of the day
Marks & Spencer, Chester
Des Junior won’t bore you with what he’s just had for lunch today (although for any interested parties, a cheese and onion sandwich with a packet of cheese tasters… and a tomato soup from Greggs… and three cookies from Subway) but after catching a glimpse of this notice in Marks & Spencer, he is going to ask you to pray for the slicing machine.
The drama of watching the play-offs, eh? Turns us all into nervous wrecks. Even this bread slicer has had a nervous breakdown. Must be a Peterborough fan.
Benefit from some nutrition consultation from Your Health Roots
Be honest, you’ve been gorging on pies, pints and pasties for the last 10 months, haven’t you? I’m not being hypocritical by the way. That’s the diet of a lower league football supporter. I’ll readily admit many cheese and onion pies (completely smothered in gravy and mashed potato) have touched my lips over the course of this season.
With County’s season coming to an end in either one or nine days, how about we all start to look at our nutrition over the summer, and get a little bit healthier (only to undo all that good work with numerous burgers and ice creams when County go to Blackpool or Morecambe on the opening day in August).
One of our sponsors is Your Health Roots, run by Matt Jenkinson, who actually used to work at Edgeley Park alongside Rodger Wylde. Matt offers two types of nutrition consultation: Ayurveda and Functional.
Ayurveda looks at nutrition through a yogic lens. It doesn't label a disorder, rather it looks at what your original state of health is or was, where the imbalance is, and gives tools on how you rebalance through food and lifestyle choices. During the consultation Matt will work through a pulse, eye, nail, hair, tongue, skin and stool analysis. These provide key markers of your internal state without obtrusive examinations. Of course, if you are not comfortable with one assessment method they can work with the others. There are many markers to health so you can choose. Ayurveda is ideal for those who like a more circular view on health.
Functional involves assessing how you are functioning. It's a specific and more systematic method, labelling disorders, so suited to a logical, linear thinker. External medical tests from a third party provider may be needed but such tests, options and prices will be discussed and explained during the consultation. There is a strong focus on gut health and the microbiome, as this is the starting point of most nutrition disorders.
Visit yourhealthroots.com for further details.
Today in SK
🕺 Start County’s play-off weekend in style at Bask (SK1). DJ Gareth Brooks is on till 2am, dropping the best in old school hip-hop, disco, funk, R&B, bangers and more.
🎶 Slightly further up the A6, the Nelson Tavern (SK1) also have their resident DJ playing on a Friday night, with Dicko (Ian Dickinson) on from 8pm till 1am.
🍹 The Armoury (SK3) have just launched their new cocktail menu. Mark Stott definitely wouldn’t mind a Red Wine Cobbler, and Lee Todd’s going to be getting stuck into a Lounge Lizard or two. There’s eight cocktails to try in total; head down today to see which one tickles your tastebuds!
🍺 If you need something strong to settle your nerves ahead of tomorrow, Petersgate Tap (SK1) have just stocked up their fridges with a fresh batch of St Bernardus 12 (10%) and Bush Caractere (12%).
The Scarf My Father Wore works closely with venues on a daily basis to bring you the most comprehensive guide to all of the offers and events taking place across the whole SK region. Click on the links below for further details.
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