ON a damp, overcast morning, we caught the 09:56am from Trinity Street to sample the joys of modern train travel to Sheffield, retracing the weekend journeys of my student days in the 70s.

We embarked on a CAMRA-inspired cultural tour of friendly and inviting Sheffield, ending up in the Devonshire Cat before arriving at Bramall Lane amid rumours that Gary Madine had been attacked as he had got off the coach, in retaliation for his disparaging remarks about their goal scoring hero, Billy Sharp.

Thankfully, these rumours proved to be unfounded as Gary and Alex Perry were withdrawn from the match through illness. This was going to be a severe test of our already overstretched resources, with Ben Howard, James Henry and Conor Wilkinson coming in.

It didn’t take long for Sheffield United to assert their authority as Sharp ran on to a through ball and give the perfect answer to his critic. It was tight but the Blades always had the edge, especially when it came to creating chances while we gave their goalie, Simon Moore the day off.

Sheffield United clinched it through a debatable penalty but they were well worth their victory. We deserved nothing, we got nothing. But losing to the team that should run away with this league is not a disaster. A setback maybe but it is up to us to respond in the next 14 matches.

They are all big matches from now on to the end of the season. The majority are away from home, including our two games in hand and this where we have to up our game. The fans are up for it as the scramble for tickets shows. I hope we can pass this on to the team.

Congratulations to the Supporters Trust for achieving ‘Asset of Community Value’ status for the Macron Stadium. Now we just want Phil Parkinson to achieve a similar status for our team.