I don’t usually like too much slagging off of our neighbours in the Wednesday fanzines, nor do I like to see United referred to as pigs (it’s a bit childish isn’t it?). However I enjoyed myself so much last issue that here I am back at it again, this time with my observations of the December 16th derby and the aftermath.

So, they failed to beat us again. Since their much-heralded double over us in 91/92 we have ruled the roost and in fact that 3-1 Hillsborough defeat is thelast time they have bettered us. The7 games since have seen us win 3 and draw 4. Talk to Unitedites and you’d be forgiven for thinking that those 7 games have not taken place; wasn’t one of them an FA Cup semi-final or something? And the fact that they have failed to beat us this season is pure bliss. Their best season for ages (OK, maybe a bit of poetic license there, and they made the play-offs a couple of seasons ago didn’t they?), and certainly our worst since we left the 3rd division days behind (old 3rd division I must stress, for we have never played in the basement division; have I ever mentioned that United have?) and they still can’t get a win.

If the unthinkable does happen on 31st March we can console ourselves with the fact that it is long overdue. Much as we would love it to, our unbeaten run against the swineherd can’t last forever. And in a season when they would surely have been expecting to triumph over us I reckon that come what may we have already won the moral victory.

The build up to the game saw Unitedits mocking the speed at which we sold our allocation. Now there is a simple explanation as to why our tickets did not go like the proverbial hot cakes. Wednesday’s method of ticket allocation, which gave priority to season ticket holders with an away ticket stub, meant that mere part-timers, home game only supporters like myself these days, were convinced that we had no chance of a ticket.

When it became clear that they were available after all it caught a lot off guard. Plans for meeting up with mates to watch in pubs and clubs were thrown off-kilter as we all re-arranged schedules to actually attend instead. But they all went eventually and with more than a week to spare. Of course there is also the fact that a trip the piggery is not as exciting to us as a visit to Mecca is to them.

AND THEN, after they were all mouth in the build-up regarding ticket sales, how fantastic it was to turn up on the day to find rows and rows of empty United seats! Their shambles of a ground only holds 26,000 and they couldn’t even sell it out for the local derby! There was an interesting letter printed in the Green ‘Un from a Unitedite pointing out that given the 3 ticket deal that United implemented for the derby they had guaranteed themselves 3 attendances higher than the highest so far. He really ought to have waited until he had seen those attendance figures before he committed pen to paper, for their 2 artificially created high attendances still did not beat our 22,704 v Huddersfield.

But with them having had their home local derby and those two games following it, they have surely overtaken us in the home league average gate stakes, haven’t they? No, they have not. 17,288 is our figure compared to their 15,882. With the home league derby still to come, we are going to wipe the floor with them on this one. Even if the unthinkable worst case scenario of promotion for them and relegation for us were to happen, who would bet against Wednesday having the better average attendance the following season too?

So, on to the game itself. Yes, they had more of the play and the better of the chances but yet again Warnock went completely over the top in his assessment. Home teams do often dominate the play Neil but not go on to win; it’s the way of the game. And after we had equalised, we could well have gone on to win it. Yes it would have been a travesty, but it would have been justice for your two balls constantly on the pitch tactic. How low can you go? You will have noticed that at 1-0 there was no rush at all to get the ball back onto the pitch.

Ball boys at all clubs get the ball to their own team quicker than the opposition but at least they usually try to be subtle about it. And Warnock even admitted afterwards that they were doing it on his instruction.

I think even he realised how ludicrous it became when Harkness ended up having two balls to defend during one United attack, and then to rub salt into the wounds Jewell found himself dismissed to the stands for having the audacity to complain about it.