Bit late for this, but just a few notes on the win at Bramall Lane on Saturday.

Aside from giving an embarrassingly brief interview for the official site, and having to put up with the world's biggest twonk stood behind me, it was an enjoyable away day. It's rare we go away and are the team in control of the match, but that was definitely the case at the weekend.

Don't take any notice of the highlights or match reports you've read which made out we were under threat. That wasn't the case. Yes, they hit the woodwork a few times. But some games you just know the other team haven't got it in them to put the ball in the net, and Saturday was one of those.

Clingan and Carsley bossed the midfield, Ben Turner was the proverbial rock at the back, and big Clive gave Chris Morgan a right hard game. It's since transpired that Morgan's out for the rest of the season on account of an injury he picked up in the game. I'm not saying Clive was directly involved in that, but with all the stretching Morgan had to do, I'm not surprised he ended the game with an injury.

So we gave them a difficult game, but there were some iffy moments too. Richard Wood's header back to nobody in the first half was bloody awful, leading to a Utd player (I forget who) going through one on one and hitting the post. If you ask me, that was the first sign that the home side were nervous. We gifted them that chance, and the old jelly legs crept in.

Their lobbed volley which hit the top of the bar was lucky it even went close. It might seem like I'm being dismissive of these chances just to prove my point, but as far as I could see there was no real belief or purpose in the attempt. It just happened to hit the bar.

We didn't create too many opportunities ourselves, but there seemed to be genuine sense that we could score when we moved forward - in my mind at least, and you could see the Sheffield Utd defence were concerned too. I suppose our reputation is growing.

McSheffrey's goal was far better than the highlights on the Football League show suggested. Before the cross from Gunnarsson, there was some brilliant movement and interplay between him and Jutkiewicz. It must be said, the goal-assist aside, they were the two most disappointing players on the day. Gunny had one of his famous "I'm-all-too-aware-people-are-looking-at-me-so-I-must-show-off" kind of games. 

Cliveinho did his usual trick of winning a crucial header in the box, and the in-form McSheffrey stooped to direct the ball past the outstretched Simonsen. Much of that last sentence was me pretending I'm a football journo. That's how you're supposed to write, you see.

Anyway, I digress. It was was a very good goal, and similar in style to a lot of our goals this season.

Watching Sammy in the warm up, you could see he fancied himself from a free-kick. He had a few opportunities, and came ever so close with a Preston-style smash which had Simonsen scrambling again.

Of course the final 10 minutes were nervy. It's us for crying out loud - no matter how well we play, you just know there's always the chance we might do something silly. It's happened too often in the past for us to forget about. We held firm though, and all in all, it was a pretty comfortable away win if you ask me. Contrary to some reports, I don't think Sheffield Utd deserved to get anything from the match. From where I was sat, their 2nd half comprised a load of misplaced Fatty Reid passes and over-hit crosses. 

So that win took us up to the unusual heights of 4th, which if I remember rightly, we haven't been at this point in the season since the first year we went down.

Now, assuming we're not planning on bringing in Jim Smith to fanny about with our winning formula again, we might just have a chance of sustaining this.

It's official (it's not), we are the most inconsistent team in the history of kicktheball. I'd argue this also makes us the most impossible-to-support team as well, although I best note, this is purely an observation - I'm not moaning about winning, or naffink.

Driving up to the Ricoh, I realised that I literally had no idea how things were going to go during the match. We have so many frames of reference this season already, it really does make predicting a result (or anticipating a performance) more difficult than, well, anything.

This is not including, I might add, Michel Salgado's unenviable task of trying to understand a single bleeding word Gordon Strachan said in the Sky Sports studio the other night. (Sky Sports Champions League coverage, if you missed it.) But that's just a side point.

So, to the match. Once again Coleman's selection surprised me initially. Given how shocking most of the players finished the match on Saturday, he defied all logic and stuck with them again. This is why he is the manager, he is paid to make these decisions, and get them right. And by all accounts he got it right on Wednesday. Right much.

Nobody's saying it was a fantastic performance. We haven't really seen a fantastic performance since one of the Blackburn games last season. But what Coleman did was deliver a solid execution of "horses for courses" management. He identified the threat of Sheffield Utd's strength, and instead of playing into their hands by trying to avoid it, he met it head on with a lot of success.

Changing the formation to a 4-5-1 not only allowed us to compete in the middle of the park (which has been our downfall for many a year), it also allowed McIndoe to stay wide for once, and Leon Best to battle it out with Chris Morgan.

Unbelievably, all three elements paid off. I don't think the changes alone were the key to the success however. As obvious as it sounds, the players were actually up for the game on Wednesday and it made a real difference. They put in genuine effort. It wasn't quite that blood, sweat and tears kind we hear so much about, but it wasn't far off.

The 3 midfielders worked tirelessly. Not always producing moments of quality, but every time they did fanny it up, they worked hard and won the ball back. Clingan again had a mixed game in terms of his passing, but his positional sense was right on the money. He was where we wanted him to be, pretty much every time we needed him.

Ozzy was very similar, some of his passing was atrocious, and his attacking mentality currently stands at about 2% (and that's usually when he stumbles that way). But he ran and ran.

And let's face it, the man's a beast. So if he puts himself about, it's going to be beneficial.

Jack Cork gave another enigmatic display too. I still don't know what to make of him. He is a very leggy player, and won so many balls purely on the being-a-git factor alone. But he had the scared look about him a lot of the time too. Once he got a feel of the ball however, he grew into the game. He reminds me in many ways of Henderson - he gives us those legs to go from box-to-box in no time at all.

McIndoe was quiet again, sure. But the 5 in midfield gave us some shape, and allowed us to cause them problems when we did break. His assist for Morrison was lucky, but it showed the importance of making sure you actually get the ball into the area. Too often we see crosses ballooned over the bar or hit too strong. He got the ball in, and we got a goal from it.

The resounding success of the night was playing Leon Best up front by himself though. I don't think this is something we can do every game, (my reference to horses for courses earlier) but he gave Morgan a torrid time.

The important thing was that he didn't make it easy for him. You see it all too often with Chris Morgan, players backing out of tackles, not prepared to get physical. Those are his strengths admittedly, but Leon Best is a strong chap too, and he forced him into mistakes and made him work for everything. It reminded me of the Chelsea game last year actually, with Best giving John Terry what-for quite a few times. He's starting to believe in himself now, and if he puts in the same level of effort consistently, he's going to be a vital player for us.

His goal was a lot niftier than it was made out to be too. I'd advise you to have a look.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8259238.stm

All in all, everything went to plan, and 4 points from the last 2 home games is something I would have taken a week ago. But what confuses me more than anything is how Sheffield Utd are described as high-flying by everyone, while we have been flaming awful for half the games so far...

and yet we're now only 1 point behind them.

The Championship is a very strange league.