I had a tremendous sense of dread before this game. We all have a habit of inheriting the sins of our fathers and Cloughie senior loved nothing better than to put one over on Alex. But, thankfully, United's young guns managed to prove me wrong. However, like almost all United teams that have gone before them, they made us suffer a bit for it.
My trepidation was based around the assumption that Fergie would play a weakened team and Derby would go for it, if they had scored first we would have needed three and that is a tricky prospect against any opposition.
Three goals in the opening period put me firmly in my place but we now have serious injury problems and by the time the match finishes against West Brom we will have played 8 fixtures in 23 days. That is a lot whoever you are.
On the bright side, we are in a cup final. One hopes that the price of getting to this one does not cost our participation in any others. In the interests of cliche, there is a long way to go. A long way. markpayne.editor@hotmail.com http://thedevilinme.co.uk
Mark Payne writes about football for a variety of media outlets. He reported on the 2010 World Cup for Australia’s ABC network and worked at one of the FIFA fan sites. He has been ESPN’s Manchester United correspondent for four years. His writing attracts a worldwide following and in 2011 this blog was nominated for an award. To contact Mark for football discussion e-mail him on markpayne.editor@hotmail.com at any time. He wears lucky socks on match days.
Mark Payne writes about football for a variety of media outlets. He reported on the 2010 World Cup for Australia’s ABC network and worked at one of the FIFA fan sites. He has been ESPN’s Manchester United correspondent for four years. His writing attracts a worldwide following and in 2011 this blog was nominated for an award. To contact Mark for football discussion e-mail him on markpayne.editor@hotmail.com at any time. He wears lucky socks on match days.
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