MASTER SHEF
At last... Wilder sees his Blades taste victory
HALLELUJAH! Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder was finally singing his side’s praises for winning a game this season.
At the 19th time of asking in 2020-21, the Blades picked up their first victory by edging a third- round thriller at gutsy League One Bristol Rovers.
No wonder Wilder was smiling. You had to rewind to July 11 to find the last time he and his Premier League basement boys were celebrating any triumph anywhere.
The Blades supremo, with only two top- flight points, declared: “I’m so pleased for the players, the fans and club.
“It’s a big win for everyone because of our form. The players have had to take a lot of stick – and that dents confidence.
“Whether we played well didn’t matter. We just had to get this result.”
What a chance this trip to the West Country represented for the Blades to forget their horrors among the elite – for one afternoon at least.
That said, Rovers, 18th in the third tier, knew very well what it was like to win this season. They had experienced that feeling ten times.
And their lowly league position was misleading, too, as they have three games in hand on the majority of the division.
They had also slammed six past Doncaster in the previous round and won three of five league outings under new boss Paul Tisdale.
A measure of how important Wilder (above) was treating the occasion was his full- strength line-up. Forget they have league games against Newcastle and Tottenham this week, reaching round four was mattered.
And United enjoyed a perfect start, scoring after six minutes
Ben Osborn’s cross was ideal all that for striker Lys Mousset, whose header hit the bar and struck Rovers’ debutant keeper p Joe J Day before nestling in n the net.
Rovers responded d with some crunching g tackles but the visitors s met fire with fire.
However, the fourrtime FA Cup winners ers were not so adept with th setset pieces – as Rovers’ 21st-minute leveller underlined. A free- kick from Zain Westbrooke was excel l e nt and defender Al f i e Kilgour rose to plant home a towering header.
The second half exploded with a three-goal burst in four minutes.
Blades sub Oliver Burke missed an open goal seconds after coming on before making amends with a classy 59thminute solo strike.
Rovers quickly equalised when United failed to deal with a corner and Max Ehmer tapped in at the far post. Fair p play to the Blades, thoug though. Rather than let he heads drop, they retook t the lead on 63 m minutes as Jayden B Bogle skipped into t the box to score. Burke could have ma made it four, but struck the po post after a superb run and shot. Tisdale, though, was proud of his team’s efforts. He said: “I asked the players not to sit back and hope for a 1-0 win. I said I didn’t mind if they lost 3-2 if they had a go. Day 8; Ehmer 6, Kilgour 8, Baldwin 7, Leahy 7, Westbrook 7, Upson 6 (Rodman 80, 6), Oztumer 6 (Grant 60, 6), Mccormick 6, Hanlan 6, Ayunga 7 (Barrett 60, 6). Unused Subs: van Stappershoef, Little, Jargreaves,
Ramsdale 6; Basham, 6, Egan 6, Ampadu 7, Bogle 7, Lundstram 7 (Bryan 73, 6), Norwood 6, Fleck 7 (Lowe 86, 6), Osborn,. Mcgoldrick, Mousset 7 (Burke 52, 8). Unused Subs: Sharp, Lowe, Jagielka, Verrips, Brewster, Gordon. MAN OF THE MATCH: Oliver Burke. United super sub made the difference with goal and energy. REFEREE: Keith Stroud 7.