BLADES CUT F OREST BACK
Late goal from Berge gives hope for Heckingbottom’s side in second leg
SANDER BERGE’S late header has kept alive Sheffield United’s Premier League dream.
And if the Blades do reach Wembley for the final, Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper may well look back on this game as the day his side blew it.
Brennan Johnson’s 71st-minute strike gave Forest a 2-0 lead, but he could easily have left Bramall Lane with a hat-trick.
After Jack Colback’s 10th-minute opener, Johnson rolled one shot wide and had a close-range header pushed away by Wes Foderingham as the visitors dominated the first half.
And when Sheffield United tried to respond after the break, the Wales international steered in a cool second after Joe Lolley had pounced on an error by defender John Egan.
But Johnson was then denied by a brilliant Egan block as he had a chance to make it three – before Berge’s injury-time header kept the Blades alive going into Tuesday’s second leg at the City Ground.
Cooper (right) said: “It should have been a clean sheet and it could have been more goals, but this is the play-offs.
“It must have been great to watch. We knew we wanted to attack. “It’s our way. We take risks. “I loved our first-half performance. We were dominant and I was really happy with our mentality and approach.
“Whether you like it or not, these games are different – so to come to a big stadium like this, against a good team, with good players, and do what we did tells you our mentality is in a good place.
“We created enough chances to come away with more than a one-goal advantage, but this is football.
“It’s disappointing to concede at the end, but that’s the tension of
the play-offs, isn’t it?” It looked as if the tension had got to both teams in a physical encounter that threatened to boil over more than once.
Premier League referee Andre Marriner had a job on his hands keeping order – and at one point towards half-time looked as if he might be reaching for his red card.
Blades’ former Forest defender Jack Robinson pushed Marriner’s patience to the limit as he swung a leg at Djed Spence’s head as they tangled on the ground just before the break, sparking a free-for-all – with both players ending up in the book. By that stage, Forest could already have been out of sight.
They went ahead early with a well-worked goal.
It was aided by some sloppy Blades defending, with Sam Surridge getting in behind Robinson to cut back and Ben Osborn slipping as first Philip Zinckernagel was denied at close range by Foderingham before Colback smashed in the rebound.
The hosts were almost level immediately as Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba
flapped at Oliver Norwood’s corner and Egan headed goalwards, only for Surridge to nod the ball off the line. But it was all Forest for the rest of the half, with an unmarked Ryan Yates somehow heading wide from James Garner’s cross before Johnson passed up two further chances. The hosts were better after the break and Chris
Basham should have drawn them level when he was played into space by Berge with time to set himself, but he ended up delaying for too long and allowed Steve Cook to make a superb block.
But the home team went two down when Egan dawdled in possession, allowing substitute Lolley to rob him and run clear – with Johnson steering in the loose ball after John Fleck had slid in to make a last-ditch challenge.
United, though, kept pushing and were finally rewarded as Berge headed in, with Forest claiming that Samba had been fouled.
That late goal has given Blades boss
Paul Heckingbottom hope that the tie can still be turned round at the City Ground.
He said: “We’re not coming off happy to get beaten, but that goal certainly changes the mood.
“Let’s hope it proves a pivotal moment.
“The first half disappointed me. Every time we lost the ball, they were a threat on the counter.
“We had to be better in the second half and we were, but we couldn’t break them down.
“One goal then would have changed the tie.
“It didn’t happen, so we had to take the goal we got at the end.”