BLADES GET EDGE ON IRONS
2
Sheffield Utd 3 West Ham Whitehouse 40 Bishop 8 Gayle 48 Holmes 30 Rogers 73 Premier League, March 28, 1994 Att at Bramall Lane: 13,646 BY SHEFFIELD UNITED were fighting for their Premier League lives when West Ham came to Bramall Lane.
The Blades had gone 10 games without a win under boss Dave Bassett – and the winless run looked set to be extended after West Ham stormed into a 2-0 lead.
The opening goal for Billy Bonds’ side came from an unlikely source.
Ian Bishop had not scored for 11 months, but proved he still knew where the goal was after Trevor Morley rolled the ball into his path.
Bishop tried his luck from 25 yards out and his shot slipped through keeper Alan Kelly’s fingers and into the net.
Worse was to come for the Blades on the half-hour when Matt Holmes thumped a right-foot rocket between Kelly, whose brother Gary was on the visitors’ bench, and his near post.
United, inspired by Franz Carr on the wing, created chances at the other end and it took a goalline clearance from Tim Breacker to keep out Jostein Flo’s header.
The Blades halved the arrears five minutes before the break.
The ball was thumped to the edge of West Ham’s penalty area and Tony Gale’s header dropped to Dane Whitehouse.
He took one touch with his left foot to get the ball under control and his next was a scorching shot that flew into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
The Blades were level only three minutes after the restart.
John Gannon swept over a corner and Brian Gayle outjumped three Hammers defenders and steered a header past the wrong-footed keeper Ludek Miklosko for his third goal in six games.
The Czech keeper had looked vulnerable to crosses throughout and it was his blunder that led to United’s winner in the 73rd minute.
Glyn Hodges sent in a cross that Miklosko reached for.
He couldn’t hang onto the ball and it bounced up invitingly for Paul Rogers to hook a right-foot shot into the corner.
United hung on for victory, but were eventually relegated at the end of the season.