Blades’ McBurnie returns to hassle and harry Potter
SHEFFIELD UNITED boss Chris Wilder revealed he had a hunch that Brighton was the right game to give Oli McBurnie a start.
McBurnie showed his strength and finishing prowess to capitalise on a defensive blunder to pounce in the 23rd minute and secure a 1-0 victory at the Amex Stadium that claimed a third consecutive Premier League win for the Blades.
The Scotland striker, who has appeared off the bench for the last three games, scored against United twice last season when he was at Swansea working under current Brighton boss Graham Potter.
‘We watched Oli last year when he was playing for Graham Potter and he was excellent. We had two really tight games with Swansea,” Wilder said.
‘We had a hunch that this would be a good day for Oli. He’s been knocking on the door during the week which is something that we always look at – away from the light Monday to Friday.
‘We just felt this was the right time, against his old manager and the way they set up. It was a great goal in a tight game.’
Meanwhile, boss Ralph Hasenhuttl saluted two-goal Danny Ings after he fired Southampton out of the drop zone.
The striker’s brace inspired the Saints to a 3-1 win at Aston Villa.
Jack Stephens also netted in the first half and, while Jack Grealish scored a spectacular late goal, the visitors deserved victory.
They have now won three of their last five games to sit three points above the relegation zone after Ings’ 12th goal in his last 13 games.
Hasenhuttl said: ‘We like him in this form, I like to see how he is working and he is always there. He has a clinical finish, the second goal was fantastic.’
Elsewhere, Sean Dyche claims he is ‘confused’ by what football fans perceive as foul play after Burnley snatched a dramatic 1-0 win from a bad-tempered game at Bournemouth.
Clarets substitute Jay Rodriguez settled a dismal Premier League contest in the 89th minute with the game’s only attempt on target.
A tetchy afternoon on the rainsoaked south coast of England was littered with free-kicks and bookings.
Unimpressed home supporters repeatedly vented their displeasure at the visitors’ direct and physical approach, chanting ‘boring, boring Burnley’ and ‘how do you watch this every week?’, before the late suckerpunch condemned them to a third consecutive home defeat.
Clarets boss Dyche, who was once again critical of perceived diving, had no real issue with any of the contentious challenges and felt a lot of decisions made by referee Martin Atkinson were of the soft variety.
‘I’m always a bit confused with what the masses want now,’ said Dyche.
‘It would have driven me mad people diving all over the place – it drives me mad now – but as a fan, I don’t want to watch it.
‘But I don’t mind a tackle, I don’t mind a challenge. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s a thing of society.
‘If you get touched now, it’s like everyone’s dead, everyone’s properly dead.
‘I just find that peculiar, I don’t know where that’s all at.
‘There were very low contacts given as fouls. I don’t know what the fans want out of the game.
‘That’s up to them. I just have to roll with it, get on with it.’