Parki has a nightmare

CHRIS WILDER was full of praise for his Sheffield United side after they dished out a footballing lesson to high-flying Bolton.

First-half goals from Mark Duffy and Kieron Freeman with another after the break from John Fleck (below) shattered Bolton’s unbeaten start to the season.

The result and the poor performance were a wake-up call after the dream start to the season for his side for Bolton boss Phil Parkinson.

And despite their tough start to the campaign, Wilder believes his Blades are now fully focused on the job in hand and reaping their due rewards.

“The attitude was right and that’s what really pleases me,” he said.

“It was important we started right.

“I won’t criticise anyone for how they play, we have one way, they have another.

“But when you come here you know you have to compete.

“We did that, we got on the front foot and competed. But we showed some real technical stuff too and we have some technical players.”

United, fresh from backto-back wins over QPR and Norwich, piled on the pressure from the start and were a goal up in the first five minutes through Duffy.

Chris Basham ended a flowing move by laying the ball back for midfielder Duffy, who produced a fine side-foot finish into the bottom corner to open his account for the campaign.

Things got worse for the Whites when Freeman doubled the lead midway through the first half.

The full-back hit a low cross in from the right which Leon Clarke cleverly stepped over and the ball rolled into the far corner.

Clarke, who made an excellent goal-line clearance to deny David Wheater just before the break, was replaced at halftime by David Mcgoldrick.

And Mcgoldrick forced a brilliant save from Ben Alnwick with his first touch that drew praise from Wilder.

He added: “If their goalkeeper wasn’t named as the home man of the match then I don’t know who will get it because he pulled off some really good saves and that unbelievable one.”

The Blades continued to dominate after the restart and it was no surprise then when Fleck tucked away a deserved third with a smart finish on 73 minutes as the woeful home side sunk without trace and the fans headed for the Macron exits.

“We were too slack,” admitted Parkinson.

“We started too slowly against a team that was fresh from not having a midweek game.

“We did not do all the little jobs to give us a foothold in the game which allowed them to score and it was pretty much uphill after that.

“For the first 20 minutes we were simply not good enough.

“And the lesson to learn from this is not to go into a game not switched on.”