GOLD EN MEMORY
Mac gives doomed Blades a lift
GRAHAM POTTER has learned this week how painful slip-ups can be.
The Brighton chief was left with a nasty gash under his left eye and bruising on his cheek after losing his footing at the beachfront and bashing his face on a railing.
At Bramall Lane, it was his team that came a cropper.
After all the hard work of taking a precious point back to the south coast following a disciplined showing at Chelsea, they fluffed their lines in south Yorkshire.
This trip – to a club that had its return to the Championship confirmed following a narrow defeat at Wolves last week – was an obvious opportunity to escape the spectre of relegation that has been shadowing them.
With a seven-point buffer on 18th-placed Fulham going into this fixture, the stage was set for Potter’s men to take a big step towards cementing their top-flight status.
But if the Seagulls thought this was going to be an easier outing than the one they enjoyed at Stamford Bridge, they were sadly mistaken.
Blades’ interim boss Paul Heckinbottom may have been the one baring his soul amid the club’s pain at Molineux but, in the finest traditions of the sport, his side were not about to go quietly out of this division.
There were three changes for the Seagulls from the Chelsea game. Ben White was missing through suspension, and two other alterations saw the familiar faces of Adam Lallana and Neal Maupay back in the starting XI.
Maupay was asked to patrol the right flank and, in the early exchanges, it took a solid block by keeper Aaron Ramsdale to prevent the former Brentford striker from opening the scoring.
Yves Bissouma had, for once, deserted his defensive duties and strode forward at pace.
His ball allowed his team-mate to take aim but Ramsdale stood firm – and the value of that stop was seen just minutes later.
Ben Osborn, being used behind Mcgoldrick and Rhian Brewster, made good ground down the left. His ball into the area caused problems with Joel Veltman only half-clearing to the edge of the area.
Pascal Gross had raced back to help his defence and reached the loose ball marginally before Rhian Brewster.
But the ex-liverpool striker blocked the clearance and it dropped back into the danger zone where Mcgoldrick finished untidily with his left foot.
It was the 33-year-old’s seventh strike in the top flight this season and it immediately gave the hosts confidence.
The Blades’ tactics of quickly shutting down he Seagulls’ midfield pivot Bissouma – and his central midfield partner Lallana – had knocked the visitors out of their stride.
Then with a lead to hold onto, the hosts re-doubled their efforts to chase down every single ball. Bissouma had sight of goal – as did Maupay – but the massed ranks of red-and-whitestriped shirts stood firm.
Gross tried his luck
within 15 seconds of the re-start, forcing Ramsdale into a routine stop.
The Blades had a huge let-off in the 57th minute. A right-wing corner was nodded on and Jakub Moder took advantage of Osborn dallying over a clearance to poke home.
VAR decided to take a look. The midfielder had strayed offside after the initial flick-on.
It was not the end of the Blades’ good luck.
Brighton sub Alireza Jahanbakhsh sent a ball fizzing across the area.
It was slightly behind Maupay but the forward got underneath it and sent his effort over the crossbar from just three yards.