Nine-man Chelsea stunned by Burnley
his height to good effect again as half-time drew near. The Benin international did not have to jump far to meet Cyrus Christie’s cross from the right and head the ball against a post. A speculative Boro siege ushered in the second half but United survived and indeed launched their own raid, which was skilfully defused by the likes of cool-headed England defender Ben Gibson, reportedly the subject of multiple summer bids from West Brom.
After the hour mark Randolph sprawled to keep out Paul Coutts’ drive from a Clarke lay-off, but soon the Riverside cheers turned to boos when visiting manager Chris Wilder brought off captain Billy Sharp for Evans.
The Welsh striker is back on United’s books five years after his prolific first spell was cut short by a rape conviction. Evans served two-and-a-half years in prison but was found not guilty of the offence at a retrial last October. The man who set up two goals from the bench in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Walsall was not effective, though, and it was instead defender O’Connell who looked to have grabbed a last-gasp equaliser.
Two minutes into stoppage time, the former Brentford man rolled the ball into the Boro goal off his shoulders from a free-kick but the wild celebrations of the travelling Blades were confusingly cut short by the linesman’s flag.