Billy boy too Sharp for Rams
CHRIS Wilder believes Sheffield United showed they will not sink under pressure this season as they continued their solid start with a hard-fought victory over Derby County.
An early goal from Billy Sharp after an error from Derby goalkeeper Scott Carson put the Blades in control, before Johnny Russell scored a comical own goal before the break to sum up Derby’s half.
Craig Bryson pulled a goal back in second-half stoppage time before Sharp added his second with Carson up field for a free-kick, ensuring another three points at a deafening Bramall Lane come the full-time whistle and a delighted Chris Wilder.
“You want to marry a good performance with a good result and I think we’ve done that,” said Wilder.
“I’m delighted we’ve played well and won, we know we’re not the finished article and there’s a lot of work to be done, but our home form is rock solid. We’ve made a decent start, we’ve had to adapt quickly or else you’ll sink.”
It took just four minutes for United to break the deadlock, a poor back pass from Curtis Davies put Carson under pressure, but the Derby goalkeeper could only find Sharp with his clearance.
The visitors couldn’t get a foothold in the game, Andreas Weimann going closest when he fired an effort just over before Matej Vydra was denied when through on goal by a superb tackle from John Fleck.
Russell curled an effort wide shortly before the break, but it would be the winger’s misfortunate just moments later that put the game beyond Derby.
After good work inside the box from the hosts, a pull back found Sharp on the penalty spot, only for the back-tracking Rus- sell to inadvertently slam the ball into the bottom corner.
The mistakes cost Derby dear and left manager Gary Rowett with plenty to think about going into the international break.
“The first 20 minutes summed up our problems,” said the manager. “You’ve got to match that intensity in Championship games, especially away from home, but you can’t legislate for the mistakes we made.
“You won’t see Scott doing that too often and then Johnny’s trying to get back and defend, but we’re 2-0 down from two mistakes. After that, you’re giving yourself a mountain to climb. I don’t think we showed enough courage and enough brightness when we did get on the ball, and until you do those things you’re going to have to keep talking about them.”
With Wilder’s men happy to sit on their 2-0 lead, there were few chances of any note after the break, and the introduction of Tom Lawrence and Chris Martin made little difference for the frustrated visitors.
Derby did pull one back as the game went into seven minutes of stoppage time, Bryson heading home.
But Sharp wrapped it up as he rolled the ball into an empty net, the only negative for Wilder came in the form of second-half injuries to Caolan Lavery and substitute Samir Carruthers.
“Caolan’s smashed his cheekbone, there was no malice from either player and unfortunately there’s been a clash of heads,” he added.
“Samir’s taken a whack to his calf but our players are all in, they won’t pull out of those challenges.”