BILLY SHARPENS BLUNT BLADES...
AGOAL from Billy Sharp gave Sheffield United the victory their dominance deserved against Norwich City – but they had to wait until stoppage time to secure the points.
The Blades were by far the better team in possession, but misplaced several final balls and lacked ruthlessness in front of goal, until Sharp finally broke the deadlock.
The hosts started brightly with Leon Clarke knocking down a long ball for Luke Freeman, who passed to Ollie Norwood on the overlap, but his shot was deflected into the side netting.
The resulting corner was floated towards the back post where centre half Egan rose the highest, his header looping over the outstretched Tim Krul before being nodded away by Alex Tettey on the line. However, it was ruled that the ball was over the line, giving the Blades the lead.
Minutes later, Norwich had their first significant chance. Tettey headed a cross to Finland international Teemu Pukki, whose first-time volley sailed over the bar.
In the 26th minute the Canaries equalised. Deep inside the box, top scorer Onel Hernandez turned his man and set up Rhodes, who slotted the ball home from close range, the summer signing claiming his second goal of the season.
United responded immediately with Liverpool loanee Ben Woodburn aiming a beautiful low cross to the feet of Clarke, whose guided effort was well saved by Krul.
United attempted to start the second half in a similar manner to the first.
Minutes after the re-start, an indirect free kick was sent towards Egan who, falling backwards, was just able to get his foot to the ball, forcing Krul into another good save.
In the 65th minute, Norwich missed a good chance.
A Blades corner was headed away and a block sent the ball soaring back into the United half to Moritz Leitner, who was flanked by Pukki and Hernandez, all clear on goal.
Leitner chose to go it alone and was denied by Dean Henderson, who stood up tall to make a smart save.
In time added on United finally had their goal when a long ball found Clarke and he guided the ball across to captain Sharp who tapped in from four yards.
United manager Wilder was relieved with the victory and said: “It’s about time we got a last-minute winner. There have been some cruel results over the last 12 months at Bramall Lane, but now we’ve won a tight game against a talented team.
“I felt the best chances fell our way, but there’s nothing better than a last-minute winner for everybody.”
Norwich boss Daniel Farke said: “Like always in football, when you concede in the last minute it is frustrating. It’s really tough to take because we got the feeling we were so close to a really good result.
“In general it’s not so much about the performance of the players, but football will always be determined by small situations.”