A WHOLE NEW PAUL GAME

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ON A ROLL: Sheffield United’s Iliman Ndiaye celebrates opening the scoring on Saturday and (above) Norwood

OLI NORWOOD hailed the Paul Heckingbottom revolution, with Sheffield United sitting pretty at the top of the Championship.

A first-half strike from Senegalese midfielder Iliman Ndiaye and a closerange finish from Oli McBurnie with 15 minutes remaining on Saturday saw the Blades go three points clear at the summit.

And after a fourth straight win and clean-sheet — and having claimed a seventh win in their opening ten league outings — Norwood said: “It’s been incredible the rise, and the points we’ve picked up since Hecky has been in charge has been unbelievable.

“It’s been a fantastic start, since the first game we haven’t looked back. But it’s not just been this season, it’s ever since Hecky took the job.”

Interim

Former Barnsley and Leeds boss Heckingbottom started life at Bramall Lane as the club’s Under-23s coach but, following Chris Wilder’s departure in March 2021, the 45-year-old took over as interim boss and then in November last year as permanent manager.

He has worked wonders as United set their sights on the Premier League.

The Blades were beaten 3-2 on penalties by Nottingham Forest in last year’s play-off semi-finals but this season they are on a fine eight-match unbeaten run.

“Last season we ran out of time, it’s pretty simple really,” said Norwood. “Another ten minutes in the Forest game and we could have won, we had the momentum.

“We were disappointed, it was heartbreaking what happened, but we’ve picked up where we left off last season.

Standard

“We’ve set our stall out this season and set the standard. We want to stay there [at the top of the table].”

The Lilywhites wasted a string of chances before Ben Whiteman and Liam Lindsay dithered for the hosts and Ndiaye pinched the ball, beat two defenders and smashed home.

And then Scotland hitman McBurnie sealed the deal with a smart close-range finish. No wonder Lilywhites skipper Alan Browne was down in the dumps.

“The midfielders and strikers are letting the back five of the team down,” admitted Brown. “They must be getting fed up of us because it’s consistently happening.

“We conceded a couple of sloppy goals, we’ve lost games this season by our own fault.”