Blades boss has positive record on road in past play-offs
SHEFFIELD United boss Paul Heckingbottom hopes his previous play-off experience can be repeated when his team head to Nottingham Forest tonight (7.45pm).
Heckingbottom says his team are not out of the tie despite trailing 2-1 after the semi-final first leg, with Sander Berge’s late header giving the Blades a lifeline.
In the three times he has been promoted via the play-offs during his playing and management career, he has also come away with a victory in the away leg of the semifinal.
“In the three successful ones I’ve had, I’ve won the away leg every time so it can be done,” he told the Sheffield Star.
“We just have to be better out there.
“The slips can happen. We aren’t going to blame the defeat on two slips (for the goals from Jack Colback and Brennan Johnson).
“We have to do what we know we can do better. We like to be the team on the front foot.
“Forest have got a lot of pace at the top end of the pitch so we have to be aware of our strengths more. We have to be better than them, that doesn’t change.”
Heckingbottom led Barnsley to promotion from League One via the play-offs in 2016, beating Walsall home and away in the semi-finals.
He also won the away leg with the Tykes in 2006, as a player, when they got past Huddersfield Town on their way to reaching the Championship.
And the season before that, he was part of the Sheffield Wednesday squad which went up to the second tier, toppling Brentford home and away in the semi-finals.
Heckingbottom has suggested star striker Billy Sharp could be involved against Forest.
Sharp missed the first leg due to a calf injury which has kept him sidelined for a number of weeks.
Before that the 36-year-old front-man had spent time in the
treatment room for a hamstring injury.
Despite spending the final month of the season out of the squad, Sharp remains the Blades’ top-scorer with 15 goals and seven assists in all competitions. His contributions up front are a key part of why the Yorkshire outfit finished in the Championship’s top six.
Heckingbottom confirmed that long-term absentees Jayden Bogle and Rhian Brewster would remain unavailable – but was more secretive about Sharp.
He told the Sheffield Star: “There’s only Bill who has a chance of being available and featuring in the play-offs. The rest of the boys, we know they are out.”
“We’d like to think he might be (ready),” the United manager added. “If he’s ready and the medical people tell us that he’s ready then, yes, of course we’ll do it.”