DRAW NOT DEFLATING FOR DERRY
SHAUN DERRY took a trip down memory lane on Friday night and the Notts County boss says his return to Sheffield United was made all the sweeter by claiming an ‘unbelievable’ point.
Derry left County for the Blades in a £700,000 deal in 1998, playing more than 80 games for the Yorkshire club.
And on his first return to Bramall Lane as a manager, he saw Mike Edwards score his first goal since rejoining Notts in the summer.
Stephen McLaughlin then missed a golden chance to make it 2-0 from close range, before Jamie Murphy headed home an equaliser 14 minutes from time for Sheffield United.
And despite the late blow, Derry was still encouraged by his side’s showing.
“It’s unbelievable for me,” he said. “This club holds fond memories from throughout my career and I’ll always be indebted to them because they were the ones that gave me the chance at Championship level.
“This is a proper, major football club, not just in League One, but in the Championship, so to come here and keep it at 1-1 is an unbelievable result for us.
“I could be here for hours saying what they’ve got and what we haven’t but what we had was spirit, absolute spirit in abundance.
“I keep on saying the same things about the guys, but they are brilliant to work with.
“They really adapted to the system which we changed after 15 to 20 minutes and we restricted Sheffield United to half chances.We just couldn’t hold on.”
Edwards headed home Gary Jones’ corner at the back post on the halfhour mark for his first goal in over two and a half years, and it looked likely to be the winner.
The Blades were booed off at halftime after creating very little but they stepped up a gear after the break and veteran goalkeeper Roy Carroll saved from Murphy and also denied Chris Basham.
McLaughlin then missed his glorious chance when oneon-one with Mark Howard, and moments later he was made to pay.
Murphy headed in a Robert Harris cross to earn the hosts a point on 76 minutes, and Blades boss Nigel Clough was pleased with the response of his side.
“We showed great character again and great endeavour,” said Clough, whose side remain in the play-off places.
“There can’t be any complaints about that. But our urgency came from going a goal behind and we don’t just want that when we’re chasing a game. We want that right from the start.
“There were times when we got ourselves into such good positions but, for some reason, chose not to cross. It’s not a case of going direct because we always want to try and pass the ball. But we can definitely be more incisive.We want to seize matches by the scruff of the neck rather than claw ourselves back in.”