CLARKE’S ON MARK TO SAVE BLADES
SHEFFIELD United boss Chris Wilder was glad to see something resembling usual service return as his Blades side followed up Tuesday’s nine-goal thriller against Fulham with a draw against struggling Birmingham.
Jeremie Boga’s wonder-goal gave Birmingham a first-half lead before Leon Clarke’s ninth goal in four games earned Sheffield United their first draw since March in a match they dominated.
Wilder said: “The players are consistently producing performances of a high level, all of them, in a tough and competitive league.
“We’ve got no right to be in the position that we are, absolute no right to be in the position, coming into the division.
“But we’re defying the odds, we’re enjoying it, the club’s enjoying being in the Championship, and the supporters are enjoying what the players are producing.
“It was a big afternoonevening for us after Tuesday night, because that was a bit of a jolt for us, but to just get undone by a 25-yarder top corner, I don’t think they’d had anything else that Jam’s (Jamal Blackman) had to save.
“So psychologically, to get over Tuesday night, even though we’ve not got three points, is good, and all the other stuff I expect them to do, they’re doing.”
Sheffield United had by far the better of the first half, with Blades midfielder John Lundstram seeing two decent efforts from the edge of the box stopped.
The Championship’s leading scorer Clarke uncharacteristically missed a great opportunity from 12 yards out in the 24th minute, dragging John Fleck’s low cross wide with an outswinging left-footed strike.
That set the stage for Birmingham to take the lead with their first shot of the game, with Boga latching onto a half-cleared corner and finding the top corner via Jamal Blackman’s glove.
Lukas Jutkiewicz should have teed up Boga to double the lead just before half-time, but took the ball on himself and wasted the shot when he had the opportunity to put Boga clean through on the goalkeeper instead.
United boss Wilder kept the faith until midway through the second half, when he used a double-substitution to switch from 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2, and the change paid off immediately.
Substitute David Brooks was one of the men introduced, and he exchanged passes with strike partner Clarke inside the Birmingham box before the latter buried it past Stockdale.
That meant Birmingham had to settle for just a second point on the road this season, and manager Steve Cotterill admitted the only negative in a very respectable draw was that the Jutkiewicz chance didn’t allow Blues to claim victory.
He said: “It was a tough game and Sheffield United are a very good team.
“They’re on a great run, they have a great spirit about them, and a way of playing that I know myself is difficult to play against.
“It was a good point for us, could have been three though – that’s the only slight disappointment: it could have been three.
“All in all, I suppose if I’m honest and we were offered a point before the game, I would probably have took it, because they’re good.”