SHARP BILLY
Blades wreck Heckingbottom’s big day
BILLY SHARP has a distinct sense of timing when it comes to facing his former club, Leeds United, and it ensured he stole the limelight from another son of South Yorkshire.
This was meant to be Paul Heckingbottom’s big day, as Leeds’ 10th manager in five years began his tenure a dozen miles down the road from Barnsley, where he cut his coaching teeth.
But you can set your watch by Sharp when he lines up against a team he served during the 2014-15 season as, just as in the corresponding fixture at Elland Road earlier this season. He found the net in the second minute, then drilled in the late penalty to restore the Blades’ lead after a half-time pep talk by Heckingbottom ( r i ght) had reaped immediate reward for Leeds through Pierre- Michel Lasogga’s header.
Sharp’s stunning volley after just 70 seconds was the 32- year- old’s 200th league goal, a landmark that he had been striving for since mid-November.
Manager Chris Wilder recalled Sharp along with playmaker Mark Duffy for this game, following back-to-back defeats that resulted in early-season momentum being lost. Sharp soon regained that momentum, reacting to a deflection on his teammate’s cross to arrow a 15- yard volley beyond the grope of Felix Wiedwald in the Leeds goal. His three- month Championship drought should have been followed by a second inside 10 minutes but he guided a free header from a Lee Evans free-kick over the bar from just four yards before teasing another cross-shot wide that strike partner Leon Clarke might have profited from. It was a feisty first half in which Leeds lost Kemar Roofe to a sus- pected concussion — he also lost a tooth for his trouble. They looked like getting back in the game when substitute Pablo Hernandez plonked a cross on German striker Lasogga’s head two minutes after the restart.
It was the sort of response the new manager wanted. ‘The Leeds fans clapped us off and they will do when they see a team put in effort and energy,’ Heckingbottom said. ‘But that is the bare minimum that is required and now we need to work on the other stuff to make us better.’
Leeds’ hopes of winning a point vanished when John Fleck’s surge into the area from a quick free-kick drew new captain Eunan O’Kane into a challenge and referee Andrew Madley awarded the penalty.
Up stepped Sharp to dispatch his seventh goal in six starts against his former employers to keep one of Yorkshire’s clubs on the coat-tails of the play-off places.
‘ The captain has shown his true worth when he’s not been in the team. His attitude has been outstanding when he’s not been playing and for that alone he deserved his goals today,’ said Wilder.