Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder believes his players issued an “up yours” response to any doubters after the Blades leapfrogged Leeds United into second spot.
United’s 2-0 win over ten-man Nottingham Forest moved them into the automatic promotion places earlier in the day before the Whites lost 2-1 at home to Wigan Athletic.
After dropping two points themselves last weekend, Wilder has maintained that there would be more twists and turns and how he was proved correct.
Mark Duffy’s opener at Bramall Lane got them back to winning ways before Enda Stevens made sure of the points.
Understandably, the United chief was delighted with his sides’ performance, labelling the win as an “up yours” performance.
Speaking after the Bramall Lane victory, he said: “To get a result like this is satisfying.”
“It was good to get back to winning ways. It was devastating last week (after being pegged back by Millwall in stoppage time) but the players have been fired up this week. There has been a quiet steel and a little bit of ‘up yours’ this week. That was there in the dressing room.”
Just six goals separate the two Yorkshire rivals, with three matches left to play. Both teams know they cannot afford to let up, whilst each strike could be pivotal in deciding their destiny.
United take a trip to another Yorkshire side, Hull City, on Monday, once again playing before Marcelo Bielsa’s side, who kick-off at 5:30pm against Brentford.
It’s the third time in as many weeks that Leeds have played second fiddle to their promotion rival and it won’t be the last, either.
After surrendering their record of winning every match after going ahead, the Whites will have to dig deep once again if they’re to end a 15-year wait for Premier League football.
