With a few minutes remaining of the first Sheffield derby in five years, Chris Wilder congratulated and high-fived everyone on the United bench. By that point the job was done, the scoreline at 4-2 and Wednesday’s spirit crushed: this was United’s most comprehensive derby win in 25 years and the first time they have scored four at Hillsborough.
Unsurprisingly Wilder, a Blades fan who watched his first derby from the terraces 37 years ago, described it as the proudest moment of his career.
Before the game Wilder promised to “have a go”, and as it turned out he was not bluffing. United, back in the Championship after six years away, took the lead after only three minutes when David Brooks, a fantastically gifted 20-year-old making just his second league start, backheeled a free-kick to John Fleck who belted a shot low into the net.
Wednesday’s goalkeeper Kieran Westwood did not move, but there would have been no point getting his shorts dirty: it was an unstoppable effort.
In the 15th minute it was 2-0, when a ball over the top found Leon Clarke who casually stroked home with his left foot. Clarke finished the victory off in the closing stages with his second of the afternoon, showing rather more clinical instincts than he did when he was a Wednesday player. He made 87 appearances in three years for the Owls, scoring 18 times: he now has four in four games against them.
What was perhaps most impressive about United’s performance was how they responded when Wednesday wiped out their early lead. Gary Hooper pulled one goal back just before half-time and when Lucas João lashed home an equaliser 20 minutes into the second half, Hillsborough was quite literally shaking with excitement.
“The mood of the place changed in a heartbeat, so we knew we were in for a tough few minutes,” said Wilder.
Mark Duffy, however, put United back ahead, puncturing the home fans’ hubris emphatically. When it was delicately suggested to him after the game that United had shown some testicular fortitude, Wilder cut through the treacle: “Bollocks? Yeah, we did. I think that’s ingrained in our team.”
Yet it was less about old-fashioned bottle, rather more a terrific and bold tactical change: a few minutes earlier Wilder had removed the defender Jake Wright and replaced him with a winger, Duffy, changing their formation in an effort to regain control of the game.
“We were getting pushed back,” said Wilder. “I said we wanted to go for it, and we wanted to take the initiative away from the opposition. Then they’re chasing again. In the end, we were pretty comfortable.”
A word, too, for Brooks. The youngster played with the assurance of a man appearing in his 10th derby, rather than his first, and when in the second half he turned Jack Hunt inside out and gave the defender his ‘Billy Wright trying to tackle Ferenc Puskas’ moment, the fortunes of both sides were summed up.
“Nothing fazes him,” said Wilder. “For him to come into their backyard and put in a performance like that, he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”
As good as United were, Wednesday were frustrating, limp, uncompetitive: everything you do not want in a derby. After the game their manager, Carlos Carvalhal, made plenty of the “emotion” of the day being exacerbated by United’s early goal, which made his team “more nervous” and they thus “made mistakes we wouldn’t usually make”.
That is hardly an excuse for how they collapsed moments after theoretically regaining the initiative when they levelled at 2-2. You can not help but wonder if his pre-match approach of trying to paint this as “just another game” backfired: if he did not prepare his players for the “emotion” of the occasion, then perhaps that is why they did not deal with it well.
These things are always rather ephemeral, but you also have to wonder about how Wednesday play in big games. They barely turned up for the 2016 playoff final against Hull, shuffled out in the semi-finals last season and now this. Carvalhal’s position is surely not under threat, but the boos and frustrated howls from the home fans suggested these failings were familiar.
In the closing stages, the visiting fans sang Happy Birthday to Wilder, who turned 50 on Saturday. It goes without saying that this victory meant more to him than any other. “I don’t think you can put it into words,” he said. “We’ve had it rammed down our throats enough about the last six years. Carlos said he slept all right – I didn’t sleep a wink for the last week. It’s been a long old seven days.
“You have enough lows ... so I’m going to enjoy it.”
Talking points
• Another win for Leeds, and perhaps this was significant. While they did benefit from a stroke of luck when Bartosz Bialkowski dropped a cross over his own goalline, Thomas Christiansen’s side survived a thorough going over from Ipswich to hold on and eventually win 3-2. Still, Mick McCarthy wasn’t too disheartened afterwards. “My aim is always to piss off all those people who write me off,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for 25 years and I hope I can continue to do it this season.”
• Derby’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham was a reasonably drab affair, but did feature a couple of brilliant substitutions. Birmingham took the lead after caretaker manager Lee Carsley brought Lukas Jutkiewicz on and the forward scored 40 seconds later. The Derby striker Sam Winnall was comparatively sluggish in making his own impact, leaving it 55 seconds before equalising after he was introduced. The point is Birmingham’s first since the middle of August, halting a run of five straight league defeats, after Harry Redknapp was dismissed last weekend.
• Grim times at Bolton, bottom of the table and beaten 3-0 by Brentford. Perhaps they were simply trying to spare their fans more misery when the start of the second half was delayed, both sets of players on the pitch, as a kids’ half-time penalty shoot-out was completed.
There's a delay to the start of the second half at Bolton vs Brentford because of a kids' penalty shootout. pic.twitter.com/xv2YIArjzF
— Matthew Stanger (@MatthewStanger) September 23, 2017
• Good news and bad news for Shrewsbury. The bad was conceding a late goal to Blackburn, meaning they had to settle for a 1-1 draw rather than a win. On the other hand, Exeter’s defeat to Coventry means they’re now the only unbeaten team left in the Football League.
• Leapfrogging Exeter at the top of League Two is Notts County. Manager Kevin Nolan signed a three-year contract on Wednesday, and they followed that by thrashing Lincoln 4-1, their fifth win in a row taking them top on goal difference. “The challenge now is to maintain it,” said Nolan, after the game.
