Big-match verdict: Billy Sharp and the Blades are back

It is a statement backed by the Blades’ captain, who says a 20-goal target should not be out of the question now that the club are back in the Championship.

Though his goal ratio for Leeds was poor before rejoining the Blades, the 31-year-old Sharp pointed to his 19 goals during a season with Doncaster and Southampton in 2012-13.

“I try and score 20 goals every season and if I don’t get to 20 I will be disappointed,” said Sharp, in his third spell with his home-town club.

“I have done it before in the Championship and believe if I play 40-plus games and stay fit I will score 20 goals. To do that will help this club massively.”

His fellow lifelong Blades fan, and manager, enthused: “Billy’s goal record speaks for itself. I don’t see why he can’t improve. He gets smarter with his play, looks after himself. He will get better with age.

“You look around at some of the lads who have played in the Championship, such as (Kevin)Nugent, who has had a fantastic career, and other finishers who seem to blossom and grow later in their careers and, hopefully, Billy can do that.”

Sharp, who led the Blades surge from a six-year wilderness in League One to the title with 30 goals last term, was also the match-winner in the opener against the talented and free-flowing Bees, converting one of the three chances which came his way.

It arrived six minutes before the break when strike partner Leon Clarke fluffed an attempted shot from a deep corner, but had the nous to chip the ball back across for Sharp to head home.

Though the visitors had looked the more threatening before then – Jamal Blackman marking his debut by tipping over a drive from Lasse Vibe – the Blades had already struck a post through impressive debutant wing-back Enda Stevens, who saw his shot cannon back into the arms of Daniel Bentley.

The front two combined again after the break, but Sharp’s header from Clarke’s cross was weak and both had ‘goals’ flagged offside. John Fleck also struck a post following a short free-kick.

It was left to Blackman, generally well protected by the Blades’ back three, to ensure maximum points, beating away a swerving drive from Jota into the path of Nico Yennaris, who saw his header strike the bar before Vibe, perhaps unsettled by the large frame of the goalkeeper rushing back, somehow headed over the rebound.

Blackman then smothered, at the second attempt, a shot from substitute Neal Murphy, sent clear by Ryan Woods as the Bees broke from a corner, and though the Blades perhaps sat back a shade too much in the closing stages, they held out, bayed on by most of the 26,746 crowd who have rarely sung the Greasy Chip Butty song with as much gusto.

Delighted Sharp, who averages more than a goal every two games since rejoining two years ago, said: “It is a relief to get off the mark personally and also to get our first win back in the Championship against a very tough team who will cause a lot of teams problems.

“We identified their threats in midweek and worked on them and coped well. They had spells in the game, but that is going to happen because we are in a better league now and are going to have to find ways of keeping the ball out of the net, which we have done.

“I feel strong and fit and, touch wood, I hope that continues this season. The way the gaffer’s pre-season went means we worked hard and we feel fit and we have to be for the way the gaffer wants us to play.

“You could feel the tension in the fans, but we were confident and positive against a side who have done well for the last three years in the Championship. I feel we deserved the win.

“In pre-season the main thing is to make sure you get your fitness and no injuries, but we won all six games and it would have been disappointing if we had not won as this continues the momentum from last season and takes us forward and gives us a good platform to build from.

“You have to try and win your home games and get what you can away. We know our strengths and have to believe we can win games.

“Last season we dominated most teams when they came here, but we are not stupid and know the league is a lot better than League One and so it depends on how we concentrate when we haven’t got the ball.”

Of his partnership with Clarke, Sharp continued: “We know it will be harder, but we were becoming a good partnership at the back end of last season. Hopefully we can both stay fit and the lads behind us can push us because we have got five or six good strikers at the club who can all score goals when they are playing and we are going to need that.”

Wilder will rest several key players in the midweek League Cup tie with Walsall as he looks to strengthen, believing his squad is “one or two players light”.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable, electric and the players thrived off that. We proved a few people wrong,” he said.

Sheffield United: Blackman, Stearman, Basham, O’Connell; Freeman, Coutts, Carruthers ((Lundstram 70), Fleck, Stevens; Clarke, Sharp (Lavery 78). Unused substitutes: Wright, Duffy, Lafferty, Eastwood, Brooks.

Brentford: Bentley, Dalsgaard, Egan, Bjelland, Henry; McEachran (Maupay 78), Woods, Mokotjo (Yennaris 59); Jota, Vibe, Jozefzoon (Watkins 59). Unused substitutes: Colin, Sawyers, Daniels, Barbett.

Referee: S Martin (Staffs).