Safety first for Sheffield United as Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United crash

A 49th-minute goal from Chris Basham saw third-placed United register their sixth win in their past eight league outings – on what proved to be a decidedly mixed footballing weekend for the Steel City.

The Blades’ arch-rivals Sheffield Wednesday went down to a shock 2-1 loss at rock-bottom Bolton Wanderers, with sections of Owls fans calling for the dismissal of under-pressure head coach Carlos Carvalhal.

The Lancastrians secured their first league triumph of the season at the expense of Wednesday, who suffered their third loss in four matches, while it was also a sobering Saturday for Leeds United, who slumped to their third straight reverse in a 1-0 home reverse to Reading.

Leeds still remain in the top six, but have slipped down to the final play-off position, with promotion-favourites Middlesbrough three points behind the sixth-placed Whites after a 2-2 draw at Barnsley.

Mid-table Wednesday are a place and a point behind 11th-placed Boro, with the Blades currently very much leading the way for Yorkshire in the Championship stakes, with their impressive start to the life back in the second-tier having turned into an outstanding one.

The Blades are just two points behind leaders Wolves and level on points with second-placed Cardiff City, although Saturday’s win came at a price with the club awaiting medical reports after Kieron Freeman dislocated his knee – with the wing-back likely to be out for a significant spell.

Wilder said: “Everybody will talk about where we are and teams who are not in the top two will talk about it being a ‘long old season’.

“We are doing ever so well and it is 26 points to fifty and that will keep us in the division and then we will most probably have a few different opinions among staff and players.

“We are really enjoying playing in this league and it is a great one to be involved in. We should never have been out of it; we understand that.

“But we are here on merit and winning games. Anybody who says that they do not want to be in our position is telling some ‘porky-pies’.”

The Owls’ inconsistent season continued with their poor form against sides struggling at the wrong end of the table resurfacing at Bolton, with fresh criticism aimed in the direction of Carvalhal from visiting supporters.

Carvalhal said: “I understand the fans’ frustration and it is our frustration also. Of course they are unhappy and have reasons to be and we are unhappy also.

“After Leeds, everything was almost perfect and good. But when we lose one game, everything is wrong. I believe that we are in the middle; we are not so fantastic when we played against Leeds and not garbage (against Bolton).

“We are still not far away in points from the (top-six) positions. I still believe we can achieve promotion this season. But we must correct things and do better.”

Meanwhile, Leeds head coach Thomas Christiansen has urged his under-pressure players to believe in themselves and take confidence from their position in the table after a morale-sapping 1-0 loss to Reading – on an afternoon when the hosts spurned the chance of a late leveller when Pablo Hernandez missed a penalty.

Christiansen said: “Confidence can put the ball in instead of missing, like the penalty, but we can work on that.

“From my point of view, they are the same players who brought us to the good situation that we were in before these games.

“We are still four points away from (second place). This is also something to have in mind.”

Both Paul Heckingbottom and Garry Monk professed to mixed feelings following a see-saw 2-2 draw at Oakwell, which saw Barnsley pegged back twice and big-spending Boro concede the first goal in a league match for the seventh time this season.

Heckingbottom, who served the first game of a two-match touchline ban and watched on from the stands, said: “The game had spells where it was rather good and others where it frustrated me.

“But when I was sat here after the QPR game when I said we did not play well and drew, I was down and probably too tough on the players. Whereas we did not play anywhere near what we had been, we still managed to take a point from Boro.

“I have to shake my head a little bit and be realistic and think that the players have come a long, long way – which I know – and focus on the bits we did well.”

Boro came from behind twice, but saw their winless streak stretch to four matches, with Monk believing that his side are suffering from a lack of ruthlessness in both boxes.

Monk, who did not include winger Adama Traore in his matchday squad after he was reportedly late for the team bus, commented: “We totally dominated the game after the first 10 or 15 minutes. It was frustrating as we got into some really good positions and created some good opportunities to score the goals and win the game and we were not clinical or ruthless enough.

“That is something we need to get better at in both boxes in not causing our own mistakes.”

Reports: Pages 3-5.