Sheffield United stick to tried and trusted approach as striker faces possible ban over post-match comments

It was predictable because it was so sensible, and the Blades and their manager have not got within sight of the Premier League by getting carried away by the inevitable highs and lows of Championship football.

If the mindset wavers any at Millwall's New Den on Saturday, you can bet he will have something to say about it.

Heckingbottom’s team lost to a very good Middlesbrough on Wednesday. It makes the Championship promotion race a lot more interesting than had they won, but hardly blows it wide open. They are seven points ahead of the Teessiders who have 14 games – one less than United – to make up the gap.

"We don't need reminding," insisted Heckingbottom, who has only once seen his side suffer consecutive defeats this season, in October. "Maybe other people do, but we don't. Nothing's changed.

"We could have been chatting after a 3-1 win but we aren't. We know what we did well and what we did poorly.

"The reaction can make people think differently and I think that's been the case. But it doesn't change our preparation."

The same goes for their history with the Lions, who they knocked out of the FA Cup in January, but who have won four of the previous five league games between the sides in south London. If the Blades' approach is consistent, so is Millwall's.

"That Cup game will have no bearing, in the same way as the other four out of the five," reflected Heckingbottom, who will be in the stands after his red card for dissent on Wednesday. "It's a new game.

"I bet Gary (Rowett, Millwall's manager) and his staff will have watched the last game back and a lot of our games since, trying to prepare for what they think we are going to do.

"We know what we are facing. Almost two-thirds of goals are from set pieces, they will try and get the tempo of the game up and they will try and turn us to get up the pitch.

"It's going to be a tough, tough game. The atmosphere will be better than the FA Cup game. There will be a bigger crowd, a full house, it will certainly feel that way."

Striker Billy Sharp will again be missing with an ankle injury.

"(He'll be back) sooner rather than later but this game will be too soon," explained his manager. "He's got the usual footballer's ankle when it's had a bit of a battering and swelled up in response so it's been about getting that swelling down.

"I have just left him there hopping and jumping about, telling me he's fit. It's settling down well."

Sharp's time on the sidelines could be lengthened, however, after he was charged by the Football Association for his comments about referee Leigh Doughty after Sheffield United's FA Cup win over Wrexham.

Interviewed by ITV immediately after the televised fourth-round replay victory over the Conference side, the club captain’s criticism of Wrexham's approach drew the headlines but more serious was a dig at Doughty which could have further consequences.

“I think they (Wrexham) thought we were going to just roll over when they got back in it and I think the referee was helping them all night as well,” he said at the time.

“I don’t think he gave me one foul all night but it’s one of those things. I probably lost my head a little bit."

Sharp has until Tuesday to respond to charge of "improper conduct in that (his comments) imply bias and/or attack the integrity of the referee".