Chris Wilder disappointed as Sheffield United match postponed

The Blades were due to play Walsall at Bramall Lane on October 8, but the game has been put back due to the Saddlers having three players away on international duty.

Maz Kouhyar, Andrea Makris and Liam Kinsella are away with Afghanistan, Cyprus and Republic of Ireland Under-21s.

It means the Blades will not have a league match for a fortnight, between Saturday’s trip to Fleetwood Town and the arrival of Port Vale at Bramall Lane on October 15. They do play Walsall next Tuesday evening in the Football League Trophy.

The Blades are currently on a six-match unbeaten run in League One and manager Wilder was keen to play Walsall and keep in touch with the league’s leading pack.

“We are disappointed with the Walsall game being off, we can’t do anything about it,” said Wilder.

“We don’t want to miss any games, we don’t want to be playing catch-up.

“When games get postponed, there are always pluses and minuses. As a whole, because we have momentum, we wanted that game to go ahead.

“We lose a game, but we will be looking to re-arrange that pretty quickly and get us back on track.”

The Blades travel to Fleetwood on Saturday, sitting in sixth spot, four points off leaders Scunthorpe United.

Chris Basham is suspended, Leon Clarke (foot) is out for a month, but Jake Wright and James Wilson are in contention after missing the midweek win over Bristol Rovers.

Stefan Scougall (illness) was substituted on Tuesday night, but is back in training.

“Jake Wright and James Wilson missed out the other night, but were pretty close, Wright especially,” said Wilder. “They will be available for the weekend.

“Apart from that, Basham misses out through suspension, Leon misses out because he is one week into his four-week recovery.

“Scougall is alright, he just didn’t feel right at half-time. One of his attributes is his energy, and when you take that away from him… he wanted to run, but just couldn’t. He was struggling.”