Grayson is still confident Leeds can claim spot in the play-offs

The Elland Road club’s tendency to press the self-destruct button has been a major feature of this season’s Championship.

It was evident again on Saturday when, for the 10th time this term, Leeds dropped points after having taken the lead, Watford hitting back to claim a 2-2 draw.

The result meant Grayson’s men were able to double their advantage over nearest challengers Nottingham Forest to two points with four games to go.

But, with Hull City and Burnley both having won, the over-riding feeling at the final whistle was that the Yorkshire club had wasted a golden opportunity to strengthen their grip on sixth place. Grayson said: “The day just about epitomised our season. We got the goal and, after that, we just had to see the game out.

“At 1-0 when you are playing 4-4-2, you have to make sure you have two banks of four and be hard to beat.

“But, instead, we were open and players switched off. We made two mistakes and, suddenly, everything had changed.”

Hull’s 3-1 derby win over Doncaster Rovers means both Nigel Pearson’s men and Forest are now two points adrift of Leeds.

If Burnley can win their game in hand at home to Middlesbrough tomorrow night, they will also move on to 63 points – two ahead of Millwall and three in front of Leicester City.

With just five points separating six teams, it seems the race for sixth place is likely to go to the last weekend.

Asked by the Yorkshire Post if there was any team among the chasing pack that he feared most, an exasperated Grayson said: “The biggest threat to us is ourselves because we can achieve it and we are in a good position.

“If you want to use a line, we can only throw it away. If we win our games and everyone else does too, we will still be in there.

“We can throw it away but we don’t want to. Everybody else is playing catch-up with nothing to lose but there is so much at stake. We have to keep grinding away.”

United face a testing run-in with in-form Reading the visitors to Elland Road on Good Friday for a fixture that will be shown live by Sky.

A trip to relegation-threatened Crystal Palace follows on Easter Monday before Leeds finish with a home game against Burnley and a final-day visit to runaway leaders Queens Park Rangers.

Grayson, who said Leeds would know more today about the injury that forced Luciano Becchio out of the action against the Hornets, added: “We have worked so hard for 42 games and now have a great opportunity in our grasp. Once you get in the play-offs, anything can happen.

“I shouldn’t have to tell the players what is at stake. They should know what a great opportunity they have.

“We (the coaching staff) can only do so much with them. I can’t go out there (onto the field) and put them into certain positions. They have to take responsibility for their actions.

“I am stuck for words at times. I go in at half-time and after a game, and find myself saying the same things.

“The players have to be man enough at times to accept responsibility.”

As frustrated as Grayson felt after the Watford game, the Leeds chief was quick to stress how confident he remains.

He said: “Ultimately, the positive is we have a two-point gap with four games to go. I still have a huge amount of belief and confidence that we will finish in the play-offs.”

While Leeds are looking to exit the division at the top, Sheffield United are seemingly heading out of it at the bottom end.

Micky Adams has warned the Blades that they will not be able to rely on youngsters to win promotion next season.

The Blades’ demotion to League One has not yet been confirmed but they are eight points adrift of Championship safety with four games to play after losing to Preston North End at the weekend.

Adams turned to youth for the Deepdale encounter and praised the performances of teenage duo Harry Maguire and Jordan Slew and substitute Danny Philliskirk.

However, in a frank assessment of the club’s future, Adams also made it clear that the Blades will need more than bright youngsters to get out of League One.

“It’s dangerous to say that this is a bright new era for Sheffield United because these three lads have performed well,” he said.

“We have reached the FA Youth Cup final – so there is a nucleus of kids there – but it’s a tough old league.

“If people think, if we do get relegated and go down to the First Division, it is going to be a bed of roses and you can get out of it with a group of youngsters, then we might just find ourselves coming unstuck.

“It depends what the agenda of the football club is. That will be defined by what my chairman and owner of the football club wants,” he added.

“But if we develop and nurture those lads, along with a group of more senior professionals, I am sure the future will be bright if we can just harness that enthusiasm.”

The Blades allowed Sunderland defender Nyron Nosworthy and Birmingham City striker Marcus Bent to leave the club at the weekend despite the pair signing loan deals which do not expire until the end of the season.

Adams said it ‘opened up’ places in the squad for young players and was ‘no slight’ on Nosworthy or Bent.

Next-to-bottom Preston secured a 3-1 victory on Saturday courtesy of two goals from Keith Treacy, who was on loan to the Blades last season, and substitute Nathan Ellington.

Slew marked his debut with a goal for the Blades but winger Bjorn Helge-Riise and striker Darius Henderson both wasted gilt-edged opportunites that could have changed the outcome of the game.

“It sums up our season in many respects,” said Adams. “We have created enough chances in games of football to have won them, drawn them, or got something out of them.

“I don’t think there’s any point me saying we are down, we are relegated because we are not. There is not an R by our name yet (in the table) and we will try and win the last four.

“We owe that to our fans who were terrific. We have to keep going. We are just after performances now, individually and collectively.”

Preston manager Phil Brown still believes that his side can avoid the drop after closing the gap on 21st-placed Crystal Palace to four points.

“My belief has never changed, because of what we’ve got in the dressing room,” he said. “The slice of luck that has been evading us, we now have. Hopefully we can carry that into the last four games and we can win more games.”

Winger Treacy admitted that his goals were ‘bitter-sweet’ because of his previous association with the Blades.

“It was a bitter-sweet moment because I really enjoyed my time in Sheffield and the people around me were brilliant. But Preston is my club now and this move has given me a new lease of life,” he said.

“At the start of the season, Sheffield were looking to push for the play-offs but it’s turned into a relegation battle. I would not have liked to rub anybody’s noses in it.”