Nigel Adkins urges Sheffield United to stay positive

Billy Sharp and his Sheffield United team-mates celebrate the third goal against Oldham.

The Blades trail the play-off places by six points ahead of Saturday’s trip to Millwall.

After a run of just two wins from nine, last week’s 3-0 victory over Oldham has boosted confidence as United head into the final 10 games of the season.

“There’s a unity and a spirit about the players and we kept a good clean sheet,” Adkins said.

“If everyone can just be positive, keep working hard and keep believing, then we have an opportunity.

“Everybody knows I want us to play quick football, attack-minded football and pass the ball crisply.

“But also to control and press people down. Have that high line at the back. But it takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight.”

Playing with three centre-backs, United put on one of their best displays of the season against Oldham.

But Adkins insists the difference between the Oldham match and recent games, was United converted their chances thanks to goals from John Brayford, Ryan Flynn and Billy Sharp.

He said: “We started brightly. In the last couple of games we’ve done alright but we’ve not converted our chances.

“I thought we were exhilarating at times, everyone was pressing in the right areas.

“Matty (Done) and John (Brayford), the two wing-backs, have got a licence to get forward and I thought they did ever so well. The fact of the matter is, we put the ball in the back of the net early on.”

And Adkins praised the contribution of midfielder Dean Hammond, who played against Oldham despite carrying a sickness bug.

His anchor role in midfield is key, when using wing-backs, and it will be interesting to see if he retains the system for Saturday’s trip to Millwall.

“If you talk about doing the basics well, how well did Dean Hammond do them?” asked Adkins.

“He does all the horrible things people don’t want to see. He does all the donkey work but he also sprays some good passes around the pitch.

“Dean gave Ben (Whitehead) and Ryan (Flynn) the opportunity to get forward and support the wing backs.

“We want Billy (Sharp) and Che (Adams) to have a good partnership, not to be too far apart. The system allows that to happen.

“We didn’t realise Dean was sick all the way through the first half. He saw the medic at half-time but he carried on and that tells you a lot about him.”