Sheffield United 0 Wigan Athletic 2: Milestone for George Long fails to bring reward for Blades

The Blades goalkeeper, who chalked up his 100th senior start for them on Saturday, was helpless to prevent Will Grigg’s penalty and Conor McAlney’s goal earning Wigan victory to leave them third in League One.

Defeat left United five points adrift of the play-offs – and 18 points behind leaders Burton Albion – to leave manager Nigel Adkins admitting automatic promotion is probably beyond his side.

Adkins predicts United will need 11 or 12 wins from their remaining 17 games just to gatecrash the end-of-season play-offs.

But for 22-year-old Long, who saved Grigg’s second penalty of the afternoon, he has confidence in the Blades squad to revive their ailing campaign.

“We were chasing the promotion spots going into the game and now we’ve given ourselves a hill to climb,” said Long.

“We knew it would be a tough game but the result, obviously, wasn’t what we wanted.

“The penalty set us back. I thought we were comfortable up until that point.

“I didn’t really have a shot to save during the first-half but that put us on the back foot which was disappointing.

“It’s made out job that bit more difficult.

“We know we’ve got to go on a good run now but, with the quality that’s here, I think we’ll do it.

“We’re more than capable, we’ve just got to be more consistent and stop giving ourselves problems.

“It’s not quite panic stations yet in there. There are plenty of games left and points to play for.

“What we’ve got to do now is work in training and then bounce back with a positive result.

“We were solid defensively to begin with and that’s the base you start from – limiting the opposition and keeping clean sheets.

“We can score as we’ve shown all season so, if we can put the two together, then we’ll win more than we lose.”

Long is the latest Academy product to reach the 100 appearance mark for his home-town club, following in the footsteps of Phil Jagielka, Michael Tonge, Nick Montgomery and Harry Maguire.

Having watched the Blades as a youngster growing up at Bramall Lane, the goalkeeper was a proud man on Saturday.

“It’s a great milestone for myself and something I’m really proud of,” he said.

“I grew-up as a lad with a season ticket, watching from the stands and, back then, even playing just one first team game for Sheffield United would have made me so proud.

“So to get 100 is something I’m really proud of.”

The opening 45 minutes wereunremarkable. Billy Sharp and Jose Baxter went close with long-range efforts, but neither goalkeeper was severely tested.

Adkins brought on Che Adams at half-time, and Sharp was thwarted at close-range by goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

But two goals in three minutes settled the contest. First, Chris Basham lunged in on Yanic Wildschut to concede a 52nd-minute penalty, which Grigg netted.

Three minutes later, some brisk passing picked out McAlney – on his debut after a loan move from Everton – and he drilled the ball beyond Long.

It could have been worse for United, Long denying Grigg’s second penalty after Paul Coutts tripped Chris McCann.

“The penalty save was a bit of an irrelevance because we didn’t win but that’s my job, keeping the ball out,” said Long.

“I saved one against him (Grigg) when he was at Brentford so I know what his run-up is like. For the second one, it was pretty slow and so I was able to read what he was doing.”

The Blades have not won at Bramall Lane in 2016, and Adkins is honest about their promotion chances.

With 17 games remaining, United face back-to-back trips to Doncaster Rovers and Bury next.

“Being realistic, the gap is growing too much to the front two,” he said.

“The ambition with 17 games to go is to get into the play-offs and to do that if you add it up then we probably need to win 11 or 12 of them.

“There’s still scope for us to do that, but we need to get on a run.

“Having seen the way Wigan play, we had to change our shape a little bit to try and find that elusive goal. Unfortunately, we gifted Wigan the first goal which gave them the impetus.

“It was endeavour from our player to get back, it was a sliding challenge. It was desire to make a challenge but he didn’t need to do it. It was a poor decision as we had other players in there.”

Disgruntled Blades supporters in the 20,304 crowd showed patience during the 90 minutes, answering Adkins’s call to get behind the team.

“I want to thank the supporters, because I asked them to stick behind the players throughout the game and they have done,” he said.

“Like myself, everyone was frustrated at the end of the game, and that’s the time when you can vent your frustrations. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Sheffield United: Long, Brayford, Edgar, Collins, McEveley, Coutts, Hammond, Basham (Done 70), Baxter (Campbell-Ryce 77), Sammon (Adams 45), Sharp. Unused substitutes: Howard, Flynn, Woolford, Reed.

Wigan Athletic: Jaaskelainen, Daniels, Morgan, Pearce, McCann, Power, Perkins, Morsy, Wildschut, Grigg (Davies 77), McAlney (Wabara 71). Unused substitutes: Kellett, Nicholls, Chow, Colclough, Vuckic.

Referee: S Martin (Staffs).