Championship play-off analysis: Sheffield United down to basics as they show more than one way to win

Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of opponents who gave them a good run for their money at Bramall Lane in March, the Blades came away from their usual 4-2-3-1 into a 4-4-2 and looked to release attacking players quickly in behind the Robins' back three.

“I don't think it's old school,” argued their manager Chris Wilder. “We knew they were going to come and press us, we knew they would be on top of us. So we went a little bit longer into the front men.

“Kieffer (Moore) was a handful – physical, he linked in and Ty (Campbell) ran down the side.

“We didn't offer an opportunity for them to go and press the life out of us. It's the way we set up to get a result.”

The away fans the stewards struggled to stop bursting onto the pitch after Andre Brooks' and O'Hare's goals were not trying to storm the away dugout to protest against “anti-football”, they were ecstatic that with this season's play-offs less than 90 minutes old, they could already make plans for Wembley.

Because as much as Wilder insists the job is not done yet, and as much as those of us who witnessed two years ago the crazy things that can happen in a play-off semi-final in Sheffield know he is right, the Blades more than broke the back of it.

“I think we just produced our best,” said Jack Robinson, simply.

Those who think football should only be a beautiful game are frankly idiots. Most fans in these parts appreciate a thumping tackle as much as a Cruyff turn.

Good football is about variety, and beyond the guile of Gustavo Hamer, drifting dangerously off the left, and the imagination of O'Hare, you need more rugged qualities too.

The shape of Friday's game changed when Moore got behind Rob Dickie at the end of the first half and the latter was red-carded for hauling him down. It meant over the 90 minutes Sheffield United apparently played fewer accurate long balls than normal according to WhoScored.com.

It is about being effective.

From November until Easter, the Blades were generally most effective without Moore, their totem-pole striker who was struggling with injuries as Campbell was finding his goalscoring flow.

But at Stoke City a couple of weeks earlier, Wilder trialled a 4-4-2 with the pair together and Rhian Brewster on the right. At Ashton Gate he added Hamer on the left.

I asked if Stoke had been a dress rehearsal knowing Bristol City could make the play-offs.

“No, we didn't know what could have happened on the last Saturday, there was nothing in that,” replied Wilder. “The biggest thing was to get back to winning ways at Stoke.”

But it did show this gameplan could work against the right opponents.

Moore won nine of his 13 aerial duels – more than anyone else – including flicking a Robinson long-throw-in to Campbell, who headed in. Sydie Peck may have been a fraction behind the ball, never mind whether he was interfering with play as the officials thought when, after what felt like forever, the linesman's flag went up.

Campbell ought not to have let Max O'Leary save when Brewster slipped him in behind the defence later in the first half.

Instead it was Moore running behind – hardly at lightning speed but too fast for Dickie – who turned the game, or rather Dickie did by wrapping his arms around the striker and pulling him down.

Combine the red card with the penalty Harrison Burrows converted, and the Blades could play the second half very differently. In the first they let possession-hungry Bristol City have 70.1 per cent of the ball with only really Joe Williams' shot against the crossbar to show for it. By full-time, Sheffield United had enjoyed more of the ball.

“We thought the game would come to us if we moved the ball quickly from side to side,” explained Wilder.

“When we tried to do the complicated things we gave the ball back and turned it over and it was easy for them.

“But when we did the simple things and kept it moving and moving them, building momentum and opportunities, we've got good players that can capitalise on that.”

It showed they can play more than one way. Although the second-half deck was loaded, they were ruthless in a way they are not always.

O'Hare's cute step-over allowed Brooks to calmly finish a Burrows cross and his twisting body turned a poor Vinicius Souza shot into an assist for the third goal.

They were two beautiful goals.

Dickie is statistically the Robins' best header of the ball so with the defender suspended, Moore could well be asked to lead the line again on Monday.

This time, the Blades can be more patient, sitting on their 3-0 cushion waiting for the visitors to overstretch, then quickly flooding into the gaps. Perhaps it could be a night for winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, left out of Friday’s squad, perhaps not.

However they go about it, they will not be stuck in their ways, held back by hifalutin ideas about the “proper” way to play. Amen to that.