Chris Wilder on why Sheffield United's losses to Middlesbrough and Leeds United must be put into perspective

The decisive moment of a tight, but absorbing game came ten minutes from time when substitute Emmanuel Latte Lath headed home the only goal of the game from Finn Azaz’s cross, just three minutes after coming on.

It ensured that United suffered back-to-back defeats following on from their 2-0 loss at Leeds United, another side tipped to be firmly in the promotion mix before a ball was kicked alongside Boro.

Wilder said: “I thought it was two really good sides, they just connected better in the final third than we did.

"The detail of the centre-forward who came in, we talked about that. That's his run, he pulls off the centre-half and full-back and there was one quality ball. They had chances, possibly more than we did, but it could have been a result for us. But it wasn't.

"We've come to two of the toughest places to get a result, back to back, and we've not got what we wanted from them.

"I've got to say, though, when people are handing out monthly awards and doing interviews, we're not talking about being the best team in the division.

"Because, as I've talked about, there's still plenty of work to be done. And I'm not being critical, but Boro have been working at it for quite a while to get it to where it is. A lot of hard work has gone into that and it has to go into us too.

"Has it been where we want it to be, up to Leeds? No. We understood that. So we'll keep working at it. They're a really good side and we've lost, in my opinion, a pretty tight game.”

“We've lost two games, two tougher games than they lost, and we've got to go and get that result we all want for our players on Saturday against Stoke.”