Chris Wilder praises Sheffield United spirit and explains decision to substitute Callum O'Hare against Hull City
Chris Wilder was delighted with the never-say-die spirit shown by his Sheffield United players to claim their first victory in seven games.
With 75 minutes gone, the Blades had been trailing Hull City for 70 minutes, but a John Lundstram red card turned the contest their way.
The hosts equalised through a Gustavo Hamer penalty after 85 minutes and Blades manager Wilder immediately brought Danny Ings off the bench. He scored the 88th-minute winner.
Hull needed the points to close out their push for the Championship play-offs, whereas the Blades know that come what may they will be playing second-tier football next season so it was a good character reference that they dug deep to win 2-1.
"It's never been a white flag feeling," said Wilder.
"These are times like the last 15 minutes of the first half against Bristol City where I just felt a little bit sorry for ourselves a little bit, but there weren't people pulling out of tackles or not wanting to win.
"It's been a tough little period because we've come out of the QPR game, we got done late on against West Brom, we had a difficult week there and the Wrexham game where we played particularly well and don't come away with anything and it's not winning six games.
"It's an expectant football club, expectancy now is bigger than it's been.
"I like that in a way and we have to deal with that and we've not got the points that we should have done, not just over the last six games but over quite a big period.
"We got off to the worst possible start and they're a team that like to counter(-attack), they're a team that like to suck you in and hit you and they've got players at the top of the pitch, Oli and (Liam) Millar and the right winger (Mo Belloumi) is a really good player and Crooksy (Matt Crooks), I know.
"They've not really had to work hard for their opportunities, we've offered them – misplaced passes and whatever."
Until Lundstram received his second yellow card – the first for a tangle with Mark McGuinness, the second for a foul on Andre Brooks – the Blades applied a huge amount of pressure without finding the net, but also conceded plenty of chances with sloppiness.
"It could have been four or five each at half-time," admitted Wilder. "Let's not beat about the bush, we had some really good opportunities as well. We had to tighten up at half-time, which we did, and drive the game forward second half.
"I know people will be talking about the sending off and the penalty.
"Their boys were stood outside their changing room at the end, looking at it on their laptop, and I just mentioned that I had two-and-a-half hours of (footage).
"But from my point of view, we kept going. We kept knocking on the door, we were better.
"Brooksy (Andre Brooks) was better second half."
Wilder's decision to substitute Callum O'Hare in the second half was booed, so he was at pains to point out why he did it.
"We wanted double width off the sides and I can't really take my best player off, so we played him in his, in a position where a lot of people want him to play 10," he said.
"But the subs were good in terms of the impact that they had on the game. And we found ourselves a winner.”