Chris Wilder praises Sheffield United's 'bravery' as they enjoy winning Bramall Lane feeling again

Since beating Brentford in early December, their only home win had been over Wrexham with a much-changed League Cup team.

But they ended Watford's 100 per cent start to the season with a hard-fought but ultimately deserved 1-0 win clinched with a second-minute own goal.

Manager Wilder said the experience was everything he had promised Jesurun Rak-Sakyi when he tried to sign the Crystal Palace winger on loan.

“In our pitch I said how important Bramall Lane was, there were two £15m bids for him and three-quarters of the Championship sides in for him,” he said.

“Part of the pitch was him feeling what he felt today. For him, for (Jamie) Shackleton, for (Michael) Cooper it was big and hopefully they've enjoyed their first win in a red-and-white shirt.”

If it was important for the players, it was for the fans too.

“Incredibly important,” acknowledged Wilder. “Sky are talking about us not winning for however long and you have to accept that is a fact but this is a brand new team playing in a different way with new players.

“The disappointing thing is we didn't nail it down (against QPR) but the good thing is that it's a group who want to learn and listen and want to be coached.

“They're a proper team. It was a proper team performance right the way through.”

Although his team hit a post Watford's Bradford-born manager Tom Cleverley accepted the right team won a tense game.

“If you summarise the result I think it was a fair one,” he admitted. “It was a poor start to the game and then both teams had their share of good chances.

“They kept possession well and knocked us out of rhythm.”