Chris Wilder tells Sheffield United they need to control their emotions better after 1-0 defeat to Millwall

It was a second consecutive defeat for the Blades, who dropped out of the automatic promotion places as a result.

But everyone is dropping points at this stage of the season – Burnley drew 0-0 at Derby County and although Leeds United won at Middlesbrough to go from third to top, that came on the back of consecutive draws.

A very tight Championship title race is becoming as much a mental test as anything, and Wilder warned his players have to be better.

"It's a frustrating night for everybody connected (with the club) on and off the pitch," he admitted.

"A couple of poor goals we've given away in the last two games put us on the back foot and make the game double difficult, especially in this division when you concede the first goal.

"The goal (scored by Josh Coburn) was a poor goal from our point of view, we were in a really good shape, we just have to make better decisions.

"Femi (Seriki) goes backward and square, Sydie (Peck) goes back, the goalkeeper gets trapped, we're open and they find a fabulous finish. It gives them a boost.

"I thought up to half-time we were okay, we had enough of the ball without finding the quality we needed to.

"The attitude of the players was good. I'm not going to criticise them from that point of view.

"Sometimes you want them to be a little bit calmer but they're anxious to get themselves back in the game and they leave themselves open, we make some poor decisions.

"We had 25 shots. We got the ball to where we wanted to get the ball okay but when you're just looking for that bit of quality that I believe we possess, we just never found it.

"They were brave and left two up and countered on us and they had a couple of opportunities.

"It was a difficult night for us, a frustrating night. The longer the game went on, the more we didn't control our emotions well enough, the anxiety sort of crept into the players and decisions they've not really made all season starting creeping into the game.

"If you go deep into a season like we are doing we've got to deal with this a lot better.

"We've got to reset, I've got to pick the right team for Saturday because there's no real margin for error now.

"We've not lost three games on the spin all season, we've lost two twice. We've got to adjust that and get back on track so these last two results don't define our season."

The Blades were unfortunate not to get a first-half penalty when Jake Cooper pulled Anel Ahmedhodzic's shirt in the penalty area. Wilder was convinced it should have been given.

"One hundred per cent," he said. "I'm not a fan of the referee (Sam Allison). I don't think I should get into trouble on that one, if I'm being honest, either.

"I wasn't a fan of him last season when he refereed us against Luton and was asking for Ross Barkley's shirt. I don't know whose shirt he was after – maybe the shirt on Anel's back that got absolutely ripped to pieces.

"I always think he wants to be the star of the show. So I knew what was coming and I wasn't surprised."

The win has put Millwall firmly in the hunt for the play-offs ahead of Saturday's visit from Middlesbrough.

Manager Alex Neil called it: "a really good result for us. We knew coming here was going to be a tough game.

"We knew we had to get the balance right between carrying a threat and defending.

"We knew there was going to be a little bit of an onslaught at the start of the second half and we carried a real threat. Their chances were mainly through bodies.

"Sheffield United are one of the lowest teams for crossing and we're one of the best at defending them so our strategy was to keep narrow but you need quality and I thought our strikers were excellent."