Chris Wilder watches Sheffield United win 1-0 and says, 'We were better than that'
Chris Wilder watched his Sheffield United side win another game 1-0, but felt it was more than a 1-0 performance from his side.
The Blades dominated every metric but had only Tyrese Campbell's eighth goal of the season to show for it.
Opponents Preston North End hit a post through Leeds United loanee Sam Greenwood but the only saves Michael Cooper had to make were two straight-forward shots late on.
Wilder was delighted with how his side played to draw level on points with Leeds at the top of the table. The Whites have the chance to respond at Portsmouth on Sunday.
"I thought the performance was good," said Wilder. "I didn't think the performance really matched the scoreline.
"They were difficult opponents to play against with first and second balls, very direct. Late on they chucked a lot of Hail Marys at us and we had to see it out.
"I was delighted with the start we made. I thought we really should have been pretty comfortably ahead at half-time with the amount of play we had – Gus (Hamer) had about 15 shots – and the way we moved the ball. We caused them all sorts of problems.
"We talked about it at half-time, we just had to keep doing it.
"Maybe there was more anxiety in the stadium than there was with the manager and the coaches because we weren't winning the game and we're expected to. But we had to talk about keep doing the right things, which we did, and make the game come to you instead of you chasing the game.
"We found the moment and it was a brilliant cross by Harrison and a great bit of movement by Tyrese.
"Apart from Femi (Seriki), where he switched off at the back stick, and they came inside and clipped the outside of the post, I don't think Coops has really had anything to do.
"It was another win, which gives us the most wins in the division. We're not sat on 76 points, we're sat on 78 points. That's all we can do.
"I'm delighted that after the disappointment of the last time we played at home (against Leeds) where we were excellent but didn't get the result we were all after, it's been two wins at difficult places.
"Today we were against stubborn opposition who tried to kill the game – we get it – and you saw things happening I'm not going to talk about.
"We had to overcome that and we did, losing arguably our best player at half-time as well but I thought Hamza (Choudhury)'s performance in the second half was outstanding and showed everybody why we brought him to the football club."
Vinicius Souza and Hamer both went off injured, but both are expected to be fit for Tuesday's game at home to Bristol City.
"I'm absolutely certain he'll be okay for Tuesday," said Wilder. "Same with Gus.
"We're managing minutes with Tyrese, Femi and Gustavo. I have no issue putting Jez (Rak-Sakyi) on.
"Tom Cannon rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago and I thought his contribution was good, Callum (O'Hare) was good, there were some really positive performances.
"When Anel (Ahemdhodzic) and Robbo (Jack Robinson) had to deal with that direct play, they dealt with.
"Whatever teams need to do to stick it on us, they'll stick it on us. They did and we found an answer.
"First half I was looking to my right, not so much second half but they're chasing the game, they've got nothing to lose.
"It will look pretty nervy and a pretty tight game, I never really felt that."
Former Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom was impressed with his old team.
"They forced us to defend and we didn't do it well enough," he said.
"What Sheffield United did well was they let Gus Hamer cheat. and stay out and he broke on us three times so we had to change quickly and that was the problem.
"In January they added and the squad is really really strong. The options for the starting XI, the options from the bench, and they're in a strong position. So it's looking good for them."