Millwall v Sheffield United: Blades keen to keep momentum going in Championship promotion fight

The Blades showed the belief of a team on a roll when they conceded a penalty – saved by Wes Foderingham – and had Charlie Goode sent off with the score 0-0 against play-off chasing Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday, but found a way to win 1-0.

The plan is to keep the momentum going at Millwall today.

“The effort, the endeavour and the togetherness got us through,” said assistant manager McCall.

“To finish the way they did, you can imagine the buzz in the dressing room.

“It grows with momentum, confidence. There’s a focus and we’ve just got to keep rattling on about it.

“In training, you’ve got to be the best you can be. The tempo of training on Thursday in blizzards, sun, then rain... the lads who trained were exceptional.

“The relationship between the supporters and the players had probably deteriorated over time and the only thing that changes that is results.

“Any supporter, certainly a Sheffield United supporter, if they see a team giving everything they’ve got from the first thing to the last, appreciates it.

“The key was we had quality here. We were always going to cause teams problems in possession with our quality but now we cause them problems out of possession because we’re not an easy team to play against. When you can marry them two together it can take you a long way but we’re not getting carried away, we’ve got to keep doing the basics and playing the good football with the good players we’ve got.”

That belief is being tested by injuries, with Chris Basham’s compounding Goode’s three-match suspension on top of recent season-ending injuries to Rhian Brewster, Jayden Bogle and David McGoldrick. But McCall has seen his players come through adversity already.

“It was difficult over Christmas where we got the momentum winning down at Fulham and then the period where we had four games cancelled (because of Covid-19) was tough,” he said. “It did stop the momentum and we went to Wolves, a top side, in the FA Cup, then lost at Derby.

“They were a couple of results where if the mentality’s not right from the staff and the players the season can drift but we kept driving on. Then confidence grows. Our confidence is in a good place and we’ve got to keep it there.”