Nothing flash from Sheffield United, but it looks like 'the indicator's on' at long last

Three-nil wins three days apart were far from the most gripping, and a lot of that was the Blades' fault. But the efficiency with which they dispatched Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday, killing the contest, raised hopes they maybe, just possibly, could perhaps become the team they ought to have been all season.

For Sydie Peck to score his first Blades goal in his 66th appearance on Wednesday was significant.

For Patrick Bamford to get off the mark on his first start was too. The life of a striker is so much easier if your maiden goal comes quickly, as his club-mate Tom Cannon has unfortunately found out the hard way.

Gustavo Hamer's first league goal of the season was a sign his form may finally come out of hibernation.

Likewise for the team, it was the first time they have kept three consecutive clean sheets all year, and only the second back-to-back wins of the season. They are even out of the Championship relegation zone.

Keep the bunting in the box for now as we have had false dawns before. Many of us thought Chris Wilder's return as manager would kick-start the season. It did not.

October's international break was a chance to get things started. Nope.

Beating Watford and Blackburn Rovers looked like a launchpad. Then they shot themselves in the foot at Preston North End.

"I think everybody's seen the end of the tunnel," declared Wilder.

It was so easy because Terry Devlin was sent off for handballing Japhet Tanganga's goalbound header on the line. But it would not have been had Peck fluffed his penalty.

Everyone in the stadium – well, okay, not most away fans – knew Peck had never scored in senior football.

"I feel like this one's just been hovering for a long while now," admitted the 21-year-old, a confident so-and-so as footballers need to be.

Even so, the fans knew they had a job to do.

"There was a buzz about the ground and the supporters reacted,” said Wilder. “Everybody's delighted."

In fairness to the Blades, they had controlled the previous 41 minutes of the game. It was not their fault the visitors in illuminous Borussia Dortmund-style shirts were as ineffective as the Owls had been.

"Sometimes they become messy games and people try and do things for their own cause," reflected Wilder. "We talked about it at half-time, we're in control of this, we have to make sure when we're attacking we don't get caught on a counter-attack. There's always danger from a set play. We lost three games on the spin because we made really poor decisions and mistakes."

Another goal quickly was important and Bamford delivered from about a yard out – as beautiful to a proper centre-forward as Hamer's 25-yarder would have been to him.

Like Devlin's handball it came from a towering Tanganga header at a corner. Posing a threat from them is something else the Blades have not done this season.

Bamford is already a cult hero with fans who called him something similar sounding but very different.

Peck was symbolic of a start to the season which saw all the remaining key figures of 2024-25 underperform, though he had the most valid excuse, anchoring a three-man midfield alongside two "No 10s" in Callum O'Hare and Hamer who were neither helping him much nor posing enough of an attacking threat.

"I think a few of them needed an arm around the shoulder but a boot up the bum as well," said Wilder.

Hamer was perhaps the worst of the under-performers because his best form is so good. Having made a meaningless stoppage-time return from a month out with a knee injury at Hillsborough, his longer appearance here was the real comeback.

Ten minutes in he shifted the ball out of his feet and reminded us what we have been missing.

If the wins were reassuring, co-chairman Steve Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy words were less so.

The silence from the American-based owners has been deafening so putting their heads above the parapet was progress but their statement said little beyond reaffirming their "commitment" to making the club a Premier League one again, something they have seriously undermined in the short term.

On reports of an enquiry to Sheffield Wednesday's administrators over the sale of that club, nothing.

With dual ownership against English football's rules, with a regulator newly-installed to protect club's heritages, not to mention the prospect of the biggest civil war to hit Sheffield since Olly Cromwell decided England could do without a king, it was the ultimate non-starter, so it would have been reassuring to have laughed it out of town. No matter, Wednesday was when the Blades did their talking on the pitch.

"It's tested me a lot," said Peck of the season so far. "But I feel like as a team, individually, we've come above that challenge and the indicator's on, we're turning."

We have been here often enough to wait to make sure they are not heading down a cul-de-sac but it feels like their season might finally be about to get going.