Oldham 2 Sheffield United 2: Blades’ resilience and spirit rewarded with point

Steven Davies typified those two elements, even though he played only a cameo role at Boundary Park.

The striker could not even get his boot to fit after damaging a foot in midweek, but ignored the pain to force it on and come off the bench in a brave bid to try to grab an ulikely winner.

It failed to materialise and captain Michael Doyle confessed they were somewhat greedy in believing they could take three points after trailing 2-0 at the interval to two goals from former Blades loanee Dominic Peleon.

Not only had the Blades to fight back from that two-goal deficit, but a string of injuries, including a freak one for Jay McEveley, which leave them bruised but unbowed for tomorrow’s trip to relegated Yeovil.

Manager Nigel Clough, delighted with the point which leaves them in fifth, eight points clear of seventh-placed Rochdale, explained: “Jay McEveley woke up and had dislocated his shoulder in the night sleeping. You wouldn’t believe it, but he actually woke up and could not move it and had to go to hospital to have it put back in which is why he’s got it in a sling.

“Otherwise, he would have been in the 18 and in with a chance of starting.”

Of Davies being on the bench with strike partner Matty Done (groin), Clough continued: “Steven had a foot injury from the other night. He’s got a whack on the inside of his foot and he has a screw in there as well from a previous injury so it’s pressing on the boot when he does put it on.

“When he tried on Friday, he literally couldn’t do it. He just had a little jog with his trainers on in the (pre-match) warm-up and then he put it on with 20 minutes to go when we said ‘come on, we need you’ and he went on.

“If we had been in a better position, say certain of the play-offs, he wouldn’t have been here but we needed him for the last 
15-20 minutes. He won a couple of headers and is as likely as anyone to get you a winner, which was what we were trying to do.”

Clough went with Marc McNulty as the one frontman and was happy with a formation which he saw no reason to change even when they went 2-0 behind.

“Both their goals came from our mistakes.

“Mark Howard has not had too much to do, but he should have had the second one but got caught by surprise.

“From that distance, we would expect a goalkeeper as good as Mark to save that.”

That was Poleon’s 35-yard stunner, which followed his 23rd-minute first when he robbed Terry Kennedy, sped down the right channel and knocked the ball beyond Howard into the far corner.

Clough reflected: “We went to Barnsley and Kennedy and Brayford did not give them a sniff yet (at Oldham) a young player in Terry Kennedy decided to try to bring one down and got caught – whether he thinks he’s turned into Bobby Moore overnight I don’t know.”

The deficit prompted Clough to introduce Stefan Scougall and Paul Coutts at the break and they added fresh impetus alongside captain Doyle, sitting in the centre of the five-man midfield.

After Poleon had spurned a hat-trick chance early in the second half, screwing his shot wide, Coutts went down the right and crossed for Jason Holt to tap home.

Jamie Murphy levelled in the 76th minute after the Blades had been awarded a corner which should have been a dead ball. John Brayford headed the flag kick back across goal and, after another skirmish, the ball dropped for Murphy to force home in the crowded goalmouth.

Belief restored, Doyle went marauding forward and forced Joel Coleman to tip over one drive before before sending a rasping shot crashing back off a post.

Of his captain’s performance, Doyle said: “It went all right for me apart from not getting a goal. To be 2-0 down at half-time was disappointing. It was important we showed a response and we did show a lot of character and we got a bit greedy in wanting to win the game but we would have taken a point at half-time.”

The Blades’ resilience has returned, says Doyle, adding: “We dug deep like we did earlier in the season and that character is coming again at the right time. We don’t know when we are beat.

“Half-time wasn’t pleasant but you have to expect that when you concede the type of goals we did.

“To give a response is the pleasing thing in front of a great following. We could have won it in the end but the ‘keeper pulled off a great save and then the post saved them. We are all men, professionals and have a lot of experience in the dressing room and we are not going to beat around the bush.

“There’s no point doing that with what we are trying to achieve. There is no point in patting people on the back and telling them they’re brilliant when they’re not. You expect to get told what to do and, fortunately for us, we went and gave a response in the second half which was brilliant.

“Of course it’s good that we can be like that. It’s all about being honest. We have a good group of players who are all together trying to achieve the same thing, getting promoted.

“That’s probably what’s going to come through in the play-offs, the team with the most grit and determination. At some stage, you are going to have to show that.

“We are due a bit of luck and have got good experienced players and are on the right track to get promoted.”