Sheff U 4 Stevenage 1: Blades release the shackles and post warning to promotion rivals

This comprehensive victory was not a statement of intent by his Sheffield United team, he said.

Neither was it a demonstration of a big squad flexing their muscles. Far from it, “we’re down to the bare bones at the moment”, he countered.

If he was trying to temper expectation then it was a valiant effort.

But he is fooling no one.

Because when third-place meets fourth there should not be such an obvious gulf in quality. There should not be such a stark contrast in confidence levels as was evident here.

Wilson did at least confess that his Blades side cut through an unambitious Stevenage with a “swagger”.

How right he was. For this was the Sheffield United side the Bramall Lane faithful have been craving – slick, defiant and ruthless as they emphatically lived up to their billing as League One’s title favourites.

Stevenage were swatted aside in a manner many have been expecting the Blades to exude all season.

United had fought to the cusp of the automatic promotion places through a series of ‘just enough’ performances, with six 1-0 victories suggesting efficiency rather than flamboyance.

Finally, they looked like they were releasing the shackles.

Ryan Flynn was a menace down the left, setting up two goals with his crosses and another by darting in and heading across goal.

Kevin McDonald and Michael Doyle kept Stevenage’s nine-man rearguard guessing with their intelligent passing, and top scorer Nick Blackman showed his versatility with a selfless shift on the right-hand side of midfield.

Up front, the odd couple of the rangy Chris Porter and the diminutive Shaun Miller plundered three goals and dovetailed neatly.

Miller took the man-of-the-match champagne for his two goals on 55 and 70 minutes that transformed a game in the balance into a stroll in the park.

His strikes were typical poacher material, bundling home the first from Flynn’s knock back of Blackman’s cross; the second, a stab home at the second attempt from Porter’s knock down.

On his first league start since joining in the summer from Crewe, it was a timely reminder of the 25-year-old’s talents.

“It’s great to get a couple of goals, especially in front of the fans,” said Miller, who could have found the net in the first half when he cleverly fashioned a shooting chance that was beaten out by Steve Arnold.

“They were scrappy but I’ll take them how ever they come along.

“Me and Ports have got a good understanding.

“When you get the chance to play together you’ve got to thrive on it and show everyone you can do it.”

Porter got his reward by heading in the fourth late on, the goal again coming from the supply line of Flynn, whose crosses were as inviting for the attackers as they were tough to defend for the Stevenage cover.

“We spoke in the week about expressing ourselves and killing teams off,” added Miller.

“So it’s pleasing to finally to stick a few goals away. From the start of the season we’ve been wanting to bang the goals in.

“We’d have taken a 1-0 but a 4-1 makes a statement that we’re going to be up there come the end of the season.”

Miller left to a standing ovation, replaced by John Cofie, as Porter gave way for Cresswell.

As if to pour further cold water on their manager’s assertions about their limited squad strength, Dave Kitson was on the sidelines as he recovers from injury, fresh from extending his stay at Bramall Lane until the summer at least.

“It doesn’t make any sense to leave a club that has a chance of winning something,” said the 32-year-old former Premier League striker, who had been planning to leave in January and pursue a career in North America.

Kitson can extend the contract for a further season if United are, indeed, promoted.

“It’s nice to feel wanted,” he said. “My family and I can revisit the American option at the end of the season.

“If I can win a medal, a promotion, or whatever, it would be a nice way to go out of the game in this country.

“It’s refreshing to be able to play football to win something, which is how it should be played.”

There were signs of the Blades’ absent cutting edge in the first half as they dominated possession but went in level at half-time.

They took the lead from a fine header by defender Neill Collins – his fourth of the season – after Doyle’s whipped-in cross on 19 minutes.

Porter should have done better with a free header but then, on half-time, Filipe Morais’s left-wing corner was headed in powerfully by the incoming Mark Roberts.

It was a well-versed Stevenage routine, one they have called upon time and again in their rise from non-league.

Undeterred, the Blades took 
the game to their opponents in the second half, Miller’s opportunist brace setting them up for their biggest home win of the season.

Central defender Harry Maguire nearly put the seal on the performance and a week in which he earned his England Under-21s debut with a sizzling 30-yard strike that scraped the bar.

Wilson said: “From our point of view, it’s just another game and we’ve got another tough one on Tuesday (against Crewe).

“There’s a lot of football still to be played.

“A lot of people already fancy us so there’s nothing we can do when the bookies make us favourites.

“We’ve got to live up to that tag and I thought we did that.

“The fans have witnessed some good football this year, without the end product, and today they got the end product.”

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