Sheffield United 1 Fleetwood 2: Blunted Blades left looking over their shoulders

On the same weekend 12 months ago, ecstatic Sheffield United players adorned “We’re All Going to Wembley” T-shirts in the spring sunshine at the final whistle after a sweet 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final victory over Charlton Athletic in front of a crowd of 30,000 mostly delirious fans.

As the class of 2014-15 trudged off the Bramall Lane pitch at the end of Saturday’s encounter, they were greeted not with the delicious strains of Que Sera, Sera and considerable fanfare, but with some fairly audible boos after Nigel Clough’s side suffered back-to-back home league defeats for the first time in his tenure.

This setback does not inflict irrecoverable damage to their own hopes of Wembley a year on, via the League One play-offs, but one thing is for sure – the Blades will need to play better than this, much better, if they are to end their four-season stint in League One.

This time last year, Clough’s men had wind in their sails on two fronts, even flirting with the top six after a horrendous first half of the campaign when demotion to the Football League’s basement looked a possibility.

That momentum charge all seems a fair while ago today.

Jose Mourinho last week said that two years without a trophy feels like 25. For Unitedities, their time in the third tier has probably felt like around half-a-century. But that is the reality.

Supporters of Fleetwood may have pinched themselves at the prospect of visiting Bramall Lane for a league game just a few years ago, but they have earned their place to dine at the same table.

On Saturday, in a game watched by the largest league crowd for a Fleetwood fixture, the Lancastrians out-thought their hosts, possessed the polish on show and thoroughly deserved victory on their first visit to S2, with all the questions belonging to the Blades.

With their hopes of a top-two finish sailing into the distance further, the Blades, in fifth, are probably rather more inclined to look over their shoulders.

The sides just outside the play-off positions, resurgent Barnsley and Peterborough United, trail them by just three points – although the Blades do have a game in hand.

Saturday was the Blades’ 49th game of a hectic season and some players looked like they were running not on petrol, but fumes.

Thankfully, Clough’s troops do not have a midweek game and in that respect, he will be grateful for small mercies.

It was a pretty dismal afternoon all round, compounded by a first-half booking for Chris Basham which has incurred a two-match ban for the Geordie, one of the Blades’ more influential players.

Basham’s 35th-minute foul presented Fleetwood with the free-kick from which they grabbed their second goal, with the impressive Nick Haughton following up his effort which was blocked by the defensive wall to catch Iain Turner napping badly at his near post.

It was that sort of afternoon for the home team, who had gone behind to a fine 25th-minute strike from Josh Morris, who fired home a sweet 20-yarder after being set up nicely by Jamie Proctor.

Pulling no punches, Basham said: “We’re disappointed, angry and frustrated. All of those.

“The most important thing for me, with four defenders and a goalkeeper, is to keep a clean sheet.

“We didn’t do that, let two in and were chasing the game from there on in.”

Matt Done did pull the Blades back in the reckoning on 39 minutes, latching onto Basham’s header following a cross from the recalled Jose Baxter to net his sixth goal for the club and 20th of the campaign. However, it did not relight the hosts’ fire.

The second half promised much with the Blades attacking the Kop, but Fleetwood’s defence repelled their efforts with relative comfort.

The Blades lacked craft and ideas and despite mustering 17 corners in the game, their threat was minimal, their only meaningful chance coming on 75 minutes when Michael Doyle’s shot was tipped over by Chris Maxwell.

Next up on the agenda are back-to-back away games at Scunthorpe United and Walsall and perhaps that is not such a bad thing, with many of the Blades’ best performances this term being on the road.

One thing is nailed on, Basham will be there – and he will be sat with the Blades’ travelling army at Glanford Park and the Banks’s Stadium if needs be.

Basham, who concurred with the theory that the Blades are suffering from a bit of “burn-out” due to their exhaustive schedule, said: “I will definitely go to these away games, that’s for sure.

“If I have to sit with the fans, that’s what I will be doing and I definitely will be there.

“I will be supporting the lads all the way and won’t miss a drop of training or anything.

“I will be there to try and help as much as I can.

“You have James Wallace who comes in before every game and shakes every lad’s hand and wishes them all the best.

“He works so hard in training and is always there and a good lad and so are everybody in there.

“Tel Kennedy is another one who has been brilliant for us; he comes in before every game and wishes us all the best and that is what I will be doing as well for the next two games.

“These are two away games I can see ourselves winning if we do the right things.”