Sheffield United 3 Bristol City 2: Blades gloom lifted but survival still looks like tough assignment

Over the last few months, Sheffield United have been suffering a slow lingering death as relegation to League One looms up on the horizon.

On Saturday, the storm clouds descended on Bramall Lane – both literally and metaphorically – yet once they parted, Lady Luck shone down on the Blades.

Those who were there will rarely see another six-minute spell like it.

As the rain splashed down on the pitch, the Blades appeared to be drowning in a well of their own creation.

Goalkeeper Steve Simonsen had dragged the ball into his own net and a mood of despondency was hanging in the air.

Bramall Lane has been a depressed place for the majority of this season but this was damp, uncomfortable, frustrating, and depressed.

It was surely just a coincidence but, when an attempted clearance by Bristol City’s Jamie McAllister struck Lee Williamson and rebounded into the net, the sun started to light up the stadium again.

In the next minute, City had been reduced to 10 men by the dismissal of striker Nicky Maynard and soon after that the Blades took the lead.

After everything they have been put through this season, Blades supporters must have been wondering if they had walked into the wrong ground to watch the wrong club.

A slice of luck? Something going right? That is not how things tend to be this season.

Although the Blades so nearly pressed the self-destruct button yet again by allowing City back into the game, striker Jordan Slew hit a stunning winner four minutes from time to keep the club’s bid for survival alive.

Now the gap to safety is down to six points. Still a tall order but not impossible.

If the Blades had lost on Saturday, they would have been nine points adrift with only three games to play.

Mathematically, it would still have been possible to stay up but even the most optimistic of punters would have struggled to justify a small wager on it actually happening.

Manager Micky Adams had again opted to make changes to his side – dropping three of the players who started the previous game at Preston North End.

Adams must have wished he had dropped goalkeeper Simonson, too, when his schoolboy error gifted Bristol the lead just nine minutes into the game.

The former Everton and Stoke City stopper had done well, moments earlier, to push a shot from Maynard out for a corner.

But when the corner was swung into the area by Brett Pitman, Simonsen clawed the ball into his own net – sparking gasps of amazement from the home crowd.

It truly was a horrendous blunder, the sort more likely to be seen on a Sunday parks pitch than in the second tier of English league football.

Simonsen cut a forlorn figure and his confidence can only have been dented further by the ironic cheers that greeted his every catch from then on.

The Blades had made a promising start before that point and deserved credit for shrugging off the setback.

Striker Darius Henderson, however, spurned two opportunities with headers which again upset the home crowd.

Only two weeks previously, Henderson was booed off the field at Bramall Lane after wasting a series of gilt-edged chances during the sorry defeat against rivals Middlesbrough.

The present may not be a comfortable place for the Blades but the introduction of youngsters Maguire, Slew, and Danny Philliskirk in recent games has offered hope of a brighter future.

Irish midfielder David McAllister, 22 became the latest member of the club’s ‘development squad’ to be thrown into the fray on Saturday, showing a real eye for goal and plenty of mobility in the centre of the park.

McAllister was preferred to the experienced Michael Doyle who, like Adams’s only other permanent signing this season, defender Neill Collins, was dropped to the bench.

Things started to improve for the Blades when McAllister’s attempted clearance struck Williamson on the legs and rebounded into the net.

Maynard was sent off just over a minute later for a two-footed lunge on Matthew Lowton before McAllister then marked his debut with a stunning goal from 25 yards.

McAllister nearly scored twice more before the interval but former England goalkeeper David James produced two excellent saves to deny him.

When Pitman struck the post with a free-kick for the visitors after the interval, things looked even more promising for the Blades.

But that was before a loose pass from captain Nick Montgomery put Maguire in trouble and led to the game’s second major turning point.

With former Blades striker Jon Stead through on goal, Maguire committed a professional foul and was duly given his marching orders. Pitman equalised from the spot.

Home supporters reacted in utter dismay when Adams substituted Lee Williamson to bring on a replacement defender, Rob Kozluk.

It was the first time that Adams had been subjected to such a barrage of abuse from his own supporters yet it was understandable considering the high level of Williamson’s performance.

It was also apparent who the supporters felt should have been substituted instead – striker Henderson. Adams refused to take any notice and when Henderson also survived the next substitution, it brought angry chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ from the Kop.

Four minutes from time, Henderson chested the ball into the path of Slew who rammed home the winner and gave United what could be a priceless victory.

So there you go. Adams clearly knew what he was doing all along and the Blades live to fight another day.

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