Sheffield United will come through testing times, says Kean Bryan

The Mancunian’s wait for his first home league start since joining the club in August, 2018 finally ended in Sunday’s 2-1 reverse to Leicester City at Bramall Lane.

The fact that he produced a second sound performance on the trot after being handed his Premier League debut at West Brom on the previous weekend was something he derived only limited satisfaction from.

The bigger picture for the 24-year-old is that he and his Blades team-mates are collectively doing it tough, given their parlous league predicament which makes for grim reading.

It is the time for the strongest of wills to come to the fore.

He said: “On a personal level, it has been a tough time for me and I have not been in the frame in terms of playing games.

“But that has been because I am behind Jack O’Connell and he is an unbelievable player and when they are keeping clean sheets like they were when he was in the team, I could not really expect to play, but just keep my head down and work as hard as I could on the training pitch.

“That is what I did in the off-season and, thankfully, I am getting the chance to play games in the team now.

“It was tough times for me, I am not going to shy away from that. When I signed, I was expecting to play and it was gutting for me.

“I had to go out on loan to play games last year and no disrespect to Bolton, it was not the level where I see myself playing.

“I want to play at the highest level possible and, thankfully, I am doing that right now.”

Sunday’s last-gasp loss was the Blades’ sixth on the spin and increased the club’s strife in what has been a desperate start to the season in terms of results for Chris Wilder’s side.

Bryan commented: “It is the biggest challenge for all of the players (here).

“We know the situation we are in, but I do not think there is a better person to take us forward and believe we can get through this tough time.

“He (Wilder) says that every day in training and is very positive towards the way we have been playing.

“We have had very tight games and it has not been three or four-nils.”

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