Speed eyes Burnley revenge over Blades' play-off agony

The Blades have not played the Clarets since suffering a 1-0 defeat at Wembley in the 2009 Championship play-off final.

Captain Chris Morgan, midfielders Nick Montgomery and Stephen Quinn, and striker Jamie Ward are the only four players still at the club while Speed, who missed the game through injury, has stepped up from the role of player-coach to manager.

Burnley, however, have kept the majority of the squad that won promotion to the Premier League – although, significantly, now have former Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws in charge instead of Owen Coyle.

Speed said: "It will be nice if the boys who are still here are fired up to get one back on Burnley this weekend. It might also be in the minds of the supporters which hopefully, means they will get behind us even more and give us the push we need to suck the ball into the net."

The Blades have collected only four points from the last five league games and sit just above the relegation zone, but are only five points behind the Clarets who are in the top six.

Although Speed has been unsuccessful in his search for a new striker during the international lay-off, he insists there are no problems with confidence in the dressing room.

"If the last few results have affected confidence, the players certainly have not shown it," he said. "Over the last fortnight, we have not had many days off and we have been able to do some good work on the training ground.

"The boys have been lively in training and have applied themselves properly. There are no signs of a lack of confidence and there is no need for there to be. Apart from the first half against Watford (the club's last fixture which ended in a 1-0 defeat), there has not been a lot wrong."

Speed will not be offering a contract to former Millwall winger Filipe Morais who played on trial for the club in a midweek reserve defeat at Port Vale.

A former Portuguese under-21 international, Morais is currently without a club after spending the last three years in the Scottish Premier League with Hibernian, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and St Johnstone.

Speed said: "Filipe has bags of ability but if I bring in anyone now they have got to be ready for the team. Unfortunately, his match fitness is not quite there at the moment and I can't afford to take anyone on who needs three or four weeks on the training ground. He's a good player and if I can give him a hand I will. Hopefully, he can get himself sorted out."

With defender Kyle Bartley ruled out by a broken cheekbone tomorrow, Speed is likely to recall Morgan at the centre of defence after his recovery from a hamstring injury.