Spot-kick '˜villain' will be a Sheffield United hero says Billy Sharp

Hull were afforded a spot of schaudenfrede on Tuesday night, with Norwood missing a key spot-kick on his debut for the Blades in their Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out loss to Hull.

But Sharp believes that the bigger picture suggests that the Blades were the big winners regarding Norwood.

Sharp said: “He is brilliant. His range of passing is brilliant. Although he was the only one I was really confident would score his penalty!

“But he is a very good player and nice to have him on board because he’s a good addition, and nice that we nicked him off Hull as well.

“He has been promoted in the last two seasons, so he’s obviously a player worthy of the top end of the Championship. So to get him is really good and he will blend in nicely with the midfielders we’ve already got.”

Tuesday saw Sharp find the net with an emphatic strike in a 1-1 draw following John Fleck’s astute pass and despite the Blades’ cup exit, the goal provided him with a further transfusion of confidence after being on the substitutes’ bench in the opening week of the season.

Sharp, who netted in the weekend win at QPR, added: “It is nice to score. Flecky’s got that in his locker; he just said to me he didn’t know I was there, but he had a feeling. I just tried to keep it on target and managed to catch it sweetly and was happy to see it go in.

“I feel good and, hopefully, I will keep that going.”