Newcastle United loanee Ciaran Clark started his 3rd Championship game for the Blades last Saturday, and his performance was described as “quality” by his manager Paul Heckingbottom.
The 33-year-old has had to wait a long time to get back to full fitness after recovering from a hamstring injury which saw him sit out a couple of months.
His Sheffield United career didn’t start in the best of ways, he was thrown in at the deep end in the first game of the season at Watford, playing on the wrong side of the defence against the best front line in the league at the time.
Since then he has shown his Premier League quality at the back, keeping a clean sheet against Millwall in his 2nd start, and another clean sheet in his 3rd start last weekend against Huddersfield Town.
Before the four-week break for the World Cup, Clark was forced into action off the bench against Cardiff City when Jack Robinson picked up an injury in the 14th minute. But the experienced Clark helped the Blades seal the door shut as they saw out a 1-0 victory on the road.
Paul Heckingbottom commented on Ciaran Clark’s recent performances:
“He’s had a long period out and got thrown into the action at Cardiff and second half I thought he was excellent down there. It’s been good to have these training weeks behind him and you can see him getting fitter each day, each week.
“We look forward to him getting a good run of consistency in terms of his training. He will have been as frustrated as the other boys who have picked up injuries, so it’s good to have him back.” [Yorkshire Live]