Sheffield United break their duck after beating Millwall yesterday by two goals without reply, with Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom happy at his side’s performance.
Two first-half goals were the undoing of Millwall, who have in recent years been somewhat of a bogey side for the Blades. United took the lead after 7 minutes when a kick-up field from keeper Wes Foderingham found Illiman Ndiaye beat off his marker to coolly slot home.
United doubled their lead on 22 minutes after a defensive mix-up saw John Fleck pick up a loose ball near the final third before instinctively pushing the ball across the 18-yard line to Sander Berge, who at quick pace rounded the keeper before slotting home.
United was presented with an excellent opportunity to add a third shortly before half-time after Rhian Brewster was tripped by Jake Cooper in the box. Oli Norwood stepped up but keeper, Bart Bialkowski saved his spot-kick.
Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom was thrilled with how his side dealt with Millwall’s aerial abilities. He told BBC Radio Sheffield;
“We know what Millwall are in terms of their threat. They scored over a third of their goals from set plays last season and top of the league in chances created from set plays, so we were aware of that and prepared for it.
“We dealt with that well all game and actually scored a goal on the counter off one of them, which was big.
“All those things that go unnoticed and aren’t talked about we were really strong today.
“The things that are noticed, us moving the ball quicker, creating chances, playing on the front foot, I thought that was there as well, particularly in the first half.”
From a spectator’s point of view, it was an excellent first-half performance. United took their chances and punished the Lions for mediocre defending. That said, I thought Norwood ought to have done better at his penalty kick. He has taken a tendency to fire into his bottom left-hand corner which keepers have become a custom to and needs to change directions if he is to score from the spot. The second half was scrappy and sluggish. United allowed Millwall to get into the game but was strong defensively and didn’t allow the Londoners to penetrate the final third too often.