Sheffield United were back in second tier action earlier this afternoon as we made the trip to Deepdale to face Preston North End.
It would take a miracle for Chris Wilder’s side to chase down Norwich City given their points advantage over us, but Leeds United remain a worth target in the battle for the automatic promotion spots, so victory over Preston today was imperative to those hopes.
David McGoldrick opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark in the game and whilst we can hardly call it a vintage Blades performance under Wilder, we were better where it counted, even if we couldn’t build on our lead.
1-0 had to do, and with Leeds United choking against Birmingham City, second spot in the Championship table is ours once again by a single, narrow point.
Speaking to the BBC following the final whistle being blow, Wilder said of our efforts on the day.
“It was always going to be tough, but it’s not surprising in terms of the players’ reaction. It’s a special group of players and you could see how much they wanted this result today. It’s a week in football, I’ve been in it long enough to know it can change really quickly and it can change back as well. There’s still a long way to go, we’ll just keep grinding away. They gave me a few heart attacks (during the game) and probably did the same for the supporters as well.”