[themaclad]

Attendance: 16,542 (2,386 Sheffield United fans).

Referee: Farai Hallam.

BIG ARTHUR



Two nil up f**ked it up, long time we have come back from a position like that probably Fleetwood 2014 was the last time and to do it against thhe Blades is even better due to the fact we rarely beat them.
McCann out with a broken arm, Gibson injured during the game could also be out for a while as well but those plus some dire defending in the first half were the only downside of a crazy game.

First ten minutes Blades could barely get out of their own half, by the time a quarter of an hour had elapsed they were two up, the first Brooks who was granted the freedom of the entire half ran onto towards goal and scored easily, bit of fortune a couple of deflections and O'Hair skipspast Armstrong and it's two.
For the next 30 minutes we played like strangers, the ball spending much of the time in the air, whilst United harried us out of possession, did well to keep the score down.
Game changed with Gibson's injury, Lindsay different type of player to Gibson and as a result we didn't faff around at the back as much, ball began to played upfield quicker.
Dobbin in injury time reduced the deficeit, nicely taken shot from outside the box. United kicked off the second half and within 75 seconds were kicking off again. Devine free kick, Storey header expertly put into his own net via the thigh of United skipper Tanganga.
Before the hour in front, Vukcevic burst of speed past Tanganga, cross into the centre Jebbison header 3-2 we were probably helped by a United defender doing a Long John Silver impression, but c'est la vie
Devine and Small both went close before United started to pin us back, bit of naff defending by Small set up a chance but O'Hair couldn't quite get and Soumare missed from close range.
Then the Smith must sore moment, great cross by Thor and Smith puts it wide of an open goal from less than 10 yards, luckily it didn't come back to haunt us.
After Ings put a free kick into the away end the referee who in the main had a decent game blew the final whistle(he did miss a handball in the first half though)

HECK

Paul Heckingbottom felt his side showed what they’re all about in the remarkable 3-2 comeback victory over Sheffield United.

North End found themselves two goals down inside the opening 16 minutes, but a Lewis Dobbin strike in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage-time brought the Lilywhites back into it.

A Japhet Tanganga own goal in the opening minute of the second period saw PNE go level before former Blade Daniel Jebbison completed a stunning turnaround.

Hecky said: “I’m really, really pleased with the players after a really frustrating night midweek. They’ve showed what they're all about again tonight.

“I'm really proud of them, with the spirit, the energy, the performance, the 15 players who were on the pitch. It will always be a team game. I’m really, really proud.

“It's difficult against a team that are very, very good on the counter and you could see that. We started the game fantastically well and we've got some young players in the team and we've got Odel [Offiah] playing out of position. We just switched off and bang, all of a sudden we're one down and we give them the second goal and that's against a team who are really good at setting up to just play on the break.

“But we played into their hands for ten minutes after the second goal. We just lost our shape and our discipline with the ball, trying to get the first goal, second goal, third goal all straight away and just played into their hands for a bit. Once we corrected that, we were fine. The goals we scored were excellent.”

Jebbison, who made his professional debut for Sheffield United under Heckingbottom, was the match-winner at Deepdale in a moment he visibly enjoyed.


The forward was teased with ‘Jebbo, what’s the score?’ chants from the away end at 2-0 down – chants which were fired back at the Bill Shankly Kop from the PNE fans in the second half.

Hecky said: “I was just making sure he wasn't going to do anything silly on the pitch and start getting involved in celebrations, giving a bit back because it can always come back and bite you when you're giving stick either way.

“But he's a popular member of the squad. He’s performing really well at the minute, doing a real shift for the team and I'm delighted he got the winner.”

CHRIS

United manager Chris Wilder highlighted positives in the Blades' performance but conceded his side only had themselves to blame after a 3-2 defeat at Preston North End.

The Blades looked comfortable, leading 2-0 and playing well after goals from Andre Brooks and Callum O'Hare, but Preston hit back just before and after the interval, completing the turnaround in the second half.

After the game, Wilder admitted it was a game his side should have put to bed.

He said: "Scratching my head how we've not walked away with three points. Unbelievable, but we've only got ourselves to blame. Game management, naivety of the team. I think the game plan in terms of setting up worked in our favour. We set traps, we pounced, we countered, we looked a really good side. We have to put teams to bed though.

"We have to take the game away and then we have to realise when we're coming up to half-time that there's game management about it. What is the feeling of this place going to be like after 45, 46 minutes with the home team 2-0 down and possibly Paul and Stuart scratching their head and maybe thinking, dear me, we've dodged a bit of a bullet here because the game should be done, but it wasn't because we didn't turn the ball down the side. We tried to be too intricate with it and then we made a really poor decision to go and engage in a tackle where we didn't and then you're feeling it.

"Their boys sprinted down the tunnel and no doubt the team talk from them would be, right, we need to be a load better. We conceded a free kick straight after half-time, allowed them to put the ball in our box. We get blocked, boy wins a header, comes off Japh and all of a sudden it's game on and it's two each. I think we're really unfortunate with the third goal. Mark McGuinness gets a whack and he's desperately trying to get back into the middle of the goal, maybe we should come over and shuffle over. All of a sudden it's game on and really we're all scratching our heads in the changing room afterwards."

United controlled the game for much of the first half but the Blades boss stated conceding three goals was always going to make life difficult.

He added: "I thought we were good, maybe the opposition might think it was them, but I thought we were really good. We were really good in our structure, we set traps, we jumped it, when they went long, we jumped on the second ball, we played our way out of it, we created opportunities. It wasn't just set plays or direct play, even though there's always different ways to win games, it was combinations, it was opportunities, but I'm going to talk about, from a defensive point of view, conceding three goals gives us an uphill task in terms of trying to win a game of football."

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Just learned that Odeluga Offiah is Martin Offiah's nephew.

Alfie Devine's father also played Rugby League as well