Christmas hits belted out at Bramall Lane for the first time in 11 months, but the dulcet tones of Leona Lewis served as a reminder to Sheffield United fans that it’s at least One More Sleep until they move to the top of the Championship table after they beat Huddersfield 1-0.
The Blades dominated their Yorkshire rivals who remain rooted to the bottom of the league, but struggled to turn that pressure into goals and will rue a lack of creativity in the final third that means they stay second to Burnley.
The league leaders play QPR tomorrow level on points and goal difference with the Blades, but meaning a defeat would push United back into the top spot that they held earlier this season.
But despite the feeling of what might’ve been at Bramall Lane, it was still a controlled return to Championship football for the home side after a four-week winter break for the World Cup.
It’s a sign of manager Paul Heckingbottom’s reliance on Iliman Ndiaye that he rushed the Senegalese striker back into the starting lineup just 139 hours after Ndiaye’s tournament ended with a round of 16 defeat to England.
Battle-hardened in the heat of Qatar, Ndiaye was razor-sharp to set up Billy Sharp’s winning goal in a first half where the Terriers mostly kept the Blades dull, principally by sitting so deep they muzzled themselves.
Principally defending in a 5-4-1 whenever United had the ball near their box, the nine-man block proved a difficult obstacle to overcome and Sharp’s breakthrough came on one of the few occasions the Terriers broke rank attempting to counter.
Ndiaye held the ball up well before playing in Sharp who produced a wonderful lifted finish over keeper Lee Nicholls wheeled away to celebrate before the ball had even entered the six-yard box.
It was another direct runner, James McAtee, who provided the best chance to double United’s lead before half-time with his driving run into Huddersfield’s box but he couldn’t find the end-product to trouble Nicholls.
In the absence of another goal it was the 69th and 79th minutes that brought the biggest reaction from the Bramall Lane crowd – starting when the whole stadium applauded in tribute to veteran steward Ron Ashworth who passed away in November.
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That was matched ten minutes later when Oli McBurnie made his first appearance in over a month, McBurnie underwent surgery to correct a hernia issue and only returned to training on Thursday.
Moments later he was one of three Blades felled in the penalty area from a corner-kick that every home fan thought should’ve garnered a penalty.
The last ten minutes were one-way traffic in the other direction as Huddersfield finally threw off the shackles and went hell-for-leather after the home side, with Jack Rudoni and substitute Brahima Diarra looking threatening.
But they couldn’t find an opening and Sheffield United will now be hoping QPR can give them an early Christmas present and defeat Burnley tomorrow.
