Paul Heckingbottom hails a ‘strong performance’ from Sheffield United

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom praised his side’s “strong performance” in a 1-0 win over Cardiff at Bramall Lane.

Iliman Ndiaye scored the only goal of the game with a bullet header early in the second half to secure three points for Heckingbottom’s men and keep them sixth in the Sky Bet Championship.

Heckingbottom said: “I’m just bothered about us and us winning. Whenever there is a goal in it it’s always going to be nervy, but I thought we stood strong.

“(Goalkeeper) Wes (Foderingham) mopped things up that came into the box without us really suffering any shots on target, which is great.

“We could have made it easier for ourselves, especially second half when we broke away a few times and could have put the game to bed, but it’s not going to be like that this season.

“You just get them feelings, things that keep getting thrown in our face or maybe go against us that we are having to battle through, so we will continue to battle through that and continue to battle on.

“I’m delighted with the goal, the type of goal and overall it was a strong performance. I thought we got better as it went on.”

Cardiff manager Steve Morison said: “There’s nothing negative coming from me today, that was excellent from our lads.

“We limited a top, top team to the least amount of shots this season at Bramall Lane.

“We had just as many chances as them. We could have easily been in the lead, been level, come away with something, but we haven’t.

“We’re a team in transition, I’m really proud of that. I thought we played really well. It was just that they took one of their five chances and we didn’t take one of ours. So yeah, frustrated from that point of view.

“They are a top, top team and they’re fighting for the play-offs. It was good to see their reaction at the end of the game, they were desperate for that game to finish.

“I really enjoyed standing there watching the players carry out what we asked them to do.”