Paul Heckingbottom pleased with Blades’ game management in win over 10-man Luton

Posted Sunday, January 23, 2022 by PA

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom was pleased with his side’s game management after they earned a 2-0 victory over 10-man Luton following goals from Rhian Brewster and Jack Robinson.

Brewster opened the scoring at the start of the second half before Robinson doubled the Blades’ lead just three minutes later.

Luton’s challenge suffered a further setback when Reece Burke was shown a straight red card in the 61st minute after dragging down Brewster who was through on goal, and United were able to ease to victory relatively comfortably.

The Blades had surrendered a two-goal lead at Preston on Tuesday, North End netting twice in the final 19 minutes to salvage a 2-2 draw, and Heckingbottom was delighted to see his side ensure there was not a similar outcome against Nathan Jones’ Hatters.

Heckingbottom said: “I’m pleased with the performance, I’m pleased to be back here after two months, pleased to get a 2-0 win and to put Tuesday night’s game to bed.

“I thought we managed the game really well, it was a good win against a good side.

“We want wins, wins are what the game’s all about, but it was only the Derby game which I didn’t enjoy for lots of reasons.”

He added: “They (Luton) were really organised without the ball, Nathan has got a real honest and hard-working group.

“We spoke to the experienced boys about managing the game, we earned the right to see the game out and not concede many opportunities.”

Brewster was a threat throughout and he received a standing ovation from the Blades fans as he made way for Sander Berge in the 70th minute.

Heckingbottom feels there is still much more to come from the former England Under-21 international though.

He said: “I feel the fans have taken to him.

“He’s still got to improve, he’s a great kid who’s really infectious and wants to do well, now he’s scoring the goals we need him to do.”

Luton manager Jones, whose side were looking to follow up wins over Bournemouth and Reading, said: “They came out of the traps, and we didn’t handle it.

“If you’d have said last Saturday that we would have taken six points against the league leaders, Sheffield United away and Reading away I’d have taken that.

“We’ve only got three central strikers available at the minute so the two that are playing have been right at it and have put two massive shifts in to get us six points.

“We had to use one which was (Cameron) Jerome and try and get through to 60 minutes to bring some game changers on, but we were two-nil down and down to 10 men, so it was a chase in the end.

“If we had been more braver, we could have caused them more problems, but you have to understand that the Championship is relentless.”