Paul Heckingbottom says Sheffield United had to work hard for win at Wigan

Posted Tuesday, December 20, 2022 by PA

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom felt his side made much harder work of their 2-1 Championship victory at Wigan than was necessary.

The Blades were given the perfect start at the DW Stadium when John Egan headed them ahead from a corner inside eight minutes.

Skipper Billy Sharp doubled the lead 11 minutes after the restart, and the visitors were very good value for it.

However, Wigan pulled one back just after the hour mark through Nathan Broadhead – with replays showing he had come from an offside position.

And in the end, United had to dig deep to hold on against a spirited Wigan side, in Kolo Toure’s first home game in charge.

“We prepared for a tough game against a side with a new manager,” said the Blades boss.

“We started really well in terms of our energy, we forced a hell of a lot of errors and should have been further in front at half-time.

“We had to work hard again in the second half, we had to dig deep, and I thought we earned the 2-0 lead.

“I expected us to go on then, I thought we’d done all the hard work.

“Listen, I know they showed on the big screen the replay of their goal, and it was offside, so I won’t dig the linesman out.

“What disappointed me more was how the ball got there, because we had two opportunities to clear the ball in the middle of the pitch and we didn’t.

“When you’ve worked so hard to get yourself in that lead, in that position, for that bit of poor judgement from us to let them back in, all of a sudden it’s 2-1.

“You know that you’ve got to weather the storm now, with all the attacking substitutions, more balls forward, trying to play in behind us.

“We had to stand strong in the end.”

For Toure, it was a disappointing start to his reign on home soil.

“In the first half I thought we weren’t good enough in our play, we didn’t put Sheffield United under enough pressure,” he said.

“In the second half, it was a much more positive performance, and we have to try to build on that.

“At the moment, I am still assessing the players, and working out what we have here.

“We still have half a season ahead of us, and I am learning about them every single day.

“After a slow start, we played with more and more bravery, we just have to work on doing that for the full game instead of only part.

“We have another week now to work together until Boxing Day, and we will try and take advantage of that.

“The festive period is always a very important time, and we will work as hard as we can to pick up as many points as we can.”

Toure also felt Wigan should have been awarded a penalty in the second half, when substitute Thelo Aasgaard’s shot was clearly saved on the line by a United defender.

When asked whether a penalty should have been awarded, he replied: “Yes I believe so.

“Their players looked to have two hands on the ball, and that is very hard for us to take.”