Paul Heckingbottom urges Sheffield United to take care of their own business

Posted Saturday, April 08, 2023 by PA

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom will not worry about the results of their promotion rivals after a 1-0 win against Wigan moved his side closer to the Premier League.

A first-half goal from Iliman Ndiaye was enough to give the Blades a victory which sees them go eight points clear of third-placed Luton ahead of fourth-placed Middlesbrough’s late clash with leaders Burnley.

But Heckingbottom just wants his team to take care of their own business and not have to rely on results from elsewhere.

Heckingbottom said: “I know people might have been expecting us to roll Wigan over but they showed a lot of fight and energy. They worked for each other and they don’t seem fazed by the position they’re in.

“Iliman (Ndiaye) won us the game and he’s had some criticism off me in recent weeks. I felt he hasn’t been in the six-yard box enough or getting enough shots away.

“Keeping hold of the ball and taking players on comes naturally to him. Sprinting 40 yards to get a tap-in doesn’t so we’re delighted with his goal from our point of view.

“He’s growing up and playing with maturity. He’s carrying himself like he feels he belongs here.

“If teams around us drop points it’s a bonus but we don’t focus on results elsewhere. As long as we keep winning and making that margin of error even finer for them we don’t have to worry about anything else.

“Of course we want to keep making that margin of error even finer for them but we want to make sure these last few games are about us and our performances, not theirs.

“We love being at home and performing well here. We always want to make this a difficult place for teams to come and play and we’ll do that until the end of the season.”

Wigan manager Shaun Maloney said his players gave him everything they could despite the defeat, which left the Latics eight points adrift of safety with six games to play.

Maloney said: “Sheffield United put us under a lot of pressure in the first 10 minutes and we were disappointed to concede so early.

“After that, I was really happy. I thought we started to control the ball and we defended our box very well. We needed bits of luck at times but the players played through the pressure.

“United have some high profile players but I think we went toe to toe. Their talent took over at times and they created chances but we dealt with it.

“We knew they would have chances but we did come here thinking we could win. At this stage of the season it’s about how clinical you are and that’s our only disappointment.

“I think in the second half we were in a rush to get forward and I felt we could have been more patient on the ball. We worked hard to create our chances but we didn’t take them.

“The players have given me everything. I can’t fault any of them on effort and belief and I hope we can keep doing that right until the very end.

“We are at the point where things are getting decided but momentum is an amazing thing in football.

“I feel we’ll have the opportunities to win every game we play in and we can stay in this league.”