Chris Wilder hails ‘dominant’ second half as Sheffield United beat Blackburn

Chris Wilder pinpointed Sheffield United’s “dominant” second-half performance after they beat Blackburn 2-0.

The Blades deservedly took the lead when Harrison Burrows lashed in his first goal for the club in the first half but they needed Tyrese Campbell’s second-half volley to make the result safe.

Wilder’s side have now won seven of their last 10 and when asked about the most pleasing aspect of the win, he said: “The second half really.

“We’re not two or three up and we didn’t deserve to be and Blackburn have had a couple of opportunities, more with us being loose around the middle of the park, giving away balls simply where we should have kept it a little bit more or made better decisions with the ball.

“The game wasn’t done. You’ve got to fight for everything, especially against a team that have won five out of six at home.

“They’re going to come for you but I thought we really quietened that noise by our dominant second-half performance.

“They’ve had one header, a shot that went wide from distance but apart from that, I can’t remember anything else. That’s the way the game goes. They are searching to get back into it, we have quality on the counter-attack.

“I’m not going to say it should have been this, that or the other. We’d have liked to have made it a little bit simpler for us in the last 10 minutes but we didn’t. But it wasn’t for the want of trying.”

United’s sloppiness in possession invited Blackburn forward and they would have punished the visitors had Ryan Hedges connected with Tyrhys Dolan’s cross.

But it was a different story after the break as United sliced through Rovers at will and either side of Campbell doubling the lead, they could have made the scoreline more emphatic.

They would have done so but for a brilliant Dominic Hyam goalline clearance and a save from Aynsley Pears both thwarting the impressive Kieffer Moore. Pears also twice denied Gus Hamer in the closing stages.

Blackburn have now lost four of their last six, including for the first time in the league at Ewood Park this season, and John Eustace felt his team “lost belief” after conceding the second.

He said: “Obviously disappointed to lose the game. We came up against a real top team with good individuals and it’s disappointing.

“I thought first half we held our own, got some really good opportunities without making the most in the final third. Second half, I think when they scored the second goal, we kind of lost belief, the players did on the pitch did a little bit, which was disappointing.

“I thought the first half, we competed very well. We won the ball back a lot and had a lot of opportunities on that turnover, we just lacked that bit of quality in the final third.

“It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. We’re getting into good opportunities without being clinical.

“Second half, I thought we started a little bit slow but then we did have a couple of opportunities. We got going and then obviously they went and scored. We tried to change a few things around and unfortunately it didn’t work today.”