Paul Heckingbottom gives his honest verdict on Sheffield United’s play-off push

Sheffield United lost 2-1 to Reading yesterday – a disappointing result for them as they are hoping to secure a play-off spot, whilst Reading sit just above the relegation zone. 

Luckily for the Blades, due to other results around them, they have retained their sixth placed position in the league and sit two points ahead of Middlesbrough in seventh.

However, United boss Paul Heckingbottom knows the implications this loss has had on his side as he told The Yorkshire Post: “That’s the big takeaway, you look at where we are now there’s more teams involved, we’ve turned it into a sprint.

“The games are going to get tighter and nervier and more important than that one.”

Sheffield United will have thought they had grabbed a late point yesterday as they equalised in the 90th minute, but Reading restored their lead in the 92nd minute and, as the Blades boss reflected on the game, he said: “The big message is we have to make better decisions. I thought the emotion of scoring and the stadium erupting affected our next two minutes.

“Although we had young players on the pitch who made mistakes in that moment, we had enough experience to set up properly and deal with the threat.

“We’re going to find ourselves in that position again when we’ve scored and the place has gone up and we need to see the game out.

“We knew they’d be tough to break down, but the problem is when you go behind to a team that plays likes that, it’s perfect for them.

“We got back in and paid the penalty with a bit of naivety. Our big crime  today was switching off and not defending the second ball.”

The Verdict

You can see why Heckingbottom feels frustrated with the result, especially as his team are trying to secure themselves a play-off spot. They have to be