Paul Heckingbottom makes brutal admission on Sheffield United emotions after Nottingham Forest draw

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom admits that the late equaliser his side conceded to Nottingham Forest on Friday felt like suffering relegation.

The Blades looked to be well on their way to another big win in the promotion race against a top six rival in Forest at Bramall Lane, after Billy Sharp headed the hosts in front with 20 minutes of normal time remaining.

That was after Forest had missed a big chance to open the scoring in the first half, when Brennan Johnson saw a penalty saved by Wes Foderingham.

But Steve Cooper’s side would get themselves on the scoresheet to earn a point deep into stoppage time, when Ryan Yates headed in from James Garner’s corner.

Now it seems as though that is equaliser is one that has hit Heckingbottom rather hard coming away from that game.

Giving his thoughts on conceding that late equaliser, the Sheffield United manager was quoted by the Yorkshire Post as saying: “It’s a sickener, a kick in the teeth.

“It’s flat, it hurts, of course it does. It’s a 1-1 draw but the timing of the goal, the nature of the goal means one team come off feeling like they’ve won the FA Cup, the other like they’ve been relegated.

“But it’s a 1-1 draw. They were the better team first half, we were the better team second half.”

Following that draw, Sheffield United return to action on Tuesday night, when they host play-off rivals Middlesbrough at Bramall Lane.

The Verdict

You can understand why this result will be so hard to take for Heckingbottom.

At that stage of the game, Sheffield United may have felt as though they had got the three points in the bag before that sucker punch of the late equaliser.

Given a win would have had huge significance in the battle for a play-off place as well, that will