Paul Heckingbottom's challenge to his Sheffield United players amid Championship promotion push

Despite his overriding feeling of frustration, Paul Heckingbottom was keen to take the positives from last night's goalless draw at home to Hull.

The Blades boss watched his side have 22 shots at goal but fail to find the net, missing out on the chance to move joint sixth in the Championship standings with Middlesbrough.

It was their second goalless draw in the space of four days and as a result they have moved up from 10th in the table to eighth.

Their unbeaten run has also been extended to seven games and it was yet another clean sheet for Wes Foderingham - his 10th of the season.

United are giving nothing away at the back and the former Rangers keeper has been rarely troubled in the last few weeks, but although plenty for those of a Sheffield United persuasion to be happy about, last night's game had the feeling of two points dropped and a missed opportunity.

With Rhian Brewster suffering a season-ending hamstring injury when enjoying a real purple patch in front of goal, Iliman Ndiaye has gone off the boil a touch, which is expected of a player at such a young age, and Morgan Gibbs-White is still finding his feet back in the side after a spell on the sidelines.

Injuries are also starting to creep in, with David McGoldrick facing a long time out and Jayden Bogle now a doubt after having a scan on a knee problem on Monday.

Understandably, United have lacked a little bit of that energy and spark in the last few games, but to their credit are still managing to grind out results.

Given the demanding fixture schedule, which sees his side playing three games a week until the next international break in March, it won't be easy to maintain the performance levels set earlier in Heckingbottom's reign, when replacing Slavisa