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Blades cruise to win at oldest club - MATCH REPORT AND VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
SHEFFIELD FC 0 v SHEFFIELD UNITED 4: "YOU'VE got no mates when you're a pro," bellowed Kevin Blackwell after leaving his vantage point in the stands to deliver a few choice words of advice to one member of his squad.
The Sheffield United manager is clearly not one to let standards slip; whoever the opposition.
But, that brief second-half abberation apart, Blackwell was encouraged by the fact that his players were clearly in no mood to make friends.
And the only people they seemed determined to influence were those members of the first-team coaching staff who travelled to the Bright Finance Stadium last night looking for ideas ahead of next month's Championship fixture at Birmingham.
Sheffield FC, and former United goalkeeper Steve Hernandez in particular, battled manfully but spent the majority of the evening repelling attacks by the visitors from Bramall Lane.
"I was pleased with our attitude," Blackwell, who handed a debut to Hungarian trialist Fitos, said.
"I told the boys beforehand that I wanted to see a real difference between the amatuers and the professionals and we demonstrated that.
"To be fair, I thought the only thing that let us down was our finishing."
United were already well in command by the time Fitos replaced Nicky Law early in the second-half .
Nick Montgomery, showing no ill effects from the back injury sustained recently, opened the scoring with a smart fifth minute finish after the Sheffield defence failed to clear Ugo Ehiogu's cross while Sun Jihai, showing good strength on the edge of the penalty area, and Lee Hendrie also went close before the former Aston Villa midfielder doubled United's advantage just after the interval.
Webber, having already forced a fine save from Hernandez with a looping effort, made it three soon after while Jordan Robertson underlined United's superiority towards the end.
Vill Powell's trickery represented the biggest threat to Jamie Annerson in the United net but opportunities for Sheffield were few and far between. "I thought Fitos showed a few good touches when he came on," Blackwell added.
"He put in a couple of decent crosses and it was good to get a look at him."
CLICK ON THE GREEN PLAY ICON ABOVE TO WATCH EXCLUSIVE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MATCH
Sheffield: Hernandez (Kearney 65), Davey (Roney 50), Smith, Boulter, Ward, Winter (Thorpe 68), Outram (Gelsthorpe 50), Hawes (Townsend 81), Powell, Goddard, Wolley.
United: Annerson, Naughton, Jihai (Tahar 80), Montgomery (Chapman 71), Ehiogu, Lowton (Chanot 56), Law (Fitos 56), Hendrie (Travis 76), Robertson, Adams (Webber 46), Carney (K Quinn 60). Not used: Ho Lee, Wedgbury, Askham
Referee: D Benton.
Att: 1,103.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
