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Blades for play-offs says beaten Sturrock
FORMER Sheffield Wednesday manager Paul Sturrock insists Bramall Lane has a great chance of hosting Premier League football next season.
Sturrock, now in charge of Plymouth Argyle, made his prediction after watching them suffer a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Kevin Blackwell's side.
A second-half brace from James Beattie saw Sheffield United climb to fifth in the Championship table, but it was the manner of their performance, combined with the options at Blackwell's disposal, which prompted the respected Scot to claim: "I can say pretty confidently that they will finish in the top six and qualify for the play-offs.
"Where they finish within that six will be determined by a lot of different factors, including luck.
"They've got a settled team and if you take a look at their bench then that tells you it all."
Matthew Kilgallon, Greg Halford, Billy Sharp, Nick Montgomery and Nathan Dyer all failed to start Saturday afternoon's match as Blackwell made just one enforced change to the 11 which drew 0-0 at Bristol City in Tuesday.
China international Sun Jihai and Danny Webber both impressed against Argyle while Beattie, the club's record signing, pounced twice after the interval to take his tally in United colours to 27 goals in just 54 appearances since completing a 4 million move from Everton.
Blackwell described some of his squad's football in recent weeks as "sublime" but his joy was tempered by news that Scotland defender Gary Naysmith is a major doubt for the South Yorkshire derby at Barnsley.
Naysmith missed the win over Argyle with a groin strain and will undergo further tests later today as doctors attempt to identify the exact cause of the problem.
Revealing that Anthony Stokes should feature at Oakwell despite suffering a bruised thigh, Blackwell confirmed: "Gary will undergo another MRI scan.
"They'll do this one from a different angle and hopefully that will show us what's wrong because they couldn't see when they did the last one."
Blades 2 v Plymouth 0: CLICK HERE FOR MATCH REPORT AND PICTURES
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
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