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Blades turn on the friendly fire: MATCH REPORT AND SLIDESHOW
CHARLTON 2 v SHEFFIELD UTD 5: WITH friends like Kevin Blackwell who needs enemies?
The Sheffield United manager delivered his second defence of Alan Pardew's coaching credentials in the space of 24 hours at Charlton on Saturday, but not before overseeing the result which shunted the former Reading and West Ham chief through the exit door.
Blackwell's words obviously fell on deaf ears in The Valley's boardroom, where directors announced they had parted company with Pardew just hours after witnessing a fifth defeat in eight games, but they clearly resonated in the away dressing room.
United demonstrated a ruthless streak they have seldom shown of late.
With James Beattie, Gary Speed, Matthew Kilgallon and Stephen Quinn all scribbling their names on the scoresheet, they headed back home to prepare for tomorrow's visit of Wolves basking in the glory of not only their most emphatic victory of the campaign so far but also fourth position in the Championship table.
It was a measure of United's grip on a match disfigured by some woeful Charlton defending that Beattie and Billy Sharp, benefiting from Anthony Stokes' surprise ommision from Blackwell's squad, were both recuperating in the dug-out just quarter of an hour after emerging for the second half.
Moments earlier, Hameur Bouazza had restored a modicum of respectability for the hosts, but by then the biggest threat to United's dominance was complacency.
Greg Halford, who finished last season on loan at Charlton, marked the occasion by producing his best performance in United colours since arriving on loan from Sunderland.
The long throws, which had proved such an effective weapon against Blackwell's side in March, were again instrumental.
But it was his industry, poise and pass selection during open play which really impressed here.
Only the width of the crossbar prevented him from converting a Beckham-esque chip when Nicky Weaver, not for the first time, went walkabout during the opening exchanges.
"We could have scored more," Blackwell said. "But I'll take five.
"Greg did great. We've known about him for a while, even going back to his days at Colchester, and also because of what he did for Charlton against us.
"I know what he can bring to the table for us and he showed exactly why we decided to get him on board."
But Blackwell, who later refused to rule out the possibility of attempting to sign Halford on a permanent basis when he temporary contract expires in May, did not allow him to take all the credit for a win which repaired the damage caused by the previous weekend's loss to Reading.
"We had to bounce back," he said. "If you want to be up there at the top then you've got to do that straight away after a downturn."
"Bloody awful," was Pardew's assessment and, despite Blackwell's plea for "people to give him time", it seems Charlton's directors concurred.
Having initially spoken of his desire to try and turn things around, Pardew, if the official line is to be believed, later decided to seek alternative employment.
"We looked short on confidence and we've obviously got issues which we need to try to address," he said.
That responsibility will now fall to Pardew's successor.
Pardew's claim that Charlton gift-wrapped every single one of their goals was harsh on Quinn, whose strike was fit to grace any stage, but Blackwell's side have played better and come away with less to show for their efforts.
Beattie seized upon some dreadful indecision after Quinn and Halford had worked the ball into position to claim his eighth goal since August but Linvoy Primus levelled after slipping his marker from Nicky Bailey's free-kick.
Only Paddy Kenny's reflexes prevented the centre-half from repeating the feat but not before Speed had headed home Brian Howard's set-piece following a trip on Halford.
Weaver, mercilessly barracked by both sets of supporters, was culpable for United's third when an unconvincing attempt to collect Kyle Naughton's lob allowed Kilgallon to touch home and Charlton's misery was complete when Kelly Youga turned into his own net four minutes after the restart.
The scoreboard spared his blushes by mistakenly credited substitute Darius Henderson, but Quinn showed no such generosity when he powered home a superb first-time shot, gracefully adjusting his body weight to create the right angle.
Bouzza beat Kenny after Lloyd Sam's deft cut-back and, although the Charlton midfielder went close on the next drive forward, Henderson should have ensured that United had the last word only to spurn two opportunities.
Blackwell said: "I had a little bit of a dig at the lads up front beforehand but they've certainly shut me up now haven't they?"
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
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Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Sunny spells
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