Sheffield United: Beating Blackpool would see this team achieve something "really big"

A win at Bloomfield Road, where United contest their final match of 2022, would see Heckingbottom’s squad enter the New Year having accumulated exactly 50 points since the beginning of the campaign. Second in the table and eight ahead of third-placed Blackburn Rovers, the former Barnsley, Leeds and Hibernian chief has told his players that would be a notable achievement.

“Doing that, getting to that mark, it would be great psychologically,” Heckingbottom said. “It would be big, yes, of course it would.

“The first thing we want to do is make sure we get into the top six and put ourselves in the mix to go up. We know we aren’t going to win every single game so let’s really go for it now. We don’t want to wait for the next moment or the next game. If we get beat, then we have to make sure that whoever does it really earns it. You have to accept that you aren’t going to be at your best all the way through a season. But that doesn’t mean you want excuses, either.”

United travel to Lancashire having won all but one of their last eight outings. Blackpool are 22nd but, according to Heckingbottom, should still pose a stern test of the visitors’ top-flight credentials.

Noting the gap between United and Rovers, who face a resurgent Middlesbrough next, Heckingbottom said: “We can make it really difficult for other teams by getting wins right now. But in order to do that, to make it more difficult, we have to earn that right.”

“We earned that right, to see the game out, against Coventry City,” added Heckingbottom, reflecting upon United’s victory over Mark Robins’ men on Boxing Day. “We have to do exactly the same in the league. At some point, that lead, that gap, it might shrink. So we just have to keep on trying to get as many (wins) in the bag right now. Because that could make it easier for ourselves later on.”