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Where quality Springs to mind
MATTHEW Spring has predicted that Sheffield United's superior skill and conditioning will pay dividends over the course of the Championship campaign.
The midfielder, who celebrated his full league debut for Kevin Blackwell's side with a win over Preston North End on Saturday, is scheduled to make a second successive start at Bristol City this evening.
Spring, signed on a season long loan from Luton Town during the summer, is among a number of players recruited by the United manager to spread a veneer of quality across an industrious squad.
"Most of the games are really tight," Spring said. "But we've shown that we can come through them in the end.
"We tend to do that because I think we're fitter than most and we've also got a lot of nous on the ball.
"We can pass it around and make that count as the matches wear on.
"You've got to be able to mix it up because, if you look at most of the teams who have got out of this division, they're capable of doing that.
"First you've got to earn the right to play and then, once you've done that, have the ability to make it count."
Patience has been a virtue for Spring on and off the pitch since his arrival from Kenilworth Road.
Veterans Ugo Ehiogu and Gary Speed, making good progress in his battle to overcome a calf injury, have been influential figures throughout United's climb to fifth in the table and a victory at Ashton Gate will apply even more pressure on the early leaders.
"I'm glad to get that league start out of the way," Spring admitted. "Of course I'd hoped that it would've come a little bit earlier but I also knew when I came here that I wasn't coming to an ordinary club.
"I was coming to one that had just come down from the Premiership which meant that there were a lot of people here with top-flight experience.
"Speedo is absolutely phenomenal.
"You look at his age and you think to yourself 'surely he can't keep on going like this?' but, fair play to him, he has.
"I take my hat off to him so I always knew it was going to be a case of waiting for someone to drop out before I got a chance."
Had Blackwell been one to bear a grudge then Spring would have been contemplating a career in the Conference rather than plotting the downfall of a team beaten 3-0 at Bramall Lane earlier this month when he faced the media at Shirecliffe yesterday.
Having played for him at Leeds, Spring left Blackwell's dreams of promotion in tatters when he helped Watford prevail in the 2006 play-off final.
But football is an incestuous business and, after resurrecting their partnership in Bedfordshire, Blackwell offered him the chance to escape the League Two outfit, still in negative equity following a hefty points deduction, when he began tweaking the squad he inherited from Bryan Robson.
"I appreciate the gaffer for doing that," Spring said. "My contract there is up in the summer and so I'm effectively on a year long trial.
"Hopefully I can do enough to stick around. I certainly want to.
"In my opinion this is a much stronger unit than the one we had a Leeds.
"Then, they were still in transition after some financial problems of their own, whereas here there's much more stability.
"The gaffer knows that he has the backing of the board and that he can go out and bring people in if he wants to.
"Three of us in the middle (against Preston) are on loan here and there are bound to be a few teething problems because of that.
"But I think we gelled pretty well and as we sort out exactly who will do what job in certain situations then it should get even better.
"City will be a tough game, tougher than the last time we faced them because they're at home.
"If we let them play then they'll cause us problems so we've got to get ourselves into a situation where we are the ones who can express ourselves, not them."
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Blades Watch 08-09 - The Season So Far
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
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