Sheffield United: Why Chris Wilder hailed his Blades despite settling for Birmingham draw

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City saw United extend the gap over seventh-placed Middlesbrough to eight points, after Steve Cotterill’s Blues held Wilder’s Blades to their first league draw since March.

United dominated for large parts of the Sky-televised game but had to come from behind to claim a point, Leon Clarke’s 13th goal of the season cancelling out Jeremie Boga’s impressive opener for the visitors.

And Wilder, whose side went into the game on the back of a remarkable 5-4 home defeat to Fulham in midweek, said: “It was a big game for us, seeing what our reaction after Tuesday would be.

“Because that was a bit of a jolt for us. But to get undone by a 25-yarder and psychologically get over it was pleasing, even though we didn’t get the three points. Because the performance was there.”

United’s last draw in the league had been at Rochdale on March 25, when Jay O’Shea cancelled out Temitope Obadeyi’s opener on a difficult pitch at Spotland.

“At least we can put that draw stat to bed now,” Wilder added.

“I didn’t think we deserved to draw but credit the opposition, they defended well. We pushed them back but couldn’t find a winner.”

United, meanwhile, yesterday unveiled Simon Ratcliffe as their new chief financial officer, following the appointment of chief operations officer Andrew Birks back in June.