Sheffield United sealed a historic double-double over their city rivals Wednesday at Bramall Lane, a 2-1 home win condemning the Owls to relegation to League One. It looked ominous for Wednesday as the Blades cruised into a 2-0 lead at half-time.
But the second-half sending off of Kalvin Phillips changed the momentum of the game and saw Charlie McNeill pull one back for the home side, giving the game a nervier feel than had ever seemed possible in the first half.
Both sides finished with 10 men after Gabriel Otegbayo received a second yellow late on for fouling Tyrese Campbell while there was even time for a flashpoint after the final whistle, when Svente Ingelsson took issue with Sydie Peck celebrating with his own supporters and sparked a mini-melee between both sets of players.
Here’s how we rated the Blades as they sealed a first double-double since 1953 over their rivals...
1. Michael Cooper 6
The first half was as comfortable a half as he could have hoped for as Wednesday barely strung a pass together but the second was a different story as he was beaten by McNeill's well-struck effort | UGC Photo: UGC
2. Femi Seriki 7
Another mature performance from the relative rookie right-back, who played a part in the opening Blades goal that may have gone a little under the radar as Hamer and Bamford combined so devastatingly. But it was Seriki and Brooks who forced the error from Ndala in the first place with some relentless pressing and Seriki then almost registered a genuine assist of his own when he found O'Hare with a clever pass inside, but the forward's drilled effort bounced back off the outside of the post. Made way for Hjelde later on | UGC Photo: UGC
3. Japhet Tanganga 7.5
The Owls goal changed the feel of the game but up until then Tanganga was absolutely immense, winning absolutely everything that came his way both in the air and on the deck. To be fair he and the rest of United's defence protected Cooper pretty well at 2-1 as well | UGC Photo: UGC
4. Tyler Bindon 7.5
In a similar vein to Tanganga, the only time the Forest loan man looked in trouble all throughout the first half was when there was a slight uncertainty between him and Cooper and the goalkeeper ended up comically taking out his centre-half. He kept Yates quiet with a dominant display and will be a player, this lad | UGC Photo: UGC