Sheffield United made a welcome return to winning ways this afternoon as they beat Ipswich Town 3-1 in a game that had everything at Bramall Lane. There were horror mistakes, fine saves, good bits of play and some moments of needle as well, plus a red card near the end.
United led 2-0 at the break thanks to first-half goals from Callum O’Hare and Andre Brooks before Jack Clarke halved the deficit with a penalty after Mark McGuinness handled. But skipper for the day Patrick Bamford restored the two-goal cushion and then blotted his copybook with a second cheap booking in the space of nine minutes, to get sent off.
The first was for a show of dissent which saw him kick an advertising hoarding after giving away a foul and the second was for diving after going down under the threat of a challenge from away goalkeeper Christian Walton, with referee Tom Nield correctly penalising Bamford instead of pointing to the spot.
He now misses Saturday’s trip to Millwall but that was the only real negative for the Blades as they beat the promotion-chasing Tractor Boys and perhaps just breathed a bit of life back into their season after three successive defeats in all competitions. Here’s how we rated the Blades on the day...
1. Michael Cooper 8
Did superbly early on to deny Egeli after Mee's mistake and then even better later in the half when he shifted his body position and kept out an effort from Hirst. It seemed big at the time but became seismic seconds later when the Blades cleared the resulting corner and then went up the other end and scored through O'Hare. A couple more big saves in the second half, including one from Clarke, cemented the fact that Cooper may be returning to the levels of last season before he had a big hand in Unted's third goal, with his long kick eventually played through to Bamford via Hamer | UGC Photo: UGC
2. Femi Seriki 8
Back in the side in place of Hoever after his poor performance in midweek at Southampton and fully justified that expected decision with another solid display down the right flank. His attacking prowess has never really been in doubt but he seems to be growing by the game from a defensive perspective too and there were a couple of excellent bits of defensive work that may go unseen in the wider context of this game but earned him some deserved praise from his teammates. Could have picked up an assist too when a clever pass sent Brooks clear | UGC Photo: UGC
3. Mark McGuinness 7
He'd actually been enjoying a pretty commanding afternoon and largely kept the former Wednesday man Hirst quiet both on the deck and in the air but then the game threatened to turn when he was penalised for handball after Taylor's effort struck his arm as McGuinness looked to block it. In the game of football as we used to know it it would probably would have been waved away but in this modern world of unnatural positions and whatever else it was unfortunately a nailed-on penalty and luckily it didn't cost United too dearly | UGC Photo: UGC
4. Ben Mee 7.5
Will have been a mightily relieved man inside the first minute when he badly underhit a backpass and then couldn't catch Egeli as he raced away, but the Ipswich man scuffed his effort a little and that gave Cooper the chance to bail out his centre-half with an excellent early save. The veteran wasn't a million miles away with an audacious overhead kick effort in the first half as he was manhandled from a McCallum long throw and then did superbly to snuff out the danger from the lively Clarke with his head, on the deck, after losing his footing but not his bearings | UGC Photo: UGC