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...
9. Gus Hamer 8
Back in the side on the left amid question marks about his recent performances but he looked more in the mood this afternoon, almost putting the Blades ahead with a thunderous strike which Walton did well to repel from a narrow angle. He then reminded everyone, if a reminder was needed, of his class with a lovely lofted pass to send O'Hare through for his goal and then pretty much repeated the feat for Bamford in the second half, finishing with a couple of assists before he blew up with just over 15 to go and was replaced by Cannon | UGC Photo: UGC
10. Callum O'Hare 8 MOM
Took an early whack from Taylor that could have been nasty as the Ipswich man followed through into O'Hare in a tackle but he shrugged it off and then had United's first golden chance of the game when Brooks took advantage of an underhit backpass and squared to O'Hare, who saw his effort blocked on the line. But he kept plugging away and got his reward with a clever finish to put the Blades ahead, taking a whack to the head in the process from Walton and playing the rest of the game with a Terry Butcher-style bandage around his head. It'll have stung when Kipre caught him with what looked 'live' like a bit of elbow as they challenged for an aerial ball, leading to just a yellow card, but he was a constant threat throughout and just shades the MOM award for me | UGC Photo: UGC
11. Patrick Bamford 5
Donned the captain's armband with Tanganga and Arblaster both absent and played the lone striker role admirably from the start, even if he had an inauspicious start to the game when he snatched at an effort and lashed it well wide in the opening exchanges. He also went into this game having missed golden chances in the last two, at Charlton and Southampton, but it didn't seem to have affected his confidence too much and when he was sent clear by another Hamer pass there was never a second thought in his mind despite O'Hare haring forward (no pun intended) to support him. Bamford lashed past Walton in front of the Kop to restore United's two-goal cushion and calm a few nerves inside Bramall Lane after Clarke's penalty had halved the deficit. But having earlier picked up a cheap booking for dissent, kicking an advertising hoarding, he then was shown a second for a pretty poor dive after a 'challenge' from Walton and walked, missing this weekend at Millwall as a result | UGC Photo: UGC