It was an afternoon of frustration for Sheffield United as they were beaten 2-0 at Brentford this afternoon to hammer another nail into their relegation coffin. The Blades had plenty of possession around the Brentford box but were often lacking the final bit of quality to test Mark Flekken in the home goal.
At the other end Oliver Arblaster was unfortunate to deflect a cross into his own goal for the opener before lax defending saw Fred Onyeka double Brentford’s lead after Mikkel Damsgaard earlier saw a volleyed finish ruled out after a VAR check following Nathan Collins’ foul on United skipper Oli McBurnie. There was more injury concern for the Blades as Jayden Bogle had to be helped around the pitch by United staff - here’s how we rated United’s players in west London...
1. Ivo Grbic 5
Barely had a proper save to make apart from a few routine claims and catches and was unfortunate to see Arblaster's deflection fly past him and into the bottom corner. Forced into a smart stop to palm Janelt's effort behind with five minutes or so to go but didn't convince with some of his distribution out with the ball at his feet
2. Jayden Bogle 5
Unlucky to see a second-half volleyed effort blocked just wide from Trusty's deep cross, and injured himself in the process as he received some treatment in the immediate aftermath. After initially getting up he seemed to feel something and almost gave way again, before being helped around the pitch by United's medical staff to give United another big injury concern. Replaced by Archer
3. Mason Holgate 6
A solid display from the Everton loanee who, along with the rest of United's back line, headed and kicked almost everything that came their way and ultimately were only beaten by a freak goal, and one that was later chalked off by VAR. Did excellently twice to get across and cover when a Brentford man was looking to race away with some good last-ditch defending
4. Anel Ahmedhodzic 5
Initially looked very calm and composed at the centre of the United defence as he brought the ball out of play with ease but almost paid the price for a lax pass which saw Maupay sent clear, but the former United target lobbed wide when he really should have scored so loses a mark for that