Birmingham City boss offers “exceptional” Sheffield United verdict after defeat

John Eustace described Sheffield United as “exceptional” after they sealed two new club records with victory over his Birmingham City side at St. Andrew’s this afternoon.

United, already promoted to the Premier League, surpassed the Championship points and win tallies of the class of 2005/06 with a 2-1 win in the Midlands, courtesy of goals from Oli McBurnie and James McAtee.

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Dion Sanderson, the former United target, pulled one back for the home side to wreck hopes of another club record for clean sheets but Heckingbottom was still delighted with his side’s work, both on the day and over the course of the season.

Asked if the day could have gone differently had Lukas Jutkiewicz scored with an early header, which instead hit the bar and bounced over, Eustace admitted: “Maybe, but we were up against an exceptional team and squad of players who have won promotion from this league. They’re top, top players at this level.

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“We mixed the squad up, brought some players in who deserve to be playing, and given a few a rest. It was a good game.

“I’m disappointed to lose but I was delighted we kept going and kept going to score. We mixed the squad up, Jobe [Bellingham] got another 90 minutes in his legs and that’s great. You can see him developing.”

Eustace watched the game from the back of the Press box, sat directly behind writers from The Star, and communicated with his bench from that vantage point, after being handed a one-match ban and a £2,000 fine for abusing a match official recently.

“It was frustrating,” he admitted, “but it’s my fault and hopefully it won’t happen again.”