Chris Wilder fires Sheffield United play-off warning after fan message ahead of Bristol City second leg
Chris Wilder fires Sheffield United play-off warning after fan message ahead of Bristol City second leg
Sheffield United may have put one foot in the Championship play-off final with a 3-0 rout of Bristol City last night - but Chris Wilder is insistent that the job is not done just yet. The Blades will take a significant lead into Monday’s second leg after taking the sting out of the tie on a memorable night at Ashton Gate.
United’s response after the game was deliberately low key, with Wilder’s men rightly acknowledging their away support at the full-time whistle but noticeably not going over the top in their celebrations when other clubs may have done so. Goals from Harrison Burrows, Andre Brooks and Callum O’Hare put the Blades in pole position for a Wembley trip but Wilder is not getting carried away just yet.
“I respect the game too much,” Wilder said. “I respect the opponents, their players, the manager and their football club too much. I wanted to get the players off the pitch and get back to Sheffield. We’ve got to recover, got to reflect on the game and we've got a big game ahead of us on Monday night. We've got to do a professional job like we've done tonight.
"The job isn’t done. The fans were great all evening. Their fans were really good, gave them an incredible amount of energy for the first 15, 20 minutes. For me, our fans have got to do that for our players, 100 per cent.
"We need their energy. I think we deserve a full house at Bramall Lane. I know it's pretty difficult with the prices of tickets. The players deserve in my opinion the energy Bristol City supporters gave their team tonight.”
As we revealed at the weekend, United tried to arrange a reciprocal agreement to cap ticket prices at £15 but they couldn’t reach an agreement with their play-off rivals, including City. As a result fans of both sides are faced with ticket prices as much as £37 for Monday’s second leg, with a potential trip to Wembley later this month on the cards as well.
"I've been in the game far too long to know that even now when everybody will be thinking it's job done,” Wilder added. “It isn't. The players have got to produce another professional performance and compete.
"They've got nothing to lose and everyone will be writing them off at Bramall Lane. But that's a dangerous situation for us to be in and we've got to absolutely go full tilt in this game."