Chris Wilder's Michael Cooper hope for QPR clash after "huge blow" changes game at Coventry City
Chris Wilder's Michael Cooper hope for QPR clash after "huge blow" changes game at Coventry City
Sheffield United will “work hard” on Michael Cooper this week in a bid to get him back fit for this weekend’s clash with Queens Park Rangers, after the goalkeeper’s half-time injury withdrawl proved crucial at Coventry City tonight. The Blades’ No.1 did not reappear after the break at the CBS Arena.
His replacement, Welsh international Adam Davies, had an evening to forget, picking the ball out of his net with his first action before failing to deal with a corner properly and watching Bobby Thomas bundle home a crucial second.
Davies could do nothing about City’s third in their 3-1 win, Brandon Thomas-Asante tapping home after City took advantage of United piling bodies forward in a bid to get back into the game, but the damage had long been done by then as City went five points clear at the top of the table and United remained in the bottom three.
Having Cooper back available to face the Londoners will be key for the Blades’ hopes of addressing their current run of form after slipping to a third successive defeat, with boss Chris Wilder admitting his withdrawl was a “huge blow.”
“When he went down for one of the shots he saved early on, he tweaked his back and his neck,” Wilder explained. “So he was in quite a bit of pain at half-time, and that obviously wasn't an ideal situation that we found ourselves in.
“We’ll work hard on him this week, do our best in the next 48 to 72 hours to get him right. But obviously, that wasn't a great situation to be in at half-time.”
United led at the break through Sam McCallum’s opener and quietened a vociferous home crowd early on, managing the game much better until half-time. But familiar failings came back to haunt them, conceding the equaliser from a long throw and then Thomas’ crucial second from a corner.
“It’s not a white flag team,” Wilder said of his crestfallen United group. “I think you understand that. I wouldn't accept that. And I can't criticise them. But I think it's quite lazy and cheap to say that they're ‘passive.’
“They're not passive. They're having a go. There are some disappointed people and players in there, because we felt tonight we could come and get a result. Even though the gap in the table is what it is.”