Family affair for Sheffield United striker Tyler Smith as he looks to make breakthrough at boyhood club

“I’m hard on him, he hasn’t got time to breathe!” Smith said of Kyron Gordon, his younger sibling and fellow Blades youngster. Both brothers played for the United first team on Saturday, in their first pre-season game of the Slavisa Jokanović era, and Smith scored the third goal in a 3-0 win over Europa Point, from Gibraltar.

“The family is proud tonight, both of us on the pitch at the same time,” Smith, who spent last season on loan at Swindon Town, added.

“I’m always putting pressure on him to deliver and that’s what he’s doing. He’s just got to keep working hard. We’ve worked hard to get here and it was a good run out.”

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Smith’s goal, a composed finish after running onto a clever through-ball from defender Max Lowe, was especially timely given he squandered two other chances to further impress the watching Jokanović and his coaching staff.

But the Sheffield-born striker’s record shows he certainly knows where the net is, with 23 goals in 53 league starts for Barrow, Doncaster Rovers, Bristol Rovers, Rochdale and Swindon.

One name missing from his list of teams played and scored for is the ultimate one; United. With a host of senior strikers in his path to the Blades first team, Smith knows that he must take his chances when they come – possibly in United’s remaining pre-season games before the big Championship season kick off on August 7 at home to Birmingham City.

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“I’m buzzing to put on that shirt,” the 22-year-old added. “I’m a Blade through and through. I’ve been up and down the country all my life and to put on the shirt is a real honour. I’ll give 110 per cent for the team, every time I do that.

“I feel good, firing and ready to play, and show what I can do. I’ve got to take each day as it comes, work hard and take it from there.”

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