Sheffield United v Coventry City: Wes Foderingham outlines one positive from Blades' perspective

Positives may have been hard to come by in recent weeks for Sheffield United, but Wes Foderingham was happy with the clean sheet he kept on his return to the Blades side in their goalless draw with Coventry earlier this afternoon.
Slavisa Jokanovic manager of Sheffield United greets Wes Foderingham after the draw with Coventry City: Simon Bellis / SportimageSlavisa Jokanovic manager of Sheffield United greets Wes Foderingham after the draw with Coventry City: Simon Bellis / Sportimage
Slavisa Jokanovic manager of Sheffield United greets Wes Foderingham after the draw with Coventry City: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

Foderingham came in from the cold to take his place between the posts with Robin Olsen injured on international duty, and was one of the few Blades to emerge with any credit from the draw after keeping City at bay.

The Blades could have won the game but for a fine save at the death from Foderingham’s former Bramall Lane colleague Simon Moore, but anything less than a point would have probably been harsh on high-flying City.

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And Foderingham said afterwards: “In recent weeks and in recent games we've been a bit leaky at the back so to get a clean sheet was definitely a positive.

Wes Foderingham of Sheffield United and Simon Moore of Coventry City: Simon Bellis / SportimageWes Foderingham of Sheffield United and Simon Moore of Coventry City: Simon Bellis / Sportimage
Wes Foderingham of Sheffield United and Simon Moore of Coventry City: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

“Without that cutting edge in front of goal we're disappointed not to come away with three points.

“When you keep a clean sheet you're always give yourselves a chance to win the game.

“It could be a little bit of luck or fortune and a bounce for you, so a clean sheet is massive. If the games tight and you only get one or two chances and someone puts them away, the clean sheet helps you win the game.

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“If you're leaky at the back it's always an uphill battle. So that was definitely a positive, just a little bit more clinical going forward and I think we'll be alright.”

United, who switched back to the 3-5-2 formation that served them so well under Slavisa Jokanović’s predecessor Chris Wilder, did improve after the break after being booed off at half-time, but Moore didn’t make his first save of the game until the last 10 minutes of normal time.

“The club's played that way for a long period of time, the boys are used to it,” Foderingham added of the switch.

“I still think we adopted the four quite well and just didn't quite get to grips with it quickly enough. But we’re a bit more comfortable with the three, the manager took the decision to change and I thought we did well today.

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“We kept the ball well, but when we got into key areas I think we were a little bit slow and you could hear the frustration from the crowd, which was understandable.

“You can see in recent weeks we're a little bit low on confidence and I felt today we were just finding our feet early on, as the game went on we built well into the shape and got the ball forward quicker and looked a threat in the second half.”

United boss Jokanovic said he could understand the fans' frustrations as well.

"I can understand the crowd,” he said.

“I must encourage my players, I must push them, I must motivate them and make sure they trust themselves.

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"We must be positive and not give up, everything is possible.”

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