Sheffield United: Boss reveals his first priority as promotion chase hots up - and it's a surprise

But the number which pleases him the most, or at least it did following their latest victory over Swansea City, is 427: The number of minutes since their defence was last breached in Championship action.

Speaking after watching United sweep Russell Martin’s team aside in contemptuous fashion, exposing the limitations of a game plan which appears to prioritise possession over penetration, Heckingbottom said: “The clean sheet is vital. Why? Because a goal doesn’t guarantee you a point but a clean sheet does.”

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A former full-back himself, it comes as no surprise to learn that building an impermeable rearguard featured among Heckingbottom’s list of priorities when he was unveiled as Slavisa Jokanovic’s successor. Not that United had always been particularly porous under the Serb, conceding only 13 times in their first 10 outings under his stewardship with four of those coming during a catastrophic night at West Bromwich Albion.

But what Jokanovic was never quite able to do - as he also attempted to transform United style - was combine a solid back three, four or sometimes even five with a properly functioning attack. That is a trick Heckingbottom and his staff have been able to perform - exploiting both the knowledge the 44-year-old gleaned during a spell in caretaker charge towards the end of last season and fact he did not feel the same pressure to perform a tactical overhaul as his predecessor.

“It wasn’t like, when I came in, that I was walking through the door for the first time,” Heckingbottom continued. “It was more a case of just reminding people of a few of the things we tried to tell them about back then. We weren’t looking to do something totally different to what we were doing before.”

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United have faced Huddersfield Town, Hull City and West Brom again since Lyle Taylor, their former striker, fired home past Wes Foderingham midway through the second-half of February 4th’s win at Birmingham City. Billy Sharp, who later drew them level, netted his 13th of the campaign on Saturday afternoon after George Baldock’s screamer. Morgan Gibbs-White, scorer of the opening goal, completed the rout during the closing stages as United finished the match in sixth place.

“Wes, obviously, he gets a lot of plaudits because he’s keeping clean sheets,” Heckingbottom said. “And he deserves those plaudits because he’s doing really well.”

“But it’s not just about the lads at the back, it’s important to remember that,” he added. “The whole team, they all want to protect Wes. That’s the message we’ve always been trying to get across.”

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United will hope to make further inroads into the top six when fellow promotion hopefuls Blackburn Rovers, whose meeting with Millwall was postponed on Saturday afternoon, travel to South Yorkshire.

With Jayden Bogle’s knee injury apparently worse than initially thought, Heckingbottom will hope fellow right wing-back Baldock is available for selection after suffering a knock of his own towards the end of the clash with Swansea.

“We’ll see how it is,” Heckingbottom said. “We’ll give him a scan.”