James Shield's Sheffield United Verdict: Lack of pace exposed as automatic promotion battle expands

But essentially, this match boiled down to pace. It is a quality Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side possesses in abundance. Particularly across the midfield area. United, unfortunately, don’t. That weakness was ruthlessly exploited by the Dane’s players throughout this contest with Harry Pickering’s early strike proving enough to settle the contest.

“They’ve got lots of it and lots of it all over,” Heckingbottom said. “If you get into a foot race with people like that then of course you are going to struggle.”

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“Too many of our good players didn’t play with enough quality. The bits I’m really bothered about were the bits we prepared for, the things we worked on, and didn’t show out there.”

Still second in the table but now only four points ahead of Middlesbrough and a further two up on Rovers, United contest their match in hand at Reading next week. But make no mistake, after slipping to a third defeat in four Championship outings, they are now in a three way race to finish as runners-up behind leaders Burnley, who will probably already be celebrating a Premier League return by the time they travel to Turf Moor over Easter. Heckingbottom’s men remain in pole position. Momentum, though, is with their nearest rivals. Michael Carrick’s charges have won six of their last seven outings, including a trip to Bramall Lane. Rovers, meanwhile, have posted five straight victories in all competitions and travel to South Yorkshire for an FA Cup quarter-final shortly.

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United boast an abundance of talent in their engine room. But it will be intriguing to see if, following the examples set by Carrick and Tomasson, opponents now begin targeting their lack of athleticism in this department. If they do then, as Heckingbottom alluded following the final whistle on Saturday, United must become better at applying pressure in advanced areas, seizing the ball back higher up the pitch and preventing opponents from slicing through them when it is surrendered. The move which led to Pickering’s goal was the first of numerous counter attacks Rovers mounted, as Sander Berge failed to impose himself on proceedings and Oliver Norwood, United’s quarterback, was frequently dragged out of position as he scrambled to try and provide cover.

Meanwhile, Heckingbottom’s admission that “emotional fatigue” could have contributed to a woefully lethargic second-half display will shine a spotlight not only on a fixture schedule which forced United to compete less than 72 hours after beating Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup but also the club’s failure to refresh his squad during the January window. They are, of course, still operating under a transfer embargo. Unlike Middlesbrough, Rovers and fourth-placed Luton Town, who all drafted in fresh blood.

“We tried a different set up,” Heckingbottom explained. “We wanted Sander to be jumping around (John) Buckley (Rovers’ midfielder) and be in those more advanced positions, up and around Iliman (Ndiaye). But we didn’t make it work. We didn’t do it.”

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