John Egan makes an admission about Sheffield United's progress in pursuit of Championship promotion ahead of Stoke City clash

Egan, who returned to United’s Shirecliffe training base today after helping the Republic of Ireland to two victories over the international break, was speaking ahead of Saturday’s clash at home to Stoke City, where the Blades will look to get back to winning ways after back-to-back away defeats at Middlesbrough and Bournemouth before the break.

In the latter game, there were at least signs of improvement in terms of performance before two unjust refereeing decisions saw them go down 2-1 on the south coast.

“We’re not where we wanted to be,” Egan admitted, with the Blades sitting 14th in the Championship table.

“But it’s always going to be hard in this league. We’ve had different issues to face and we have a long season ahead of us.

“We know what our end goal is and we’re getting better as a team, I feel. We’re improving all the time and can hopefully keep picking up results.

“You can’t look too far ahead, we just want to try and win the next game. It’s all you can do. There’s a lot of football to be played.”

Stoke travel to South Yorkshire fourth in the standings, four points off Bournemouth at the top of the Championship table.

“It’ll be tough,” Egan admitted. “They’re a really good side.

“They’ve shown that this season. Hopefully we can prepare right and we’ll give everything to get three points.”

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