Sheffield United: Conor Washington gives Chris Wilder food for thought as he plays, and scores, for U23s in Bolton Wanderers victory

Conor Washington of Sheffield Utd: Simon Bellis/Sportimage

United ran out comfortable 4-0 over their Wanderers counterparts at Bracken Moor, with promising youngster Oliver Greaves scoring a brace.

Reece York rounded off the scoring for United, who saw a fifth goal chalked off when sub Jean Belehouan netted but was flagged offside.

Kean Bryan also played another 90 minutes for United’s second string, while Washington was withdrawn just after the hour mark.

Greaves signalled both his and United’s intent almost from kick-off, forcing James Aspinall into action to push away an early cross and then a shot, and eventually found a way past the Bolton goalkeeper within the first five minutes of the game, netting from a corner to put the hosts ahead.

Marcus Dewhurst was forced into an early flying save to prevent Bolton levelling the scores, but from then on it was one-way traffic as United took control.

York seized upon Aspinall’s poor clearance and fed Washington to make it 2-0, with a powerful left-footed finish, and by the half-hour mark it was 3-0, Greaves cutting in from the right wing to fire home.

Sub Sam Ackroyd set York up to net United’s fourth, despite Aspinall getting a touch on the midfielder’s left-footed finish, and Belehouan thought he had got in on the scoring act with ten minutes to go when he turned in Ackroyd’s effort, but the linesman’s flag cut short the celebrations.

Washington’s goal will give boss Chris Wilder more welcome headaches in terms of his team selection, ahead of Friday’s trip to Aston Villa.

The former Peterborough and QPR man has been pushed further down the pecking order at Bramall Lane following the signings of Gary Madine and Scott Hogan, but Wilder admitted after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Bolton that he faces some “dificult decisions”.

“It was good to get Gary on the pitch because he’s going to be a good player for us, and Dowell too,” Wilder said.

“Those two played very well at Norwich which was one of our toughest games of the season. We’ve got 25 or 26 players all desperate to get into the team, and they’re all pushing each other.”

Blades U23s: Dewhurst, Ferguson, Bryan, Broadbent (Belehouan 64), Gordon, York, Read, Neal (Brunt 64), Washington (Ackroyd 64), Greaves, Sheppeard. Unused: S. Kelly, Boyes.