Promotion winners Sheffield United were clinical, ruthless and utterly professional against Preston

Which, having already secured top-flight status with three Championship games to spare, is fathoming out opponents and then winning football matches. Goals from John Fleck, Iliman Ndiaye and Oli McBurnie, after Preston North End’s Liam Delap had cancelled-out Anel Ahmedhodzic’s opener, turned the party into a procession. Which, as Paul Heckingbottom later insisted, underlined United’s professionalism.

“The turnaround was fast, but the professionalism and application was first class,” he said, after his team recorded its 27th victory of the season. “It’s what we are about.”

After achieving their pre-season objective three days earlier, beating West Bromwich Albion to make sure of the runners-up berth, there was a celebratory atmosphere inside United’s famous old stadium.

Past heroes were serenaded. Plenty of new ones too, as Heckingbottom’s squad contested their final home outing of a memorable campaign. The only thing missing was Billy Sharp’s 250th career league goal, with United’s soon-to-be out of contract captain enduring a frustrating afternoon.

“It’s not got the same edge now,” Heckingbottom continued. “So to see the energy, that was superb.”

Predictably there were changes. Presumably, given Heckingbottom’s insistence beforehand that he wanted to protect the division’s integrity, they were based partly on sentiment and mostly on tactics rather than the strength of the hangovers following Wednesday night’s party. Whatever the true answer, United’s selections did not have a detrimental effect upon their fluency. Indeed, with Jayden Bogle full of running, Oliver Norwood metronomic and Chris Basham reprising his role as the club’s best overlapping centre-half, the hosts appeared every bit a top-flight bound team during the early skirmishes. The only thing missing was a breakthrough.

Ahmedhodzic rectified that during the closing stages of the first-half before, following Delap’s intervention, United got ruthless.

“First half, we got into good areas and it just fizzled out,” Ryan Lowe, Preston’s manager, said. “When we’re on top, we can’t just fold the way we did.”

That, translating promising moves into converted chances, has been a problem for Preston all term. Ryan Lowe’s men crossed the Pennines on the cusp of the play-offs. One suspects, having taken only 44 since the end of July, they would be nestled comfortably inside the top six with a prolific marksman.

United boast two of those in Ndiaye and McBurnie, who began this contest on the bench. But Ahmedhodzic is a clinical finisher inside the opposition area too, meeting Tommy Doyle’s corner with a header which flew in off Freddie Woodman’s right-hand post. Preston’s goalkeeper was scrambling again when first James McAtee and then Jack Robinson tried their luck from distance.

The visitors’ first genuine opening fell to Tom Cannon, whose close range effort was blocked by Wes Foderingham. The second was exploited, with Delap touching home Brad Potts’ centre after being introduced at the break.

Fleck restored United’s advantage soon after coming on when his shot flew in via a deflection.

Ndiaye quickly netted their third, inserting another special moment into his showreel after profiting from Daniel Jebbison’s assist, before McBurnie’s acrobatic volley completed the rout.

“It’s sinking in, what we’ve done,” said Heckingbottom. “But the lads drove it on.”

Sheffield United: Foderingham, Bogle, Lowe, Basham, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson (Egan 82), Norwood, Doyle (Berge 60), McAtee (Fleck 69), Sharp © (Jebbison 60), Ndiaye (McBurnie 82). Not used: Davies, Baldock.

Preston North End: Woodman, Storey (Delap 46), Bauer, Hughes, Ledson (Woodburn 88), Potts, Onomah (McCann 69), Johnson ©, Fernandez, Parrott (Leigh 88), Cannon. Not used: Cornell, Lindsay, Slater.

Referee: Stephen Martin (Staffordshire).

Attendance: 30,718.