Sheffield United 5 Burnley 2: Heavyweight clash lives up to billing as Blades run riot

The latest, and probably most action-packed, duly followed, with Paul Heckingbottom's side bouncing back from 1-0 and then 2-1 down in the first half to stick five past the league leaders and record their third victory in a week.

Blades boss reveals what pleased him most in 5-2 victory over Burnley

Only Blackburn Rovers' victory over Huddersfield amongst the later kick-offs blighted what was otherwise a perfect day for the Blades, as they initially moved above Rovers and into the automatic promotion places. Victory over near-neighbours Rotherham United on Tuesday night will achieve that feat again, and United could even go into the break top of the Championship if they beat the Millers and then Cardiff at the weekend.

No-one at Bramall Lane is getting too carried away just yet. But it is a sign of the remarkable turnaround from Heckingbottom's men, after going six without victory, that Blades fans, conditioned to be pessimistic after so many years of their side snatching improbable defeat from the jaws of victory, are daring to dream again.

A statement win

This was a statement win in many ways. It was one of patience and perseverance, of individual skill and moments of sheer brute force. It was also one of great character and, even by recent Bramall Lane standards, quite bizarre. Iliman Ndiaye, so capable of the spectacular, scored one of the most mundane goals of his career to drag United level at 1-1 after Jack Robinson's unfortunate intervention from Manuel Benson's shot had put Burnley ahead. Centre-half Anel Ahmedhodzic attempted an overhead kick that he thought was flying in, before registering an assist and later scoring with a superb piece of control, composure and finish.

Oli McBurnie, rampaging around like a man possessed despite his hernia surely causing him agony, scored twice more and could have had a hat-trick, denied well by Arijanet Muric - the Manchester City loanee whose performance ranged from hapless to heroic and back again throughout the afternoon.

Blades player ratings after they run riot over league leaders at Lane

But the utmost praise should be reserved for Robinson. If the first goal was unfortunate, the second was undoubtedly his error; losing the ball in a poor area under pressure from the lively Benson, who finished well for 2-1 at half-time. Lesser players, lesser mortals, may have hid. But Robinson persevered; a right-footed cross for McBurnie's equaliser began his redemption and a goal, scruffy as it was, to put the Blades 3-2 ahead completed it. "I was thinking: 'Take me off now! 'I don't want to give another one away'," Robinson joked afterwards.

"It was like a six-point game, really. If you look at our next two games, it's a good chance for us to go top of the league and that's taken three points off them today which is massive. So we'll look forward to the next couple of games before the break."

Perhaps Robinson and Co. are daring to dream again too.

Burnley boss fires warning to Blades despite 5-2 hammering at Bramall Lane

Sheffield United: Foderingham, Baldock (Brooks 90), Ahmedhodzic, Egan, Robinson, Stevens (Basham 70) Fleck (Arblaster 90), Norwood, Osborn, Ndiaye, McBurnie (Sharp 81).Unused substitutes: Davies, Khadra, Clark.

Burnley: Muricl, Vitinho, Harwood-Bellis, Beyer, Maatsen, Bastien, Cork, Cullen, (Gudmundsson 54), Benson (Taylor 77), Tella (Dervisoglu 77), Zaroury (Roberts 77). Unused substitutes: Egan-Riley, Barnes, Peacock-Farrell.

Referee: D Bond (Lancashire).