Sheffield United are told "mentality" is going to decide the automatic promotion race

Paul Heckingbottom’s men moved seven points clear of Middlesbrough in third after edging past Watford at Bramall Lane, with Ryan Porteous’ second-half own goal proving enough to settle a nerve-wracking contest.

The result saw United bounce back in style after entering the meeting with Slaven Bilic’s team on the back of two straight defeats - one of which came at the hands of their rivals from Teesside.

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After learning their nearest challengers had succumbed to West Bromwich Albion, Heckingbottom hailed the character of his squad, telling The Star: “Mentality is everything. It is all the time. Even more so now. When you are talking about fine margins, it becomes so, so important. You’ve got to keep that drive, that hunger, that discipline and that focus. There are going to be things between now and the end which go against us. But those qualities, hunger and drive, have got to be there. The ones that we’ve just shown again.”

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Before resuming their push for Premier League football with a visit to Blackburn Rovers, United host Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Wednesday night.

“The dressing room is good and if anyone comes down to watch us (train) at Shirecliffe, they’ll always remark that we’ve got proper people around the place. The lads speak, we are all open. There’s honesty there, and that’s important.

“Because of the way they all are, I’m comfortable letting the players manage their own dressing room, because they know the standards we expect and they want to set them too. If you get good people around the place then things become a whole lot more simple.”

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As well as extending their advantage over Middlesbrough, United also have a match in hand on both them and Rovers. But Anel Ahmedhodzic’s forthcoming suspension - the centre-half collected his 10th yellow card of the campaign against Watford - threatens to complicate their planning for the trip to Ewood Park. Heckingbottom is also facing a ban, this time from the touchline, after being dismissed during the loss to Middlesbrough.

Asked if the nature of the victory over Watford, who pushed hard for an equaliser during the closing stages, would be a boost to United confidence after the also succumbed to Millwall at The Den, Heckingbottom said: “We’ve had wins where we’ve got the first goal and gone on to be dominant. But the nature of this division is that most of them (wins) tend to be by a single goal, so I know where you’re coming from. It was good to come through like that, because it’s a situation we’ll probably be in a fair few more times between now and the end.”

“At Millwall, it wasn’t through lack of hunger or desire,” he added. “It was down to those moments when you need to show some composure and we showed that composure here.”