Sheffield United: Man City loan star James McAtee shows signs of promise before injury concern

Handed a rare start in Staffordshire with Sander Berge absent with a knee problem, McAtee was picked out beautifully by fellow loanee Reda Khadra. He was too quick for former Blade Phil Jagielka but his effort squirmed just wide.

If anyone thought it would signal the start of a period of prolonged pressure for United, they were wrong. It instead became a case of what might have been around three minutes later when Ben Wilmot put Stoke ahead, and a rare moment of relief for United as Stoke looked to build on the early opener.

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Chris Basham was forced to take good, decisive action to prevent Dwight Gayle racing clear; Wes Foderingham made a smart save to parry Tariqe Fosu's effort to safety.

Amongst the carnage going the other way, McAtee huffed and puffed. He showed good strength and awareness to evade his fellow No.28, Josh Laurent, down the left but his low cross was cleared easily. He looked to be the United attacker, early doors at least, who looked most up to the challenge.

Boss Paul Heckingbottom told this newspaper recently what he expected from McAtee; a brief to go and risk the ball, make things happen. There are probably few tougher places to do that than Stoke on a blustery afternoon. Stoke may not be the Tony Pulis-era collection of brutes they once were but the likes of Laurent and Fosu, both imposing figures in their own right, were not slow in looking to make their mark, with Dujon Sterling leaving the biggest one on the talented youngster with one commanding header, and a bit extra.

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His City teammate Tommy Doyle came closest to restoring parity with a curling effort from distance as the clock ticked past 20 minutes, before Ky Gordon saw a header cleared off the line. Then came McAtee's moment of magic.

Things didn't seem particularly promising when his clever movement was found by Rhys Norrington-Davies. The pass slightly overhit, McAtee was going away from goal; right where the covering defender wanted him. But a decisive hook of that left foot picked out Brewster perfectly in the centre to volley home; after initially veering right, Brewster instead deviated left to highlight the valuable contribution of his England U21 teammate McAtee.

Make things happen. Have an impact.

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With Stoke retaking the lead on the stroke of half-time, McAtee's start to the second half was quieter than his first and United's injury curse threatened to strike him down too two thirds into the game, when he went down with what looked like cramp on the far side but came off after some quick medical attention from United's overworked physio team.

Was it cramp, or something more sinister? Considering the reactions of McAtee and Billy Sharp, who immediately signalled the youngster's race was run, many observers leaned towards the latter. How typical it would be, for both player and club, to be struck down just when he was looking like showing the type of form and quality that persuaded United to sign him in the first place.

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