Inside Sheffield United post-match Plymouth Argyle huddle as Leeds United man rubs salt in Chris Wilder wound

After the final whistle sentenced Sheffield United to a third defeat in a row and hammered another nail into their automatic promotion coffin, Chris Wilder strode onto the Home Park pitch and gathered his players and staff in a post-match huddle. It’s something he has done throughout this season, both after good results and bad, but never before has its content been disclosed.

The huddle was seen as an extension of the dressing room, seen as the inner sanctum of a football club and events of which are rarely disclosed outside of it. But this time, as the fine rain fell from the Devon air and felt like it was pouring, there was no hiding what the mood would have been.

The delay saw some supporters make a quick exit ahead of a long trip back up north but those who remained had a great view of a post-match melee, after Wilder seemed to take exception to a couple of Plymouth players - one of whom, Darko Gyabi, just happens to be on loan from United’s rivals Leeds United - celebrating in front of the travelling Blades fans and players.

What followed was an unsavoury ending to a bitterly disappointing afternoon, leaving the Blades five points adrift of automatic promotion with just four games to go of the regular season before a likely play-off campaign. Asked what was said in the huddle, Wilder revealed: “That we have to own this last week. We have to take responsibility. We were in a fabulous position after the Coventry game.

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“We have to go over and recognise the support coming down here. I thought they were outstanding all afternoon. They’ll be extremely disappointed, annoyed, angry and all stuff like that. I totally get that, and I’ve got no issue about that.

The players are disappointed, frustrated. Everybody is; staff, and supporters more importantly. We talked about that. We talked about sticking together. It’s not been a great week, there’s no getting away from that, but it’s not a time for pointing fingers and chucking arms up in the air.

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“Saying: ‘We should have done this or we should have done that. You should have done this and you should have done that.’ That’s not the culture of the football club. The culture is to fight and dig in, and we’re going to have to fight and dig in. I talked about having a big week.

“We need to get this out of our heads. We need to come back in Monday and prepare for Friday [a Bramall Lane clash with Cardiff City] because, regardless of league position or what we’ve not done over the past week or whatever regarding points off second or points off top, we need to put in a positive, front-foot performance at Bramall Lane in front of our supporters.

“Then, off the back of that, what will be, will be. But you certainly massively hurt yourselves if you don’t pick any points up, at this stage of the season, in a three-game week.”